President (2023-2025)
June Andrews Horowitz, PhD, RN, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, USA
Dr. June Andrews Horowitz is Associate Dean for Nursing Graduate Studies and Research & Professor, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, U.S.A. Her most notable scholarly contributions concern perinatal family mental health. Dr. Horowitz has published and presented extensively. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, board certified Clinical Specialist in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing, and Executive Board member for Mother-Baby Connections (a perinatal treatment program in Philadelphia), served as co-chair of IFNA’s Conference Planning Committee for IFNC15 and IFNC16.
President-Elect (2023 – 2025)
Petra Brysiewicz, PhD, MN, fANSA, FAAN, ASSAf (2019 – 2023)
University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Petra Brysiewicz is a professor of Nursing in the School of Nursing & Public Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and an honorary professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She has worked with research and education of health professionals, primarily nurses, in South Africa and Africa for over 25 years, predominately in the area of acute/emergency care.
Petra is the communicating PI for DEVELOPING RESEARCH INNOVATION, LOCALISATION AND LEADERSHIP (DRILL) programme within the College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, funded by Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health, USA. Her efforts are focused on inter-professional mentoring and research leadership development for young health researchers. Petra is the editor-in-chief of the International Emergency Nursing journal and associate editor for a number of other journals. Together with colleagues throughout Africa, Petra has established the African IFNA chapter
Twitter account: @PetraBrysiewicz
Secretary (2022 – 2026)
Secretary (2022 – 2026)Elisabeth Coyne
Griffith University Queensland, Australia
Dr Elisabeth Coyne is an internationally recognised cancer nurse researcher. Her interdisciplinary research program aims to improve the outcomes for persons affected by cancer by designing and implementing innovative educational resources. Working with a cross-disciplinary team of health professionals and students, Elisabeth’s research focuses on consumer partnership and safety underpinned by the National Health and Safety Guidelines. Her program of research complements Elisabeth’s teaching focus on innovative digital resources that aim to develop health professionals into advanced practitioners through the provision of care tailored to the needs of patients and their families.
Twitter account: @Elisabethcoyne1
Treasurer (Nov 2023 – 2025)
Suja Somanadhan: PhD, MSc, BA (Hons), Grad. Dip. Healthcare Management (Quality & Risk), Prof. Cert (Creativity and Innovation), RCN, RGN, RNT
University College Dublin, Ireland
I am currently an Assistant Professor and Head of Subject in Children’s Nursing (Pediatric) at University College Dublin, Ireland. In 1998, I completed my primary nurse registration degree from India. I practised as a neonatal nurse in Delhi, India, focusing on family-centred and family-focused care in the Neonatal Nursing Care Unit. I have been working and studying in Ireland since 2003. I have over 18 years of clinical experience in the speciality of paediatric nursing before I moved to academia. I have worked in various roles, including the clinical nurse and nurse managerial role within the Irish and Indian paediatric healthcare services. My doctoral research study was the first of its kind to act as an initial enquiry into the lived experience of Irish families of children with Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS). Since completing my PhD, I have developed a child and family-focused research programme to learn, understand and respond to the care and support needs of those living with rare and complex conditions. I am leading multiple inter-disciplinary and cross-agency research projects in partnership with children and families, which employ various creative methodologies to facilitate engagement in the research process and shed light on what it means to live with rare and medically complex health conditions. The programs focus on patient and public involvement (PPI) and seek to enhance healthcare professionals’ knowledge and care skills who care for these families. I am the founder and lead of the Rare Disease Research Partnership (RAinDRoP) in Ireland. This is a national collaborative research partnership with families of children and person living with rare diseases in Ireland. I have been awarded an honorary research associate fellowship with the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, and I am the recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholar award. Please review my academic profile and synergistic activities at https://people.ucd.ie/suja.somanadhan/about
Twitter account: @sujas15
Directors
Kristen Abbott-Anderson, PhD, RN (2021 – 2025)
Kristen Abbott-Anderson, Ph.D. RN is Dean and Professor at the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, USA. Dr. Abbott-Anderson earned her Ph.D. in Nursing in 2015 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her Ph.D. dissertation entailed development of a sexual concerns questionnaire for women with gynecological cancer.
Dr. Abbott-Anderson’s passion is for building relationships, professionally, and with clients experiencing chronic health conditions and at the end of life. As an RN for many years, Dr. Abbott-Anderson has extensive clinical practice and research experience in Alzheimer’s disease and associated dementias, and women’s health across the lifespan. Her current research focuses on enhancing quality of life for people living with dementia (PWD) through facilitating meaning-making programs designed to enhance connectedness between the PWD and their care partner (CP). She also has a passion for care at end-of-life. Her clinical practice focuses primarily on providing dementia-friendly, dignity preserving care for PWD and end of life care. Dr. Abbott-Anderson holds a certification as a nurse educator and is an End of Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) educator in core and geriatric curricula.
Dr. Abbott-Anderson has co-authored twelve peer-reviewed articles and has contributed to more than 50 national and international scholarly presentations including five invited oral presentations. In addition to these, Dr. Abbott-Anderson has mentored 19 successful student research projects that have been presented locally, nationally, and internationally.
Teresa Gutiérrez-Alemán PhD, MSc, RN. (2022 – 2026)
Public University of Navarra, Spain
Dr. Teresa Gutiérrez-Alemán is an academic researcher at the Public University of Navarra, Spain.
She earned her Ph.D. in 2022 at the University of Navarra, obtaining the honorary distinction of International Doctor. Her Ph.D. dissertation entitled: Design of an Educational Program in Family Nursing for Oncology Nurses.
Her current research focuses on family nursing knowledge translation into practice and educational processes. She has been involved in several family nursing research projects contributing to the education of generalist and advanced practice nurses, cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric testing of measurement instruments, and the development of educational programs’ instructional design. Culminating in the publication of the Effectiveness of Educational Programs for Clinical Competence in Family Nursing: A Systematic Review in the Journal of Family Nursing (2021).
Dr. Gutiérrez-Alemán has been an active member of IFNA since 2017 and participates on the IFNA Practice Committee, where she is coordinating the ongoing IFNA Position Statements Dissemination Project. She is committed to advocating and supporting nurses’ efforts as they pursue excellence in research, education, and practice to enhance family nursing and transform family health worldwide.
Twitter account: @TeresaG_Aleman
Junko Honda, PhD, RN, PHN, CTN-A (2020 – 2026)
University of Hyogo, Japan
Dr. Junko Honda is a Professor of the Research Institute of Nursing Care for People and Community, University of Hyogo, Japan. She is engaged in research and practice related to improving the family nursing competency of hospital nurses and home visiting nurses. She also teaches family nursing in advanced courses in various nursing specialties at the postgraduate level. She contributed to the development of the IFNA Position Statement for Advanced Practice Competencies for Family Nursing. Her research focuses on family health promotion using digital technology. She has been an active member of IFNA since 2010 and serves as Board of Directors of the International Family Nursing Association since 2020. She was honored with the IFNA Rising Star Award in 2017 at IFNC13 in Pamplona, Spain.
Twitter account: @Junko_H
Debbie Sheppard-LeMoine, RN, PhD (2024 – 2026)
Debbie Sheppard-LeMoine, RN, PhD (2024 – 2026)University of Windsor, Canada
Dr. Debbie Sheppard-LeMoine is a full professor and the Dean of the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Windsor since 2020. With over 30 years of experience as an educator including 15 years of international teaching, research and project experience, Debbie’s program of research includes successfully leading an international research team on interprofessional learning within a simulated, family assessment environment. She has completed a study on enhanced home visiting practices that surround women and children who live within vulnerability. She has also focused on implementation science research examining collaborative, interprofessional practices that foster community and citizen access to health services and optimal scope of RN practice in emergency services. Understanding the impact of vulnerability on interprofessional practices and women and children’s lives have shaped and influenced her lifelong passions and collaborative work in the community, public health and with families. The social determinants of health, resilience and family nursing theory and understanding system structural practices informs all of her work.
Debbie has been active professionally as the immediate, past chair of the Canadian Registered Nurse Exam Committee for CNA in Ottawa, the Nova Scotia representative as a subject matter expert in the review of the entry level competencies with the Canadian Council of RN Regulators and was an elected CASN accreditation board member, current CASN Board member and on numerous diverse committees both within the university and nursing profession. . She is an active member of the International Family Nursing association research and practice teams who actively work to support global health of families.
Karyn J. Roberts, PhD, RN (2023 – 2025)
USA
I have been a pediatric nurse since 1995, with experience in acute care, emergency department, quality improvement, nursing education, and research. As a pediatric nurse, family has been the center of my work, in my clinical practice, teaching, and research. The purpose of my research is to ensure that children with chronic conditions and their families will achieve health equity and optimal physical and psychological health and quality of life: with a focus on minoritized communities.
To achieve this purpose my research thus far has had 2 foci: identify the self and family management needs of adolescents with severe obesity; and identify the genetic influences that impact body weight, specifically genes in the melanocortin 4 pathway.
I have held academic appointments at the University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, School of Nursing in the USA. Currently, I am a fellow at the National Institutes of Health and the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics in Genomic Program Management (Bethesda, MD) and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics (Chicago, IL).
I have been an active member of IFNA since 2019 as a member of the Research Committee, and the International Research Sub-collaborative. I have Co-Chaired the Research Sub-Collaborative since 2020. Within the Sub-Collaborative, I have participated in several projects with the Pediatric Research Cluster. In fall of 2021 I helped facilitate a new subgroup cluster focused on policy. I am grateful and honored to serve on the IFNA board alongside my dedicated colleagues from around the world.
Twitter @DrOakie22
Lindsay Smith, RN PhD BHlthSci MNS GradCertUniL&T MACN (2019 – 2025)
University of Tasmania, Australia
I am employed in the School of Nursing University of Tasmania, Australia teaching Strengths-Based and Family Nursing in the Bachelor of Nursing program. My teaching, research and areas of expertise are child and family health, Strength-Based Nursing & Family Nursing.
My passion is to understand how family strengths can be applied through family nursing across the lifespan. My research focus has been to explore how family nursing can encourage family engagement in healthcare through family strengths conversation using the Australian Family Strengths Nursing Assessment guide. This nursing tool, I first published in 2007, is recommended in the Children’s Health, Queensland Hospital and Health Service 2014, Child and Youth Health Practice Manual. The IFNA news item further highlights outcomes from this work https://internationalfamilynursing.org/2018/09/20/supporting-translational-science-for-strong-and-healthy-families-in-australia/.
I began my nursing career in 1984 supporting families across the lifespan and have received two major academic teaching awards – most recently a Vice-Chancellor’s citation for outstanding contribution to student learning. I was awarded Doctor of Philosophy (Social Sciences) in 2011 through the Quality of Life and Social Justice Research Centre, Australian Catholic University. I strive to successfully translate Australian research findings to healthcare practice guidelines & government policy through local, national and international collaboration.
I am pleased to have been one of the Founding IFNA Members in 2009-10 and in 2019 one of the Australian & New Zealand IFNA Chapter founding members. Since IFNA’s formation, the alignment I naturally have with the IFNA Core Values, Mission and Vision has created a synergy that I had not experienced previously in my nursing career. I am thankful to past IFNA leaders who encouraged me to be an active IFNA member and I commit to assisting Family Nurses around the world to equally experience the benefits of active IFNA membership.
Twitter account: @DrLindsaySmith
Click here to view the IFNA Board of Director Meeting Minutes.
