Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses

AWHONN

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Past Emerging Leaders2025-02-25T21:32:41+00:00

Meet the 2024 – 2025 AWHONN Emerging Leaders

Learn more about the 2023-2024 cohort.

Learn more about our 2022-2023 cohort.

2024-2025 AWHONN Emerging Leader

Oluseyi Abatan, MPH, BSN, RNC-MNN is a Women’s Health Nursing Administrator. Working at WellStar Medical Group in Atlanta, Georgia. In this role, she is responsible for the clinical leadership of all women’s health clinics within the system.

Oluseyi recognized her interest in women’s health earlier in her career at Northwell Health System in New York, where she served as staff nurse and Charge nurse on mother-baby and antepartum units. In 2016, she relocated to Georgia and worked at Emory Decatur on the antepartum, and L&D units. She gained formal leadership experience over four years working at Grady Health System and Northside Health System, as a Nurse Manager and Clinical Supervisor.

Her nursing career has been dedicated to creating efficient workflow for nurses, promoting quality and safe care as well as improving outcomes for all women. Fostering a culture of nursing excellence through leadership, collaboration, advocacy, and innovation, empowering a skilled workforce to deliver world-class healthcare in the ambulatory setting. As an Emerging Leader, I hope to expand my depth as an effective leader and effect positive change in my organization and in the community.

2024-2025 AWHONN Emerging Leader

Dedevie Booth, BSN, RN, C-EFM, is a Nurse Leader in the Labor, Delivery, Recovery, and Postpartum (LDRP) unit at a community hospital in upstate New York. With over a decade of experience in maternal health, Dedevie is known for her commitment to improving patient care, fostering collaboration, and enhancing nursing practices. As Chair of the Nurse Practice Council, she has led initiatives prioritizing patient safety and professional development, earning her the Daisy Award for her dedication to clinical excellence. 

Currently pursuing a Master of Science in Nursing Management and Quality Leadership, Dedevie is focused on expanding her leadership capabilities. She is also participating in the AWHONN Emerging Leaders Program, where she aims to bridge gaps in care between prenatal, labor, and postpartum services. Her goal is to ensure seamless, quality care beyond the hospital and develop leadership skills to drive her continued impact in maternal healthcare. 

2024 – 2025 AWHONN Emerging Leader

Allison Dubiner, BSN, RNC-OB, C-EFM, CBC has just begun her career in obstetrics nursing and has already discovered her passion for empowering parents during their pregnancy and childbirth experiences.  

She currently has three years of experience as a nurse in high risk obstetrics in teaching hospitals in both postpartum and labor and delivery units. In her short time, she has developed an interest in improving the experiences of birthing peoples by focusing on creating a labor and delivery experience in which the birthing person feels safe and in control while employing evidence-based practices.  

Outside of obstetrics, she has a passion for foreign languages, which she also employs in her research of the obstetric nursing experience of caring for birthing people with limited English proficiency. Faced with several systemic problems in her clinical practice, as an Emerging Leader, she hopes to gain the skills and professional network necessary to improve the quality of care for all birthing people, regardless of age, race, sexuality, gender identity, religion, and language spoken.  

2024-2025 AWHONN Emerging Leader

Jessica Farmer, BSN, RN, joins the Emerging Leaders 2024 cohort with a diverse professional background rooted in trauma-informed care, patient-centered advocacy, and comprehensive reproductive health education. Her path to nursing started with her work serving LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and hate crimes. This firsthand experience highlighted the importance of advocating for people who often remain voiceless in complex healthcare systems. 

In 2015, she graduated from the Research College of Nursing, embarking on a decade-long career as a bedside RN, primarily in high-risk obstetrics. Notably, from 2020 to 2024, she served as Co-Chair of the Practice Council on her Labor and Delivery unit at The University of Kansas Hospital. While there she initiated quality improvement projects, including standardizing QBL in the OR, providing trauma-informed care to adolescent pregnant patients, and establishing a support group for antepartum patients. 

As an Emerging Leader, Jessica looks forward to connecting with passionate healthcare innovators  who amplify the voices of patients, and learning from the other leaders in her cohort. Her goal is to continue to interweave advocacy and education into her nursing career by collaborating with others working in the perinatal mental health space and by amplifying the voices of her peers. 

 

2024-2025 AWHONN Emerging Leader

Stephanie Jurado is a dedicated healthcare leader who has spent much of her nursing career improving the perinatal experience for pregnant patients and their families. With extensive experience in leadership, Stephanie has developed a passion for change management and quality improvement. She has been a driving force in creating new policies and practices that redefine quality healthcare and elevate safety standards in maternal care. Currently, she is applying her combined clinical expertise and business insight to explore and enhance the ambulatory side of women’s health, understanding the diverse needs women face throughout various stages of life.

As a 2024 AWHONN Emerging Leader, Stephanie is excited about the opportunity to learn, share knowledge, and collaborate with fellow nurse leaders. She is eager to gain deeper insight into how AWHONN is driving meaningful change in the community and is committed to actively participating in those efforts. Stephanie looks forward to applying her skills and leadership to contribute to AWHONN’s mission, helping to shape the future of women’s health and give back to the community she serves.

Tracie Kincel, MSN-RN

2023-2024 AWHONN Emerging Leader

Jessica Phillips BSN, RNC-OB, C-EFM, CCE

2024-2025 AWHONN Emerging Leader

Kimber Stovesand has worked in reproductive health for close to a decade. She first began her career working within her home state of North Carolina before becoming a travel nurse and helping units across the country. She is now completing her senior year of midwifery school at East Carolina University.  

She currently serves on several committees and boards committed to improvement, education and advocacy both on her unit and through national organizations such as AWHONN. She does this by serving on the Healthy Mom and Baby Editorial board, Content Advisory Board for the AWHONN Insights podcast, and participating in the Departmental Change Committee on her unit. 

As a 2024 AWHONN Emerging Leader, she hopes to strengthen her leadership and communication skills to make real, tangible improvements within the reproductive health field. She wants to empower marginalized communities with education and advocacy in an effort to end poor maternal and neonatal outcomes.  

Tracie Kincel, MSN-RN

2024-2025 AWHONN Emerging Leader

M. Cristina Zuniga (she/ her/hers) is a registered nurse with 19 years of experience in various perinatal settings. She holds several professional certifications including Inpatient Obstetric Nursing (RNC-OB), Electronic Fetal Monitoring (C-EFM), and Obstetric and Neonatal Quality and Safety (C-ONQS). She has led birthing classes to expecting families, taught clinical and didactic courses to nursing students and provided continuing education for perinatal nurses. Currently, she is the perinatal clinical nurse educator for a large hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area where she focuses on promoting evidence-based practices and advocacy.  

2024-2025 AWHONN Emerging Leader

Tischara Walther MSN, RNC-MNN, IBCLC, CPST started nursing in 2006 as and LVN graduated with RN in 2010, BSN in 2014, and MSN in 2018. Been working in the OB world since 2012 and dedicated to Postpartum in 2018. In 2019 was a dedicated Lactation counselor in the lactation department. In October 2021 became the supervisor for the OB department. Became Postpartum manager in August2022, and current. In addition to the OB world she was the coordinator for YoungLives of Round Rock, TX, which is a Christian based non-profit for teen moms for 6 years. Lastly was she was a OB adjunct for National Amrican University from 2017-2019 and UTA from 2018-2021. 

Emerging Leaders Accomplishments

2024

  • Jenica Sandall, MSN, RNC-OB, C-ONQS, leads the Washington State Hospital Association in implementing TeamBrith across Washington State birthing hospitals. This initiative for healthcare providers increases communication between patients, physicians, nurses, doulas, and any additional members of the health care team in making decisions. The goal of the project is to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes through communication and a team-centered approach.
  • Elena Jenkins – AIM Champion
  • Elena Jenkins – Recognizing Urgent Maternal Warning Signs in the Postpartum Period
  • Elena Jenkins – Recognizing Urgent Maternal Warning Signs in the Postpartum Period Webinar on 12/8/2022
  • Elena Jenkins – Texas Collaborative for Healthy Mothers & Babies 2023 TCHMB Summit 2/15-2/16/2023; Podium presentation, Austin, TX (University of Texas at Austin)
    • Birth Equity Training: Illinois Hospital Implementation – Discussed journey of Hospital-level implementation of the Birth Equity Initiative, challenges/successes and lessons learned.
    • Panel Discussion – “Lessons Learned: What I wish I knew at the beginning”
    • How to Bring SDOH into QI: How Do We Close the Loop – Discussed hospital implementation of screening for SDOH, how to connect patients with resources, engaging the community, focus on quality improvement
  • Elena Jenkins – AIM Sepsis Bundle, Podium presentation, St Luke’s Hospital St Louis, MO on 3/23/2023
    • Discussing key themes of the ‘Sepsis in Obstetrics’ safety bundle
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