Jennifer Alderman, MSN, RNC-OB, CNL Assistant Professor and Academic Counselor, UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing
Jennifer Alderman is an Assistant Professor and Academic Counselor at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing. Jennifer’s background in nursing includes work in maternal/newborn nursing, nursing management, and patient safety and quality. In her role as a faculty member, Jennifer primarily teaches undergraduate leadership and clinical groups in maternal/newborn nursing. Jennifer is currently pursuing a PhD in nursing, with a focus in inter- professional education.
Lesley-Anne Bandy, BSN ‘08 Nurse Manager, Rehabilitation Center, UNC Health Care
My first degree is in Psychology and Spanish. I realized after doing a summer
internship in a behavioral health hospital that I was more interested in what the nurses were doing than what the psychologists were doing, so I looked into going back to nursing school. I was accepted to the UNC Accelerated BSN program in 2007 and graduated in 2008. I thought I wanted to be a psych nurse since this is what my background was in, but after my psych clinical, I realized that psych was not a good fit for me. As I began my job search prior to graduation, I thought back on my various clinical experiences and found that my first clinical, which had taken place in the Rehabilitation Center, was one of my most enjoyable. Fortunately, the Rehab Center had a new grad position open, so I applied and was offered the position.
Gretchen Dawson, BSN ‘06, MSN ‘14 Cancer Survivorship Program Coordinator, Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital
Gretchen Dawson is a 2006 BSN with Honors and 2014 MSN graduate of UNC's School of Nursing. She has been an oncology nurse for over 9 years with experience in solid tumors, hematologic malignancies, and stem cell transplant. In 2014 upon graduation from her Master's program, Gretchen was chosen as 1 of 3 nurse practitioners from across the country to participate in the one-year prestigious Post-Graduate Fellowship in Oncology Nursing at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. She completed the fellowship in August 2015 and now is working to build the cancer survivorship program at Cone Health Cancer Center in Greensboro, NC. Gretchen is married to her high school sweetheart and next door neighbor and they live in High Point. They have an 8-year-old chocolate lab named Lucy, who is the love of their lives. Thank you so much for having me back at my alma mater!
Carla Fulk, BSN Assistant Director of the Medical Surgical ICU at Moses Cone Hospital
I began my career at Moses Cone at the early age of 17 working as a Nurse Tech in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. I attended The University of North Carolina at Greensboro right out of High School. Working as a Nurse Tech my last year of High School and continued throughout my 4 years while attending UNCG. I completed my Bachelors Degree in Nursing in 4 years and was fortunate to be hired as a new graduate RN in the same SICU I had worked in as a NT. I worked there moving my way up in Leadership, being promoted to the Care Coordinator. Essentially meaning permanent charge nurse, dealt with corrective action and scheduling for the department. I decided that in 2010 I wanted something a little different and was promoted to the House Supervisor or Nursing Supervisor for the entire hospital, which became Cone Health. This role prepared me even further in Leadership. In 2015, I decided I missed the ICU and applied for the Assistant Director role for Medical-Surgical ICU. I wanted to enhance my current skills in Leadership and get more experience with Direct Reports. I have been employed by Cone Health for 15 years, I am currently enrolled to obtain my Masters in Science in Nursing with a concentration in Leadership and Management. My goal is to become a Department Director and even a Service Director later in my career.
Carla Jones, DNP, NE-BC Nursing Director, UNC-Hillsborough
Dr. Jones earned her BSN from ECU and her MSN from UNC-CH. She initially worked at WakeMed-Raleigh in the surgery acute and step-down units post-graduation. She then moved to UNC Hospitals, serving as the nursing manager for the Intermediate Surgery Step-Down unit for over three years, then becoming the CNIV of the orthopaedic/trauma unit since 2006. In this role she has lead the unit in a myriad of way, from overseeing care provision to daily operations to preparation for accreditation visits. She has provided strong leadership to a number of hospital wide committees, such as the Falls Committee, Clinical Ladder committee, and Commitment to Caring Team. Her research into complications of intravenous antibiotic therapy has resulted in four posters presentations, two podium presentations and a publication. She was a member of the first cohort of DNP students at UNC-CH and one of the first five graduates in December 2014. She was recently appointed to lead the nursing staff of the new UNC-Hillsborough Hospital.
Alice Matthews, BSN ‘96, MPH ‘00 Clinical Director-Orthopedic Hospital, New Hanover Regional Medical Center
Alice Matthews received her Associate Degree in Nursing and her Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She later received her Master of Public Health with a nursing concentration from UNC-Chapel Hill.She has worked at New Hanover Regional Medical Center (NHRMC) in Wilmington, N.C. for 29 years and has a diverse employment background. Alice has been a Clinical Educator and Staff Nurse in the Emergency Department; the Trauma Coordinator; the Coordinator of House Supervision; and the Manager of the ICU, Float Pool MedSurg, and Patient Transport. She is currently the Clinical Director of NHRMC Orthopedic Hospital.Alice has participated in the development and implementation of the Bedside RN to RN Shift Report for the Lean Initiative at NHRMC, which was later disseminated throughout other nursing units. She has also completed IRB approved research on Nurses Perceptions of Their Role in Providing Spiritual Care. Alice currently serves as a member of six committees and teams at NHRMC, including the Nursing Research Committee, the PeriOp Committee, and the Surgical TAC Committee.
Derek Miller, BSN MSN Student, Health Care Systems – Administration, UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing
My first background was in teaching. I earned a BS in Math Education from NC State and then taught high school math in Wake County for 6 years. Seeking a career change, I completed nursing school pre-reqs at Durham Tech and worked for a short time as a nursing assistant doing hospice care and home health. I worked as a nursing assistant at the NC Jaycee Burn Center while completing nursing school at UNC-Chapel Hill. After nursing school, I continued at the Burn Center as a staff nurse. Over time I supplemented my bedside staffing with outreach and education as an instructor for ACLS, PALS, ABLS (Advanced Burn Life Support) and guest lectured at conferences and nursing schools across the state. In 2014 I started my MSN in Administration & Nursing Education at UNC-Chapel Hill. In July of 2015, after 11 years at the Burn Center, I began a new job as a nurse educator in the department of Nursing Practice & Professional Development. I am the coordinator for the ECCO/Odyssey program, which is the clinical core of nurse residency for critical care at UNC Hospitals.
Roger Saunders, BSN, PNP, MSN Nurse Manager, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, UNC Health Care
Roger Saunders is a Tar Heel Born and Bred as he received his Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also received a Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Certificate from Fitzsimons Army Medical Center and his Masters in Nursing Administration at UNC-Greensboro. His work experience includes serving as an army nurse from 1979-1995, during which his duties included Orthopedic Nurse, Newborn Nursery Nurse, Inpatient Pediatrics Nurse, Primary Care PNP, Clinic Administrator, and Nurse Manager of Inpatient Pediatrics and Pediatric Clinics. After this, Saunders made his way back to North Carolina to work at Moses Cone Health System from 1995-2003. There he was a Primary Care PNP, Manager of Women’s Services, and Director of Neonatal Services. Saunders then moved on to Oklahoma to be Director of Neonatal Services at OU Medical Center from 2003-2007. From 2007 to the present, Saunders has worked in UNC Health Care as the Manager of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. He has received various military service awards fro outstanding service and achievements and is also a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Saunders is also a great 100 nominee. He has done many presentations across the United States that include topics ranging from pediatric nursing and families to the TeamSTEPPS program. Additionally, Saunders has several publications on the following topics: Evaluating Efforts to Optimize TeamSTEPPS Implementation and Evaluating and Development of Best Practices for Improving Family Centered Care.
Ron Riggle, BSN ‘95 Sedation Nurse, Vascular Interventional Radiology, UNC Health Care
I am a 1995 grad. It was a tough market for a new grad that year: Duke had hiring freeze; UNC was maintaining a 9% vacancy; Durham Regional (now part of Duke) had just laid off 100+ RNs; Wake Med was not hiring new grads. It took three months to get an interview at Duke and I got my first job in Renal/Pulmonary Medicine. Hated it! I went to post-surgical Observation, then Bone Marrow Transplant. Loved it! Over the next several years, I was a travel nurse for about 5 years, worked in Clinical Drug Trials as a monitoring nurse on and off for about 10 years, worked as a Psych nurse in south Georgia for a few months, then came back to NC and briefly tried my hand at the Surgical ICU at Duke. I quickly learned that that was NOT my gig because I like to be able to talk to my patients.
Gwen Waddell-Schultz, BSN ‘70, MSN ‘76 Nursing Staff Development and Orientation Programs, coordinates clinical placements for nursing students, Durham VA Medical Center
Gwen H. Waddell-Schultz, MSN, RN-C, NE-BC, is the Chief Nurse Executive, Education and Medicine at the Durham Veterans Administration Medical Center, Durham, NC. She is responsible for staff development and orientation programs for over 800 nursing staff, and is known for her promotion of recruitment, retention and recognition of excellence in nursing. She motivates the nursing staff to pursue higher education and is Program Coordinator of the VHA Scholarship Program. She is responsible for the placements of over 150 nursing students annually who have clinical experiences at the VA. She coordinates summer internship programs as well as RN Transition-to-Practice programs, whereby new grads complete a year-long internship. In addition to her work with Durham VA Medical Center, she holds appointments as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing and as consulting associate faculty at the Duke University School of Nursing. She earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in nursing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed a post-masters certificate in Nursing Administration from Duke University. She is an active member of the American Nurses Association and North Carolina Nurses Association. She has served on a variety of boards and committees with NCNA and served as President between 2000 and 2001. Additionally, she served as treasurer, president, newsletter editor, program chair and nominating committee for the Triangle Region of NCNA. She has received many awards by the organization recognizing her leadership and mentoring contributions.