COL (Retired) US Army Nurse Denise Hopkins-Chadwick has a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing (BSN) from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), a Master’s in Nursing, Adult Critical Care Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) from the University of Washington, a PhD in Nursing Research from The Ohio State University (OSU), and a Master’s in Strategic Studies (MSS) from the Army War College. Her research is in women in the miliary and health, medical modeling and simulation, and trauma care. She is a published and federally funded scientist. She is a reviewer for Military Medicine, Chair of Research and Evidence Based Practice (EBP) for the Army Nurse Corps Association (ANCA) and is serving as consultant on federally funded grants and is PI on an IV Ketamine study. Currently she is the Chief, Nurse Scientist in the South Texas Health Care System VA, San Antonio, TX.
COL (Ret.) Constance Moore has 40 years of nursing experience and was formerly a board certified psychiatric nurse. She served as the Army Nurse Corps Historian from 1994-1997 and as the Army Nurse Corps Association Historian from 2008-present. She has written Maria Longworth Storer: From Music and Art to Presidents and Popes, published by the University of Cincinnati Press, in 2019. Her next book deals with Army nurses who deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq from 2001-2021.
LTC(P) Puliafico has over 25 years of Nursing experience in both the civilian and military communities. LTC Puliafico in curently matriculating at the Naval War College in Newport Rhode Island. In his civilan career track, he is a Telehealth Care Coordinator for VA Boston Healthcare System. As a member of the Massachusetts Army National Guard, LTC Puliafico is currently the Chief Nursing Officer. He has had the opportunity to help develop many Army, Guard, and Reserve nurses during his multiple mobilzations and deployments, to include as a Hospital Commander in Afghanistan, and most recently as the CNO of a major civilian nursing facility during the COVID pandemic.
LTC (Ret) Randall Schaefer served 20 years as an Emergency/Trauma Nurse in operational units and fixed facilities in clinical and staff officer roles, deploying three times in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Inherent Resolve. From 2017 until 2021, she worked at the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC), developing, and implementing the country's first multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary Regional Whole Blood Program, comprising 18 ground EMS agencies, ten helicopter EMS bases, and numerous hospitals throughout South Texas. She presented at over a dozen conferences, including EMS World, the Special Operations Medical Association (SOMA), and the Military Health Systems Research Symposium (MHSRS). She is the lead author or co-author of ten publications regarding prehospital blood or low titer O-positive whole blood (LTOWB). She is the CEO of Schaefer Consulting, LLC. Her area of focus is taking her clinical and operational experiences to help improve patient outcomes and make life a little easier for the clinical staff still at the bedside.
COL (Ret) Simmons has over 30 years of nursing experience as a medical-surgical nurse and nurse scientist. She recently retired from the miltiary in her last assignment as the Commandant and Assistant Profession at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Simmons continues her research in improving military nurses’ mental health and well-being, exploring ways to decrease moral distress and moral injury’s on the military nurse. She continues to give back by mentoring and coaching military nurses and serving as Adjunct Faculty at the Uniformed Services University in retirement.
General Wilmoth excelled in two careers simultaneously. Her academic career includes a tenure as Dean, Georgia State University and inaugural executive vice dean at the School of Nursing, UNC Chapel Hill, where she is a tenured full professor. She is an alumna of the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship and served as NAM/AAN/ANA/ANF Distinguished Nurse Scholar-in-Residence at the National Academy of Sciences 2023-2024. She was the first nurse to command a medical brigade at the General Officer rank in the Army. Her final military assignment was as Deputy Surgeon General, US Army Reserve where she was the first nurse to serve in this role for the Army Reserve. She has numerous publications and is a sought-after speaker in the area of leadership, health policy and impact of deployment on children.