
One of the key benefits of NurseTRUST is participation in our virtual conversations, which we call TRUSTed Conversations. They offer a great opportunity to expand knowledge while connecting with a network of accomplished nurse leaders in every sector of nursing practice! TRUSTed Conversations are open to members and non-members unless otherwise noted.
Held monthly on the 4th Thursday from 4:00-5:30pm ET
From the Dark Side to the Light Side: The Evolution of For-Profit Nursing Education Tuesday, June 24, 2025 4:00 - 5:30pm ET Register in advance and invite a colleague to join you!
Description: This session will focus on the recent emergence of proprietary nursing education programs across the United States. A brief history will be presented followed by the description of 2 prominent for-profit nursing education programs in the US. Ample time will be allotted for questions, comments and conversation.
Presenters:

Fran Roberts, PhD, RN, FAAN President Fran Roberts Group
Dr. Roberts will introduce the topic along with a brief history of the evolution of for-profit nursing educations programs in the US will be presented. Dr. Roberts will also facilitate this session. She is the President of the Fran Roberts Group, a consulting organization providing expertise on healthcare leadership and higher education. Additionally, Dr. Roberts recently retired as the Professor of Integrated Care and Gerontology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. Previously, Dr. Roberts served as the Vice President for Strategic Alliances for the DeVry Healthcare Group and from 2004 to 2011, was with Grand Canyon University where she began as Dean of the College of Nursing and was subsequently appointed Vice President of Nursing and Health Sciences.
 Karen Cox, PhD, RN, FACHE, FAAN CEO Chamberlain University
Dr. Cox will share the history of the Chamberlain College of Nursing along with recent challenges and success factors. As President of Chamberlain University since 2018, Dr. Karen Cox has led the institution to new heights, overseeing its growth to become the largest nursing school in the country, and the leading grantor of Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees to underrepresented minority students in the United States. Her leadership encompasses strategy, operations, and the success of over 40,000 students across 23 campuses and online degree programs.
 Tracy Ortelli, Ph.D., RN, CNE, ANEF, FAAN President & Chief Academic Officer Galen College Dr. Ortelli will discuss the evolution of Galen College from a vocational school to one of the largest producers of professional nurses in the United States. Additionally, Tracy will share Galen’s recent history of being purchased by HCA Healthcare., currently serves as Galen College of Nursing’s President and Chief Academic Officer. She joined Galen in 2008 and served as the College’s first Vice President for Academic Affairs. During her tenure at Galen, a few of her major accomplishments include providing leadership for the development, implementation, and evaluation of the College’s nursing programs, while ensuring quality during a period of robust growth, establishing a common curriculum and assessments, creating a faculty rank and promotion system, and leading the work required to establish Galen College of Nursing as a NLN Center of Excellence.
Elevating Your Impact: Personal Branding, Leadership & Professional Presence Tuesday, July 22, 2025 4:00 - 5:30pm ET Register in advance and invite a colleague to join you!
Description: What is your leadership brand—and is it working for you?
Do you need support refining how you show up—online, in the boardroom, or on national platforms?
Whether you're a seasoned executive or rising voice in health leadership, this offering will challenge you to ask: Join Dr. Nia Josiah for a dynamic session designed to ignite your leadership legacy. In this interactive presentation, NurseTRUST leaders will explore how personal branding—when grounded in values—can amplify leadership visibility, professional influence, and mentorship effectiveness. Drawing from Duane Brown’s Core Values Framework and the principles of Unique Value Proposition (UVP), this session offers leaders tools to help you align your brand with your purpose. This TRUSTed Conversation provides a space to reflect, strategize, and grow. Your next opportunity to brand with purpose and lead with impact starts here.
Presenter:
Dr. Nia Josiah, DNP, MSN, RN, PMHNP Practice Track Assistant Professor Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3332-4776
Dr. Nia Adimu-Ceja Josiah is a clinician-scholar, educator, and advocate whose work spans psychiatric-mental health nursing, structural inequity, historical inquiry, and simulation-based pedagogy. She serves as a Practice Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Health at Penn Nursing. Dr. Josiah holds a DNP and Post-Master’s PMHNP certificate from Columbia University, an MSN from Johns Hopkins University, and a BA in Psychological and Brain Sciences from Johns Hopkins. Her scholarly focus addresses mental health disparities, systemic racism, and the impacts of implicit bias, particularly among historically marginalized populations.
At Penn Nursing, Dr. Josiah is focused on fostering interdisciplinary partnerships, strengthening community engagement, and shaping transformative educational environments to prepare future nursing leaders. Through mentorship, she actively supports the next generation of nurses in developing professional branding, articulating core values, defining their "why," exploring entrepreneurship, advancing community engagement initiatives, and building their social media presence as nurse influencers ready to compete in an advancing technological world. She is also committed to helping DNP-prepared clinicians bridge the divide between practice and research, equipping them to lead with purpose, innovation, and scholarly impact in a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.
PAST TOPICS:
May 2025 From Awareness to Action: Join Us In Community, Conversation, and Collective Impact Facilitators: Donna Thompson, MS, RN, RWJENF and Erin Denholm, MSN, RN, RWJENF Description: Reflections and dialogue on the SHIFT Film -Everybody’s Work: Healing What Hurts Us All" which examines the hidden disease plaguing healthcare in the United States: structural racism.
February 2025
Conversations on Healthcare Speaker: Margaret Flinter, APRN, PhD, c-FNP, FAAN, RWJF Executive Nurse Fellow Alum, SVP and Clinical Director of the Moses Weitzman Health System and Community Health Center, Inc. Description: Margaret Flinter discussed her podcast, Conversations on Healthcare, which she has co-hosted with Mark Masselli for many years. The program brings in national and global health and healthcare leaders on health policy, innovation, technology, and global health.
JUNE 2024 Providing an Empathetic Learning Experience for Nurses Speaker: Nancy Bellucci, PhD, MSN-Ed, MS, RN, CNE, CNOR - Academic Program Director - Columbia Southern University Description: This presentation will emphasize the importance of inclusivity in the nursing classroom. It will discuss design thinking and empathetic instructional design and the role empathy plays in course design. The presentation will share methods for embedding inclusivity and promoting critical awareness in the nursing educational environment while remaining empathetic to student needs.
May 2024 Invisible to Visible Speakers: John Lowe, RN, PhD, FAAN, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas and Rose M. Wimbish-Tompkins (Cirilo), PhD, University of Texas at Austin – Steve Hicks School of Social Work Description: This presentation will share the historical and sociocultural impact on the health of marginalized and invisible Native American tribes. Many tribal communities that have remained invisible are beginning the journey to becoming visible. The Health Survey Project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is an example of approaches to bring visibility to the health needs of marginalized tribes.
March 2024 Leading from Within: Applying Wisdom in Everyday Moments Speaker: Cynda Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor of Clinical Ethics at John’s Hopkins University School of Nursing Description: It's tempting for leaders to look externally for the answers to the complex questions they face. Leland Kaiser, a healthcare futurist, proposed 108 Wisdom Principles to ground service in the world. Join us to explore how these wisdom principles can ground leaders in their choices and actions.
February 2024 1200 WE-I Profiles & Their EQ Impact on Teams Speakers: Jeannine Acantilado, MSN, MBA, Elan Consulting Services & June Altaras, RN, MN, Multicare Health System Description: Jeannine and June will share insights and observations with how a nursing educator's/leader's internal emotional landscape can impact nursing education and onboarding, healthcare quality, patient outcomes, psychological safety, wellness and resilience and staff satisfaction.
January 2024 Nursing Leadership in National Policy: Updates on the RAISE Family Caregiving Advisory Council Speaker: Casey Shillam, PhD, RN, FAAN, Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs for Southern Oregon University Description: Casey shared her experience as Co-Chair of the Raise Family Caregiving Advisory Council followed by small group breakouts for a discussion on how you support others or receive support in contributing to national policy.
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