Innovation in Nursing and Healthcare
ANA is dedicated to building a culture of innovation in nursing.
To innovate is to put new ideas into practice or existing ideas into practice in new ways.
ANA and its partners ignite innovation through events and opportunities for nurses to share their ideas, and actively collaborate with and receive feedback from other nursing professionals.
NursePitch™
NursePitch is a virtual, interactive event that features nurses from across the country competing for the chance to turn their innovation dreams into reality. In August, six contestants had the opportunity to pitch their products to expert judges and answer questions about their product such as what problem it solves, its cost to produce, target markets, and specific details on how it would work. Cash prizes to further develop innovations were awarded for first, second, and third place. Read about the 2020 event and winners here.
- First Place
- Second Place
- Third Place
- goNurse
ANA is proud to highlight and celebrate nurse-led innovation by showcasing their efforts.
ANA Innovation Awards
The Innovation Awards highlights, recognizes and celebrates nurse-led innovation that improves patient safety outcomes. The awards are powered by BD, a global medical technology company and include a $25,000 individual nurse award and a $50,000 nurse-led team award. Read about the 2020 winners here.
Apply and get updates and information about the 3rd Annual ANA Innovation Awards here.
In January 2020, Johnson & Johnson and the American Nurses Association launched an inspiring storytelling podcast that reveals innovative and human-centered solutions addressing today's most challenging healthcare problems. See You Now unpacks the personal motivations of each guest and explores how their experiences sparked action.
Each episode features nurse innovators, nurse allies, and other leaders in and at the intersection of health who have developed unique devices, technologies, protocols, programs, and treatment approaches.
Interested in listening to See You Now episodes? Click here.
The Innovation Advisory Board was convened to inform ANA’s innovation work. This board is composed of a select group of leaders with expertise or deep experience in innovation.
Click on a member to toggle more information.
The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation
Executive Director
Ahrin Mishan, MPA, MA
The Rita and Alex Hillman FoundationExecutive Director
Ahrin Mishan is the executive director of the Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation, one of the nation’s leading philanthropies focused on Nursing and the role it plays in improving the health of patients, families and communities. He oversees the Foundation's grant-making efforts which focus primarily on the education of nurse innovators and on the advancement of leading edge, nursing-driven models of care that target the needs of vulnerable populations.
Ahrin serves on the Board of Directors of the American Nurse Foundation; was a member of the steering committee of the National Nurse Funder’s Collaborative; and served as co-lead of the New York Future of Nursing Action Coalition. He holds a Master’s degree in Visual Anthropology from the University of Southern California, as well as a Masters degree in Nonprofit Management from New York University/Wagner.
University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing
Director of Innovation
Marion Leary, RN, MSN, MPH
University of Pennsylvania's School of NursingDirector of Innovation
Marion Leary is the Director of Innovation and an Instructor at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing. Ms. Leary has established herself as a nursing leader in the field of resuscitation science, as well as nursing innovation. As the incoming Director of Innovation at Penn Nursing she creates curriculums focused on nursing innovation and the foundation of design thinking.
Ms. Leary's research focuses on cardiac arrest and CPR quality with the current goal of developing innovative strategies to improve bystander response and CPR training. Ms. Leary is an international Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) and has participated in the 2010 and 2015 resuscitation guidelines. She also coordinates the social media campaign for the American Heart Association (AHA)’s Resuscitation Science Symposium. Ms. Leary is on the program committee for the Citizen CPR Foundation’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care Updates conference focusing on innovation, social media outreach, and engagement.
Ms. Leary is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Public Health Initiatives at Penn. Ms. Leary completed her master's degree in nursing at Penn, in health leadership and a master's degree in public health at Penn. Ms. Leary began a doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania in 2018.
Previously, Ms. Leary was an Instructor in the Penn Master of Public Health program where she taught methods implementation and public health communication.
Ms. Leary founded the Penn UPstart companies ImmERge, LLC and Resuscor, LLC. Immerge Labs focused on using virtual reality and augmented reality to reimagine how the world prepares for emergencies. Resuscor, LLC focused on using digital strategies to improve post-cardiac arrest training and education.
Hopelab
VP Strategy & Design
Chris McCarthy, MBA, MPH
HopelabVP Strategy & Design
Chris McCarthy is the VP of Strategy & Design at Hopelab and the Executive Director and Founder of the Innovation Learning Network. At Hopelab his main focus is at the intersection of design and science in the service of young people's health. Currently he is guiding work with young cancer survivors, teen moms, and emotional well-being of young people. In his previous role at Kaiser Permanente’s Innovation Consultancy, he tackled safer medication administration for patients, more robust shift changes for nurses, exploring the social space of elders, and the care experience of transgender people.
His work has been featured with CNN ( Dec 2017), Harvard Business Review (Sept 2010), Bisognano's "Pursuing the Triple Aim" (2012), FastCompany, the New York Times and many more. As an author, he collaborated with Lyle Berkowitz, MD on "Innovation with Information Technologies in Healthcare" (2012). You can find his quirky design blog at McCarthyChris.com.
He was named the 2015 H.I.T. Innovator and the 2011 Ellerbe Beckett Lecturer. And is an international speaker on innovation and design.
Chris has a master's in business administration from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/Copenhagen Business School, and a master’s in public health in Health Policy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In his spare time, he obsesses about fitness, movies and home remodels.
Institute for Applied Life Sciences & College of Nursing, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Associate Professor
Karen Giuliano, PhD, RN, FAAN, MBA
Institute for Applied Life Sciences & College of Nursing, University of Massachusetts AmherstAssociate Professor
Karen's specific interests are focused on the intersection of clinical needs and medical technology use, development, and innovation. Throughout her career, Karen has focused on clinical outcomes research and new product development and innovation. While at Philips Healthcare, Karen spent 12 years in various global roles, working with patient monitoring systems and clinical outcomes research. As a result of her work in new product development at Philips, Karen was the global winner (2011) in the R&D category for new product innovation. In 2012, Karen received the professional achievement award for innovative product development from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation. In 2016, Karen completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Yale University, where she collaborated across the schools of nursing, engineering and business while working on improving the safety and usability of IV smart infusion pumps.
Karen's work has been widely disseminated with over 80 publications in more than 20 different journals. Karen is a frequent national and international presenter at professional healthcare conferences, with specific interests focused on the intersection of clinical needs and medical technology use, development, and innovation.
The central focus of Karen's work is to improve patient outcomes through innovation in health care delivery practices and products. Specific areas of interest include improving medication administration safety using IV smart pumps, and the reduction of non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia.
Trusted Health
Head of Clinical Innovation
Dan Weberg, PhD, RN
Trusted HealthHead of Clinical Innovation
Dr. Dan Weberg is a nurse leader and expert in human centered patient design and simulation and healthcare innovation with extensive clinical experience in the emergency department, acute in-patient hospital settings, and academia over past 12 years. Known for creatively disrupting the healthcare workforce through innovation, nursing, and technology, Dr. Weberg leads efforts to challenge the status quo, creates amazing experiences for nurses to find their passion and links it to their work while meeting the growing demand from healthcare for their services
Dr. Weberg has held a variety of leadership roles, including nursing director, clinical faculty director, consultant, and direct care in emergency departments, academic medical centers, large colleges of nursing, and private educational firms. He has extensive experience developing healthcare technology strategy, collaborating with executive sponsors and key stakeholder groups, doing ground up collaboration with frontline care delivery teams. He is an expert in leading and influencing teams at unit level, hospital wide, and across health systems to sustain innovative technology, informatics and education change initiatives. He authored a first of its kind book titled “Evidence Based Innovation Leadership for Health Professions” which describes the leadership and collaboration skills needed to lead the future of healthcare delivery.
Arizona State University College of Nursing & Health Innovation
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
Katherine Kenny, DNP, RN, ANP-BC, FAANP, FAAN
Arizona State University College of Nursing & Health InnovationAssociate Dean of Academic Affairs
Dr. Katherine (Kathy) Kenny, DNP, RN, ANP-BC is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation where she holds the rank of Clinical Professor. She is also a Board Certified Adult Nurse Practitioner. She joined the faculty at CONHI in 2004, previously serving as the DNP Program Director. Past leadership positions include Chief of Advanced Practice Nursing at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona; Director of Medicine Services at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center; and Director of Nurses, and CVICU Manager.
Clinical specialties include critical care, cardiology, neurosciences, pain management, palliative care, and pre-operative preparation. Her research interests include patient education, leadership, integrative therapies, palliative care, pain management, inter-professional practice with a specific interest in mentoring relationships, and innovative approaches to healthcare delivery. She is published in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and is an invited presenter at regional, national, and international conferences. She serves on a number of Boards. She was inducted as a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners in 2013 and as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 2015.
University of Massachusetts-Amherst College of Nursing
Assistant Professor
Rachel Walker, PhD, RN, OCN
University of Massachusetts-Amherst College of NursingAssistant Professor
Dr. Rachel Walker, Ph.D., RN, is a nurse inventor, activist, and Assistant Professor in the University of Massachusetts-Amherst College of Nursing whose scholarship is grounded in her experiences as a rural emergency medical and disaster relief worker, U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer, and oncology nurse. She is the first nurse to be named an AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassador.
Dr. Walker is currently a Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research CCR Scholar and an Associate Director for the UMASS Institute for Applied Life Science’s Center for Personalized Health Monitoring. She completed her doctorate at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Johns Hopkins Center for Innovative Care in Aging. Her team focuses on person-directed and participatory approaches to promoting dignity, capability, and health equity over the life course.
Dr. Walker works collaboratively with patient advocates and community leaders, clinicians, industry partners, and scholars from a wide variety of disciplines to develop technology, models of care, and other innovations that support symptom self-management and patients’ ability to engage in the roles and activities that are most important to them and their families. Most recently, her team’s proposal for a self-contained portable system to generate critical IV fluids during disasters earned runner-up in the 2018 $200K M2D2 Medical Device challenge.
University of Tennessee College of Nursing
Associate Dean of Research
Tami Wyatt, PhD, RN, CNE, CHSE, ANEF, FAAN
University of Tennessee College of NursingAssociate Dean of Research
Dr. Tami Wyatt is the Associate Dean of Research and Torchbearer Professorship of Nursing at the University of Tennessee, College of Nursing. Dr. Wyatt is a Co-Director of the Health Innovation Technology & Simulation Lab along with her research partner. Dr. Wyatt has served as a district President for the Virginia Nurses Association and President of Gamma Chi, a chapter of Sigma Theta Tau. She is currently a co-owner and President of Academic Technology Innovations.
Dr. Wyatt has received grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and from private corporations for her work related to innovative technology to improve consumer and professional health education. She is a Fellow in the Academy of Nursing, the Academy of Nursing Education, the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Program, a Scholar of the Harvard Macy Institute and a Scholar of the Mobile Health Training Institutes of the National Institutes of Health. She is an active member in several professional simulation and healthcare informatics organizations. Dr. Wyatt also serves as a reviewer for several peer reviewed journals in her area of expertise and serves as a grant reviewer for the National League for Nursing.
The Ohio State University College of Nursing
Chief Innovation Officer
Tim Raderstorf, DNP, RN, MSN
The Ohio State University College of NursingChief Innovation Officer
Tim Raderstorf is the Chief Innovation Officer at The Ohio State University College of Nursing. As the first nurse to hold this academic title in the United States, he takes great pride in educating the nation on the role of the nurse as an innovator and entrepreneur. In 2017, he founded The Innovation Studio, a makerspace/incubator that provides interprofessional healthcare teams with the tools and mentorship needed to turn ideas into actions.
Outside of Ohio State, Tim is the founder of Quality Health Communications, a digital Clinical Decision Support System that communicates real-time patient quality and safety metrics to the healthcare team. He is also the co-author of Evidence-Based Leadership, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Nursing and Healthcare: A Practical Guide for Success, which will be published by Springer Publishing Company in 2019.
Vinaj Ventures
Managing Director
Faye Sahai, MBA, PMP, SCPM
Vinaj VenturesManaging Director
Executive innovation leader and investment advisor on strategy, startup, inclusion and partnerships that grow new capabilities, develop new business opportunities, and position companies at the forefront. Developer of innovation strategic partnerships, innovation centers, innovation funds and ecosystems that drive transformation initiatives in healthcare, technology, and financial services. Goal-driven collaborator and advisor with success leading strategy, investments and innovation for large, global corporations, building from her experience at Kaiser Permanente headquarters in Oakland, Blue Shield of California, AIG, Charles Schwab, and Deloitte Consulting.
- Exploring and investing in digital wellness and behavioral health startups with support of the Executive Office of Melinda Gates, Pivotal Ventures
- Advising companies and organizations on innovation, inclusion and impact
- Launched the AIG Global Innovation Center and managing the advanced technology team
- Managed the Kaiser Permanente Innovation Lab and Fund for Technology
- Assessed thousands of innovations, piloted hundreds and scaled new products and services such as care anywhere apps, robotic couriers, blockchain smart contracts, artificial intelligence for self-service, wearables for workers safety, mobile apps for safe driving.
CathWear, LLC
Inventor & CEO
Brian Mohika, BSN, RN
CathWear, LLCInventor & CEO
Experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the medical device industry. Skilled in Medical Devices, Healthcare Information Technology (HIT), Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), Healthcare Management, and Healthcare.
- Directs the company in keeping with the vision outlined by the Board of Directors
- Works closely with the CFO to prepare annual budgets and analysis of potential investment opportunities, advises the Board of Directors on investment risk and return
- Oversees quality control to the company, establishing goals for each department
- Represents the company at industry events, conferences, and public meetings
University of Minnesota School of Nursing
Professor of Nursing and Director Katharine J. Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership
Daniel Pesut, PhD, RN, FAAN
University of Minnesota School of NursingProfessor of Nursing and Director Katharine J. Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership
Dr. Daniel Pesut is a Professor of Nursing in the Nursing Population Health and Systems Cooperative Unit of the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. And Director of the Katharine J. Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership. He holds the Katherine R. and C. Walton Lillehei Chair in Nursing Leadership. Dr. Pesut is a popular author, speaker, coach and consultant, and is known for his ability to inspire and support people as they develop creative ideas and design innovative practices with a desired future in mind.
Dr. Pesut is internationally known for his work in nursing education - creative-teaching learning methods; self-regulation of health status, clinical reasoning, futures thinking, executive coaching and leadership development in the health professions. Dr. Pesut earned a PhD in Nursing from the University of Michigan, a Master’s Degree in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, TX and BS degree in Nursing from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL. He has completed Certificates in Management Development from Harvard Institute for Higher Education, Core Mediation Skills Training from the International Association of Dispute Resolution (IARD) and Integral Studies from Fielding Graduate University. He is a certified Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara coach. He is past President (2003-2005) of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. He served on the Board of Trustees of the Plexus Institute –an organization with the mission to foster the health of individuals, families and communities, organizations and our natural environment by helping people use concepts emerging from the new science of complexity. He is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, and a board certified clinical nurse specialist in adult psychiatric mental health nursing. He is the recipient of many awards including an Army Commendation Award while on active duty (1975-1978) in the US Army Nurse Corps; the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International Edith Moore Copeland Founder’s Award for Creativity; The American Assembly for Men In Nursing Luther Christman Award; Distinguished Alumni Awards from Northern Illinois University School of Nursing-College of Health and Human Services; as well as a number of other distinguished alumni, teaching, mentoring and leadership awards.
National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs, Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers
Senior Advisor
Laurin Hardin, MSN, CNL, FNAP, FAAN
National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs, Camden Coalition of Healthcare ProvidersSenior Advisor
Consultant in system redesign and inter professional complex care delivery for health systems, communities, government agencies and payers. Co-design and implementation of models for complex care delivery and build of ecosystems for complex patients. Responsible for field building partnerships to advance Complex Care. Faculty for National Center responsible for interprofessional content development in the emerging field of complex care. Her special interests include the impact of trauma and loss on high frequency healthcare access and the economic potential of stabilizing complex patients through retaining and redesigning existing interprofessional resources in the healthcare system.
Member of an interprofessional team advancing field development. Sample of clients: Regional One Health Memphis, Adventist Health system, Providence St Joseph Health System, State of Delaware, Excellus Blue Cross/Blue Shield, St. Louis Behavioral Health Network, Center for the Advancement of Palliative Care, National Association of ACOs.
Aspen Labs
Founder & Managing Director
Christy Zuber, PhD, RN, MHA
Aspen LabsFounder & Managing Director
Dr. Christi Zuber is internationally recognized for her trail-blazing work in the field of innovation and human centered design. She recently transitioned from the 14 year position of Founder and Director of the Innovation and Design practice at Kaiser Permanente’s corporate office in Oakland, CA to found and lead Aspen Labs consulting practice in Denver, CO. She also serves on faculty at Northwestern University teaching students about service design and innovation.
She has connected others like her across industries through founding and leading a global Design Thinking Exchange (DTX) network that gathers leaders across over 15 organizations and 10 academic institutions. Zuber has over 20 years of leading teams, observing users, creatively generating ideas and conducting field experiments to develop solutions that work. The work of Zuber an her teams have been touted by the likes of the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and the New York Times.
In her dissertation research, she focused on the secret sauce for change agents who have been successful in bringing Human Centered Design into large complex organizations which may not be so keen to change. Christi loves to write, research, teach and help organizations on the topics of design, innovation, creativity and individual empowerment to make a positive difference in the world.
Clinical Professor, Population Health and System Cooperative
Director of Planetary Health, School of Nursing, University of Minnesota
Teddie Potter, PhD, RN, FAAN
Clinical Professor, Population Health and System CooperativeDirector of Planetary Health, School of Nursing, University of Minnesota
Dr. Potter is deeply committed to climate change education including co-founding Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, membership in the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, and membership on the American Academy of Nursing Environment and Public Health Expert Panel. She is a member of the Coordinating Committee of Columbia University’s Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education and a Fellow in the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. She chairs Clinicians for Planetary Health (C4PH) and is a member of the Steering Committee of the Planetary Health Alliance at Harvard. Dr. Potter has expertise in partnerships and collaboration, cultural transformation, planetary health and climate change, leadership and innovation, diversity and inclusivity, systems thinking, design thinking.
Below are some upcoming and annual events:

Accelerate Health Digital Series is a five-part bimonthly series of live-streamed discussions around innovation. Program information, schedule, and registration can be accessed here.

Currently accepting submissions for 3rd Annual ANA Innovation Awards through November 1, 2020. Information about the awards and online application can be found here.
Every nurse is an agent of change and an innovator. Every day, nurses work together to solve difficult challenges in the workplace and for their patients. The goal is always the same: better care.
Resources
- The Innovation Road Map
- Design Thinking For Health
- Schools of Nursing Innovation Resources
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