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MaryAnne Chavez is a pillar of the nursing community. Throughout her career, she has continued to serve underserved populations having worked at both the First Choice Clinic in Belen, NM, and La Bella Vida Clinic as a family nurse practitioner. In addition, MaryAnne also serves as a trainer, consultant, and instructor within the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Statewide programs. She participates in and initiated peer review for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) rural partners. MaryAnne has precepted individuals regularly within the community. She is a strong preceptor, always giving research evidence-based guidance. She has served as an instructor on several occasions with the New Mexico Coalition.
Robyn is known as a leader and a mentor who cares for her community. She recently started her own community-based hospice, which focuses on providing care to rural areas of northern New Mexico, where access is limited. She is passionate about supporting the needs of New Mexicans, emphasizing the need for access to quality healthcare for the Indigenous people of Taos Pueblo. Robyn also understands the importance of sharing her knowledge with others. She has been an active preceptor for UNM-Taos in the hospital setting, as well as for students in other programs. She most recently precepted a BSN student in her hospice agency that she founded. Robyn demonstrates that nursing can pave the way clinically and professionally and that nurses have to capability to promote access to care through their ventures.
Lisa is a lifelong learner. She reads recent literature and attends academic meetings to keep up to date on the latest science and treatment techniques. She then relays that knowledge to her colleagues to ensure the best outcome for her patients. She regularly consults with the biomedical departments, and equipment vendors, working as a liaison between physicians and staff. Lisa is active in teaching other nurses, students, and related health personnel about cardiology conductive abnormalities and diseases. She has participated on the hospital nursing board and has helped to set up new electrophysiology labs. She was a volunteer vaccinator during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and worked countless hours to ensure the safety of our community. She has also worked as a volunteer RN in Guatemala.
Sandra has dedicated her career to public health having joined the United States Public Health Services. Her efforts include collaboration with local, tribal, and state health representatives to implement a school-based health and exercise program. She coordinated with other health professionals and policymakers to implement programs that alleviate some health disparities for Indigenous women and women of color. She also worked with other clinicians to develop much-needed research on domestic violence within Indigenous communities and laid the groundwork for the inclusion of an advanced practice nurse clinical consultant to serve on the national committees with the agency physicians cohort. She was active in epidemiological investigations of infectious diseases in the service area, immunization programs, screening and monitoring for sexually-transmitted infections. She also conducted home visits for prenatal and postpartum at-risk families and coordinated care for those with diabetes and the elderly. Sandra also worked to develop community-based programs and health initiatives that included implementing weekly clinical visits at the detention facility as well as a school-based clinic. While working at the Chinle Comprehensive Health Care facility Sandra revived the dormant sexual assault nurse examiner program and began the process of getting other nurses and APRNs trained. In addition to all of this Sandra has served as a mentor to newly graduated advanced practice nurses from the University of New Mexico, Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and the Frontier School of Nursing.
Susan has led an incredibly varied and distinguished nursing career. Her achievements are numerous and she has proven herself to be an exemplary leader in her chosen profession. Specifically, she has served as a leader, provider and Director of Public Health Services for over 25 years. She has been formally recognized on numerous occasions for her initiative in creating and implementing sound Public Health practices. In addition to her distinguished service in Public Health Nursing, Susan simultaneously served as an Officer in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. She was deployed on several U.S. based humanitarian missions and served a year deployed to the NATO Combat Hospital in Kandahar Afghanistan in support of the U.S. Mission in the war with Afghanistan. Susan has been acknowledged as a mentor to those under her supervision. Several individuals in her community were led to pursue nursing careers by Susan's support, example and encouragement.
Susan is a leader in the local, state, and national nursing communities. Her clinical practice focuses primarily on serving the underserved in south central Colorado through maternal/child health programs, Children with Special Health Care Needs, migrant farmworker health services, and hospice and palliative care. Susan has served on the Colorado Nurses Association Board as Chair of the Health Care for All Committee. She contributed to Colorado’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Reform where local and statewide forums were provided to educate community members on Health Care Reform. She was presented CNA’s Distinguished Contribution Award for her service on behalf of access to health care in 2006. Has also served as a delegate to the American Nurses Association House of Delegates and she was elected to ANA’s Congress on Nursing Practice and Economics, where she served her four-year term with the additional role of chairing its Access to Health Care Work Group. This group drafted the background paper which led to the adoption of the ANA Position Statement, “Nursing Roles and Responsibilities in Providing Care and Support at the End of Life”. Susan has served as an adjunct outreach faculty supporting RN-BSN students for UNM. She was also a clinical preceptor for the FNP programs at UNM and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. In addition, she continues to mentor nursing students and colleagues through her role as a Quality Consultant.
Kerin's leadership inspires others in nursing. She is highly regarded in our organization. She uses her clinical expertise, her curiosity in solving problems and her interest in the operational impact on care to drive excellence and success in all of her work. During the worst of the pandemic, Kerin led her preadmission testing team in all aspects of COVID-19 for all surgical patients before surgery including organizing the technology (e.g. creating a scheduling form to drive the registration process for associates), organizing the results callback process, operationalizing the drive through testing process and anticipating process changes relative to community prevalence and testing demand. Under Kerin's leadership, the team performed over 3500 COVID-19 tests on associates and providers and countless more tests on their patients. Kerin's interest in COVID-19 also lead her into research--she became a research nurse for an immunology-focused research project with a neurology clinician-investigator.
Lisette has been described as one of the most dedicated nurses at UNM Truman Health Services. An advocate for nurses, she led the team to assume responsibility for duties that providers were performing but really should have been done by the nurses. This enabled the nurses to use more of their skills and talents. Lisette works in one of the most difficult fields in medicine, HIV care. Not only does she work the long grueling hours of a nurse, treating traumatized patients with kindness and understanding, but she also works to combat stigma and outright hatred from the general population. Through avid conversation and education, she normalizes HIV diagnoses and treatment. She is a part of Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) by 2030 by providing excellent care and information. She helps her patients maintain undetectable viral loads by encouraging them to adhere to their medication and maintain their appointments. She is not afraid to have those hard conversations with community members.
Kathy influences the advancement of nursing through her expertise as a clinical nurse researcher. She supports other nurses in advancing their practice through evidence-based patient care. She served in the UNM Office Institutional Review Board as the nurse researcher for the nurses at UNM Hospitals. Kathy distinguishes herself as a primary care clinician with approximately 58 years of experience She also serves as a clinical faculty for many nursing and nurse practitioner students. Kathy also gives back to the community in many ways including caring for the homeless and underserved. She also serves on the board of Health Leadership High School and works with the students, faculty and administration to interest high school students to become nurses and to enter the health care field. Kathy helps high school students with clinical placements and information on how to enter the nursing education system and become nurses.
As a wife of an Air Force veteran, Deborah’s career was often at the mercy of government orders. She's worked as a nurse, a nursing instructor at a community college, and nursing support for a school district in Pennsylvania. Deborah's work as a nurse practitioner has grown to support new families. She has even become certified as a lactation consultant to assist in her support. She currently works for the new parent support program at Kirtland Air Force Bas conducting home visits to give expecting and new parents. Additionally, her outreach on base has extended to hosting play groups that provide young children the chance to play while giving their families materials to help around holidays. Deborah recognizes the importance of training and maintaining competency in new trends and developments in the nursing world. While she is working at the Kirtland Air Force Base clinic, she strives to keep current with the advances in new technology and techniques that nurses use to do their jobs.
Stephanie has worked as a bedside nurse, an ECMO nurse, a charge nurse, clinical nurse specialist and unit director at UNM Hospitals where she worked for 32 years before retiring to pursue her dream to work and live in Southern California. Stephanie served in the Master Teacher/Master Clinician role and partnered with the College of Nursing for nearly 15 years. She mentored thousands of nursing students along the way and ultimately supported them in being hired into the critical care areas. To this day, students from her past contact her to thank her for helping them throughout their careers. Stephanie has spoken at both local and national conferences to promote the role of critical care nurses. She has volunteered regularly at city-sponsored events, including and not limited to Project Heart Start, AACN Volunteer activities, and serving families at the Ronald Mc Donald House. She has also spoken at community centers and churches to members of the community about the importance of Advance Directives and estate planning. Stephanie remains passionate about assuring the profession moves forward. She continues to work full-time in a robust trauma ICU and worked tirelessly during the pandemic to maintain a safe and stable workforce. She is committed to lifelong learning and continues to seek out opportunities to be the best nurse and leader she can be.
Director of Alumni Relations
Marlena Bermel, MBA
College of Nursing
1650 University Blvd, Office 3603
1 University of New Mexico