School of Nursing Faculty Recognized for Achievements and Contributions to Health Care
Three faculty members at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing have been recognized for their ongoing contributions and professional achievements in health care with elections into the National Academies of Practice (NAP) as Distinguished Nursing Fellows.
In recognition of their significant and enduring contributions to professional health practice, Gina Bryan ’99, MSN’02, DNP’12, APRN, FNAP, FAAN, Traci Snedden, PhD, RN, CPNP, CNE, FNAP, and Susan Zahner, DrPH, RN, FNAP, FAAN, were welcomed into the NAP’s Academy of Nursing during a special induction ceremony on March 5 at the NAP Annual Convention held in San Diego.
Fellowship is an honor presented to those who have excelled in their profession and are devoted to furthering leadership in practice, scholarship, and policy in support of interprofessional care. Those elected join a distinguished team of professionals focused on advancing interprofessional health care by fostering collaboration and advocating for policies in the best interest of individuals and communities.
“The mission of the National Academies of Practice is to advance health and well-being through collaboration and coordination of various professions,” said Snedden. “As a pediatric clinician and leader with decades of experience caring for children and adolescents in critical care, emergency, sport, and school settings, I have a strong understanding of the impact of high quality, interprofessional collaborative health care on pediatric outcomes. I am honored to be named as a Distinguished Scholar [and] Fellow of the National Academies of Practice in Nursing.”
Bryan is a clinical professor and the director of the post-graduate psychiatry program at the School of Nursing. She teaches in the graduate nursing and pharmacy programs. She serves on research teams in the UW School of Pharmacy and the School of Nursing, and maintains an active clinical practice at Tellurian, Inc. in dual diagnosis treatment. Bryan serves on the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s CARA task force. She also served on the Wisconsin Commission on Substance Abuse Treatment Delivery to research hub-and-spoke delivery models for opioid treatment as well as to identify key implementation considerations. Bryan’s scholarly interests focus on novel health care provider collaborations to improve access to medication assisted treatment for the treatment of substance use disorders, access to naloxone, and interprofessional education for professional health care students.
Snedden’s career represents broad interprofessional contributions in pediatric injury, more specifically concussion. As a pediatric clinician with decades of experience caring for children and adolescents in critical care, emergency, and sport and school settings, her contributions are evident in clinical practice, research, education and outreach, service, and school-based policy. She collaborates with athletic trainers, school nurses, physical therapists, and various MD specialties across the country to provide high-quality, coordinated interprofessional care post-concussion. The assistant professor also presents at national and international conferences, publishes in peer-reviewed journals, and had an op-ed in USA Today that highlighted equity issues in female concussion. She mentors students from several practice disciplines and serves on the executive board for the Brain Injury Association of Wisconsin. She has received multiple interprofessional awards for her commitment to pediatric injury.
Zahner is Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor at the School of Nursing, with an affiliate appointment with the School of Medicine and Public Health. She has thirty years of professional experience in public health, nursing, and academic leadership. Zahner conducts research on local public health system performance and workforce education and practice. She also directs the Wisconsin Public Health Research Network where she leads a team developing an online residency program for new public health professionals. Zahner has taught community health nursing and program planning, evaluation, and quality improvement. She mentors PhD, Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), and master’s degree students in nursing and public health programs.
The mission of the NAP is to serve as distinguished professionals advancing interprofessional healthcare by fostering collaboration and advocating policies in the best interest of individuals and communities. Election into the prestigious NAP in Nursing is a lifelong appointment.
Founded in 1981, NAP is a non-profit organization built to advise governmental bodies on our healthcare system. Distinguished practitioners and scholars are elected by their peers from 15 different health professions to join the only interprofessional group of health care practitioners and scholars dedicated to supporting affordable, accessible, coordinated, and quality health care for all.