Alyssa T. Morita, RN, BA, BSN
Staff RN, Telemetry/Step Down Unit
Kaiser Permanente, West Los Angeles Medical Center
Alyssa began her professional career as a Research Assistant at an Envirotoxicology Medical Center. She started her nursing career in 2007 on the Step-down/Telemetry Unit at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center(KPWLA). Since then, she has served as member of her Unit Based Team and Magnet Committee, in KPWLA’s journey toward Magnet designation.
Alyssa’s goal as the 2009 Nursing Research Resident is to develop a better understanding of nursing research and partake in the systematic process that shapes the way we practice at the bedside. In turn she hopes to translate this understanding and awareness of available resources back to the clinical arena, advocating for increased nursing participation and engagement in research.
Anna Omery, RN, DNSc
Nurse Scientist & Director of Nursing Research
Patient Care Services
Kaiser Permanente, Southern CA Region
Anna Omery, RN, DNSc, is currently a Nurse Scientist and Director of Nursing Research, Patient Care Services, Southern California Kaiser Permanente. Her current research focus includes health services studies of nursing leadership at the unit level and clinical studies that focus on quality of life and symptom management particularly in patients who are critically ill and/or chronically infected. Dr. Omery is a frequent consultant and guest faculty at Schools of Nursing that include the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Kentucky. Recent evidence based practice projects include systematic reviews of advice nursing, acute pain management, and nurse staffing.
Appy Niyo, RN, MSN
Appy is a Charge Nurse for the Oncology Unit for Kaiser Riverside. Her nursing career primary focuses on specialty nursing, previously in kidney/liver/pancreas transplant and currently in oncology nursing. She has been a member of the Nursing Education and Research Committee at Kaiser Riverside since 2008 and joined the Southern California Nursing Research Committee in 2010. Appy believes that nursing is a "living" profession that is constantly changing and evolving and research is central in providing nurses with the knowledge and methods to perform best evidence-based practice.
Barbara P. Hickman, RN, MSN, CNS
Gerontology CNS
Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles Medical Center
Experience: 35 years of nursing experience, primarily at LAMC. inclusive of staff nursing on Med-Surg/Burn nursing unit, Home Infusion Educator for LAMC, CNS for BMT and Medical Nursing Units, new grad orientation; in management twice (GI Endoscopy and Education & Training), staff development and member health education in KLAMC's Skilled Nursing Facility, KLAMC Ambulatory CNS, CNS-Gerontology at WLA for 2.5 years-focus implement evidenced-based delirium prevention program in-house.
Current Position: Gerontology CNS - responsibilities-senior member health education, Ambulatory staff development. Adjunct faculty at MSMC-Doheny Campus (ADN program) and at WLAC- CNA and Geriatric Care Technician Programs.
Reason for Joining Research Committee: promote evidenced based nursing in the Ambulatory Care Setting and share evidenced -based nursing research with nurses and to network with those involved in replicating nursing research in health care.
Cecelia L. Crawford, RN, MSN
Project Manager III
Translational Research
SCAL Regional Nursing Research
Kaiser Permanente, Patient Care Services
Cecelia has been a registered nurse for 30 years, with the majority of her experience in critical care. She specialized in critical adult and pediatric burn care before turning in the direction of nurse education. Cecelia came to Kaiser-Woodland Hills in 2002 as a nurse educator in the Staff Education Department and has been a part of the Nursing Research Committee since 2003. Cecelia joined the Regional Nursing Research Program as a Project Manager III in December of 2005, with the aim of supporting and integrating evidence-based nursing practice throughout Southern California Kaiser Medical Centers. In addition, Cecelia has served as both chair and co-chairperson to the Nursing Research Committee and is a member of the Nursing Pathways SoCal Research Web Committee. Her overarching goal is to translate nursing research into something meaningful for the bedside nurse.
Dava Millar, RN, MBA
Senior Consultant, Education and Research
Kaiser Permanente, Regional SCPMG
Dava Millar holds an MBA with an emphasis in information technology in addition to a bachelor’s degree in nursing. She has been a manager in the Valley’s Continuing Care Department, and a Senior Learning Consultant and Assistant Chief Learning Officer for SSD/HealthConnect©. In her current role she creates clinical web-based learning modules for ambulatory nursing and serves at the alternate Nursing Research Liaison for ambulatory care.
Donna Scemons MSN, MA, RN, FNP-C,
CNS, CWOCN
Acute Care Nurse Practitioner
Kaiser Permanente, Panorama City Medical Center
Work Experience: A Family Nurse Practitioner with the role of hospital wide acute care nurse practitioner for Kaiser Permanente Medical Center Panorama City is one of the Donna’s current roles within the Kaiser Family. She has provided direct care as a CNS with a specialty in wound, ostomy, and continence care, as well as having functioned as the CNS and Educator in Home Health and Hospice. In the community she has practiced as an administrator for home health and hospice organizations, a corporate director for home care, and a home health psychiatric nurse, as well as an enterostomal therapist, a hospital educator, critical care and oncology nurse. Donna is also an accomplished public speaker and educator presenting on a wide variety of topics at a national and international level. Her publications include an article on humor, a chapter in a book on wound care, and a chapter in a soon to be released book on Diabetes Mellitus management. Her passion is humor, sense of humor, and how health care professionals use or do not use humor therapeutically for patients and themselves. Donna believes that research is beneficial when it translates to the bedside. She is interested in clinical research for the benefit of vulnerable populations that results in changes in bedside practice.
Reason for Joining Research Committee: Professional interest in the process of proposing and completing research to improve patient outcomes in vulnerable populations and achieve health care system improvement goals.
Philosophy: Research starts with an idea or a question, develops into a proposal, and with great diligence and care ends at the bedside in the hands of competent clinicians who use it to improve health care outcomes.
Ella N Gombar, RN, MSN
Quality Coordinator
Home Health, Hospice, Palliative
Metro Los Angeles Service Area
Ella's career experiences over the years have been many and varied. Ella was one of the first female paramedics in the state of California. She became interested in Homecare in 1984. A Kaiser employee since 2001 she is currently working on a Master’s in Nursing at Mt. St. Mary’s College with focus on education. It was this return to school which sparked her interest in nursing research. It is Ella’s goal to promote nursing research and discussion on nursing practice among her peers so more nurses become interested in this area of endeavor and what it means to them and their patients and the profession.
Emma Cuenca, RN, MSN, CCRN, CNS
Clinical Nurse Specialist, CSU -ICSU
Nursing Administration
Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center
Emma has been at Kaiser - Los Angeles for 29 years in numerous roles: staff nurse, clinical educator, as well as nurse manager and CNS in Critical Care, the Emergency Department, Advice Center , and the Cardiac Cath lab.
Emma is currently the Clinical Nurse Specialist of the Cardiac Surgical Unit & Intermediate Cardiac Surgical Unit at Kaiser- Los Angeles .
Emma joined the Research Committee, and felt is a great opportunity to develop skills in translational research and be able to serve as a resource person for nurses. As the current Research Liaison of LAMC Emma's goal is to actively promote research and evidence based practice activities in LAMC and work with the local research council members in operationalizing the developmental map of translational research.
As nurses at the bedside, we should always question what we do, why we do and how we do things. To do that, we need to look at the highest level of evidence in the literature in order to provide the best, safe and cost-effective care to our patients.
Fatemeh Khaghani, RN, Ed.D.
Department Administrator
Kaiser Permanente, West Los Angeles Medical Center
Dr. Fatemeh Khaghani is Department Administrator for the department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Kaiser West Los Angeles. Fatemeh is a member of the regional nursing research committee and co-chair of the Research Pathway at West Los Angeles medical center. She is also part time faculty member at University of Phoenix, graduate school of Nursing and Health Sciences.
In 2008, Dr. Khagani was the recipient of The Inez Tenzer Excellence in Nursing Research Award
Gloria Medina Redden, MSA, RN
Cardiology Staff Nurse
Kaiser Permanente Bakersfield/Kern County
Gloria Redden has been a registered nurse for 25 years with the majority of her experience in emergency medicine. She is currently working as a cardiology staff nurse in Bakersfield, California. As a member of the Southern CA Research Committee, Gloria’s goal is to serve as a resource person for nurses in Kern County in the areas of best practice and research.
Gretchen J. Summer, RN., Ph.D
Nurse Scientist, Department of Patient Care Services
Kaiser Permanente Northern California Regional Division
Gretchen Summer has joined Kaiser Permanente as Northern California Kaiser Permanente Associate Director, Nursing Research Program. Gretchen has enjoyed a long career as a hospital staff nurse, during which she discovered a passion for nursing science. Working in burn units, Gretchen witnessed patients suffering from severe pain. When she went to the research literature to learn more about what makes burn pain vary in intensity so widely within and between patients, Gretchen found that little is known about this difficult problem. Using observations made while caring for burn-injured patients, Gretchen developed a program of research focusing on the peripheral mechanisms that contribute to the severity of acute and chronic burn injury pain. In her current position, Gretchen is looking forward to combining her clinical and academic skills to increase the capacity for Kaiser RNs to utilize research and provide evidence based care.
For questions about Northern California 's Nursing Research program please contact Gretchen: gretchen.j.summer @kp.org.
Hazel Torres, RN, MN
Nurse Educator
Staff Education Department
Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills
Hazel started working as a nurse in 1992 and has held positions in various fields of practice such as Medical-Surgical, Labor and Delivery, OR and ED. She began to specialize in Pediatric care in 1997. Her roles varied from providing bedside family care to triage and telephone advice in the clinic. She joined the Kaiser workforce in 2006.
Hazel feels that the Nursing Research Committee has a very active role in cultivating evidence-based thinking that ultimately improves the quality of nursing practice, and feels it a privilege to belong to a group that is never short of resources and passion such as this.
Joyce Johnson, PhD, RN-BC
Regional Director, Education and Research
Southern California Permanente Medical Group
Previous work experience includes: Staff Nurse, Nursing Inservice Instructor, Director of Inservice, Director of Education. I have been in staff education for 35 years and a manager for over 30 years.
I joined the regional Research Committee at the request of Terry Bream to replace the SCPMG representative. I serve as the liaison from the regional Research Committee to the regional Ambulatory Practice Committee.
Quotable Research Comments or Philosophy: According to S.L. Parker “At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. And with boiling water, comes steam. And with steam, you can power a train. Applying one extra degree of temperature to water means the difference between something that is simply very hot and something that generates enough force to power a machine.” The extra degree commitment is what we need to ensure that all nursing practice is based in evidence. It’s a big goal but one that is attainable if we work together with perseverance and enthusiasm, taking our efforts to that extra degree.
Nursing research is a new area for me and I have a lot to learn. But I am never happier than when I can learn new things and incorporate them into my practice. I really appreciate the opportunity of learning new things as a member of this council.
Jose K John, RN, Msc (N)
Jose has 21 years of nursing experience, which includes bed side nurse, telemetry unit charge nurse, nightshift supervisor, and psychiatric nurse. His background in home health has lead him to his present position as clinical supervisor in Home Health with Kaiser Permanente at the Fontana Medical Center . In addition to clinical practice, Jose has experience in teaching undergraduate and graduate nursing students. He has presented papers at the 2000 International Conference on AIDS in India and was accepted for poster presentation at the International AIDS conference at Durban , South Africa , 2000.
Jose states, "My passion is research, and I feel, we need to equip nurses with knowledge and information as to why we do nursing in a particular way and, what's best for patients in their unique circumstances. To increase interest and passion in caring by showing/ applying evidence based practice results."
June Rondinelli, RN, MSN, CNS
Project Manager III, Translational Research
Southern California Nursing Research Program and Co-Chair of the Regional Research Committee.
June Rondinelli is a Project Manager with the Nursing Research Program, with clinical experience in perinatal nursing for the past 17 years. She provides operational support for regional level research studies and is a resource to local projects for successful implementation. One of her roles as Project Manager is to facilitate the Nursing Research Residency Program.
“I had the wonderful opportunity to be a resident in the fall of 2005, and hope to provide great experiences and success for future residents.”
Kathleen Long, RN, MSN
Perinatal Clinical Educator
Kaiser Permanente, Anaheim Medical Center, Orange County
Work Experience: I have spent 18 years with Kaiser Permanente at Orange County. All of my experience is in the Maternal Child area, with 2 Years in Family Centered Care, 8 years in L&D, and 8 years as an Assistant Department Administrator for the Maternal Child Service line. Currently I am the Perinatal Educator. I will graduate in fall 2007 with my Parent/Child CNS and then my position will be the CNS for L&D and FCC.
Reason for Joining Research Committee: I was interested in joining the research committee because research plays such an integral role in clinical practice and patient safety. I am passionate about maternal child nursing and I believe that with the help of nursing research, I will be able to positively impact and improve the care provided at Kaiser Permanente, Orange County.
Lynne M. Agocs-Scott, RN, MN, CCRN
Department Administrator/ Clinical Nurse Specialist Kaiser Permanente, Woodland Hills Medical Center
Lynne is the Clinical Nurse Specialist for the Intensive Care and Definitive Care Unit at Kaiser Woodland Hills. She is also the Department Administrator for the inpatient Dialysis Unit. She co-chairs her local Nursing Practice Council (NPC). This Council reviews Policies and Procedures with the intent of ensuring that their policies are based on evidence (as appropriate). They have also been involved in several Evidence-Based Practice Projects (Say Aaahhh) and are currently conducting a research project looking at the benefits of developing an enteral feeding bundle.
Lynne belongs to the Regional Nursing Research Committee in great part because she believes that Nursing practice/activities need to be driven by evidence and research. This Committee allows the opportunity to share common issues/work on activities that will influence nursing practice and nursing care. Lynne is proud to relate that the Woodland Hills NPC has received grant funds each and every year to conduct their EBP projects/research studies.
Michelle Y. Williams, RN, MSN
National Nurse Leader
Technology Innovation and Research
Kaiser Permanente, National Patient Care Services
Michelle Y. Williams, RN, MSN is the national nurse leader for Technology Innovation and Research at Kaiser Permanente, Information Technology, and National Patient Care Services at Program Offices. She has been at Kaiser for 20 years and in nursing 27 years. Michelle’s clinical background includes the NICU, acute psychiatry, and clinical trials research, and her leadership roles have included chief nursing officer, maternal-child health director, administrative nursing director, and nursing quality director. In her current role, Michelle’s areas of focus include researching emerging technologies that are 3 to 5 years out on the horizon, in addition to exploring opportunities to optimize existing technologies. Michelle has researched technologies that support mobility, member service, data integration, virtual worlds, nursing care delivery at the bedside, medication adherence, and technologies that support the patient hospital room of the future. Michelle is also pursuing a PhD in Nursing at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee with a focus on nursing informatics and education. Michelle’s goals include teaching nursing research at the college level, publishing her research, and becoming more involved in technology-based randomized controlled trials at Kaiser Permanente.
Nora Moti, RN, MSN
Department Administrator
Kaiser Permanente, Fontana Medical Center
Nora Moti is a Department Administrator of the Telemetry Step Down Unit at Kaiser Permanente, Fontana. Nora is the Kaiser Fontana Nursing representative for the Southern California Nursing Research Committee. Her research interest is to bring the Research and Evidence Practice to the bed side.
Pat Hokenson, RN, MSN, CNS
Clinical Manager, Labor and Delivery
Kaiser Permanente, Riverside Medical Center
Patricia Hokenson RN, MSN, CNS, is currently the Clinical Manager for Labor and Delivery at Kaiser Riverside. Pat is a long-time employee with Kaiser Permanente and began her career with KP at Kaiser Anaheim in their Emergency Department. She then transferred to Labor and Delivery, where she worked as both a staff nurse and charge nurse and eventually became the Assistant Department Administrator.
Upon receiving her Master’s degree in nursing Pat transferred to Kaiser Fontana, where she worked as the Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist. Pat is a new member of the Southern CA Research Committee. Her goal is to assist the staff at Riverside to develop and implement an Evidence-Based Practice project.
Regina M. Valdez, MA
Senior Research Analyst
Kaiser Permanente, Walnut Center
Regina first joined Kaiser Permanente in October 2005 in the Nursing Research and Quality divisions of Patient Care Services and was promoted into the position of Project Analyst for the Southern California Nursing Research Program. She has been fortunate to be part of many research and evidence-based projects in Southern California .
In addition to those projects, Regina chairs the Web site committee and publishes the Nursing Research newsletter, The LINK . Regina , a Northern California native, received her undergraduate degrees from San Jose State University as a double major in Sociology and Behavioral Science. She obtained a master's degree in Counseling Psychology in 2007, and working toward her MFT license.
Roque "Jun" Garvida, Jr., RN, MSN
Nurse Clinical Systems Project Manager
Kaiser Permanente, Panorama City Medical Center
Roque C. Garvida, Jr. RN, MSN is currently the Nurse Clinical Systems Project Manager at KP Panorama City (PC). He is the Regional Research Liaison for PC & Quad Chair for the KP PC Nursing Research Council. He is the winner for the prestigious 2009 Inez Tenzer Excellence in Nursing Research Award for advancing nursing research. He was a 2006 Nursing Research Resident from the SoCal Nursing Research Program. He has been a nurse for 17 years in various fields such as occupational nursing, oncology, pediatric skilled care, geriatric skilled care, and neuro-psychiatric nursing, telemetry, & critical care, nurse educator & nursing management. He is currently is the Project Manager for the study on an Evidence-Based Education Program for Heart Failure patients. He worked on evidence-based practice around Nurse Knowledge Exchange & conducted a literature review on Patient Lift Teams and Outcomes. He envisions that all nurses will be more familiar with research and evidence-based practice and apply these principles to their nursing practice.
Read about Roque's residency as a Nurse Researcher, or visit his online journal.
Ruth Ann Obregon, MSN, MBA, RN
Education Consultant
Kaiser San Diego
Ruth Ann’s nursing narrative is hospital and rehab nursing focused. She worked the last 20 years working in education.
Over the last 10 years, Ruth Ann’s interest and involvement in research and evidence based projects has grown. She felt that the last year, she’s come to a place of knowing what it means to translate evidence, share with others what that means, and have a desire to launch her own evidence.
Ruth Ann is an Education Consultant. She manages and assesses education gaps and manages projects that involve clinical education. In addition, Ruth Ann is a research liaison for San Diego medical service area. As such, it is her privilege to educate, lift staff and administration’s awareness of translational research. For existing and developing research projects, Ruth Ann shepherds the process to the internal review board for approval.
Ruth Ann feels honored to be a member of the research Committee. Kaiser Permanente’s commitment to their nurses is exemplified by the leadership of this committee. The vision to create and sustain a strong Evidence Based nursing practice is clear and motivated by a true desire to promote professional practice. This is her reason for proudly serving on such an altruistic committee,
“You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free”!
~ Jesus Christ.
Sharon Wilson, Ed.D, RN
South Bay Medical Center
Director MCW Education & Nurse Research
Devon Apple
Web Developer, Nursing Pathways Web Site
Cross Regional Patient Care Services
Kaiser Permanente, Oakland Regional
Devon started in Kaiser Permanente’s Distance Learning Program in 2001, working as the department’s administrative assistant, helping with syllabus preparation, marketing, and graphical design. He joined the web team in 2005, and has helped support Nursing Pathways sites across Kaiser Permanente, as well as the CNCC and Choosenursing.org web sites.
Devon holds a degree in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Eric Santos
Senior Web Developer, Nursing Pathways Web Site
Cross Regional Patient Care Services
Kaiser Permanente, Oakland Regional
Eric joined the Nursing Pathways Web Team in 2004, and has been involved in the development and maintenance of various web projects for Nursing Pathways.
He holds a degree in Industrial Design from San Francisco State University, with an emphasis in graphic communication, and has worked in the industry for over a decade.