2025 summit
Thank you for participating in the 2025 MDAC Virtual Leadership Summit: Advancing Nursing Excellence Through Innovation and Leadership, held on June 9!
On-Demand content for registered attendees is available on the event platform until July 11, 2025.
For questions about Nursing Continuing Professional Development, email pe.nursing@umaryland.edu.
Overview:
Health care evolution continually requires advancements in the education and practice of nursing professionals. The 2025 MDAC Summit will explore nurse leadership and innovative actions being taken to ensure value and excellence in collaborative nursing education and practice. The event is designed to strengthen the ability of professional nurses to lead changes in patient care delivery and effectively engage with new practice interventions.
The objective of the Maryland Action Coalition (MDAC) is to identify innovative ways of collaborating that advance nursing excellence to prepare nurses to lead in any health care setting. The three pillars of the coalition’s focus are:
- Nursing Leadership
- Nursing Workforce
- and Nursing Retention.
The 2025 summit will explore progressive approaches to teaching and models of leadership that hold promise for the future.
Objectives:
- Engage with leading experts from diverse backgrounds to gain insight into best practices for navigating the complex and rapidly changing landscape of nursing academia and practice.
- Reframe narratives related to the value of nursing and nurses’ role in utilizing innovative nurse-led technology to streamline clinical workflows and enhance patient care and nursing education.
- Describe the nursing workforce challenges unique to rural communities on the Eastern Shore and in the southern and western regions of Maryland, focusing on nursing recruitment and retention, rural health disparities, and interconnections in the continuum of care.
Call for Abstracts
The abstract submission deadline has passed.
Please review the guidelines below before beginning your submission.
Information and Guidelines
All abstracts must be submitted using the online submission process outlined below. Be sure to review the conference overview, objectives, and submission guidelines before you begin. If you have questions during this process, contact Imani Payne at ipayne@umaryland.edu.
Submission Guidelines
To complete your abstract submission:
- Review the conference overview and objectives (above).
- Prepare an abstract in a Word document and confirm all information is included before starting the online submission process. Abstracts should include:
-
- Primary author name and credentials
- Co-authors’ names and credentials (including all collaborating partners); co-authors must be named at the time of submission
- Abstract title
- 350word abstract in narrative form
- Must address 1 - 2 conference objectives
- Content references (at least two) in APA format
- Select the appropriate category for your work: Education, Research, or Practice.
- Copy and paste the text of your abstract into the box(es) provided in the online form. The abstract narrative will accept no more than 350 words. Longer abstracts will be truncated.
- Incomplete forms, alternatively formatted submissions, and emailed submissions will not be considered for review.
- You must acknowledge funding sources supporting your project in your abstract.
Notification
The primary presenter will receive email notification of the review committee's decision on March 26. Rather than traditional posters, selected abstracts will be accepted for 3-minute recorded lightning (rapid) presentations, which will occur during the conference on June 9.
Presenter Commitment and Registration
Your commitment to present by March 31 and a completed conference registration form for the primary presenter must be received on or before April 30. Failure to register by this deadline will constitute declining to present. Presenters must register to attend the conference.
NEW: Abstract Lightning Presentations
A lightning presentation is a short, 3-minute, focused presentation. These presentations allow you to quickly spark interest, bring insight, or break down a topic. Presenters must be concise and deliver the content in a clear and engaging manner. For audiences, this format provides an opportunity for a diverse exploration of topics, making it an ideal way to discover and engage with new ideas or innovation.
Accepted abstract presenters will be requested to provide a PowerPoint slide deck consisting of no more than 3 - 5 slides that outline and/or contribute to the presentation (this could be an image, infographic and/or meme, solutions, ideas, or other relevant content that supports your points).
Nursing Continuing Professional Development
Nurses may receive 5.5 contact hours upon successful completion of this educational activity. Successful completion is demonstrated by attending the entire conference and submitting the completed program evaluation. No partial credit will be awarded. Participants will be able to print a Continuing Education certificate after completing the evaluation. The cost for CE is $40.
The University of Maryland School of Nursing is accredited with distinction as a provider of continuing nursing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Agenda
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 9 – 9:10 a.m. |
Welcome and Summit Overview and MDAC Annual Award Presentation |
| 9:10 – 10:10 a.m. |
Fireside Chat: Health of Marylanders: Sustainable Change Kevin Sowers, MSN, RN, FAAN M. Joy Drass, MD Mohan Suntha, MD, MBA Moderator: |
| 10:10 – 10:20 a.m. | Break |
| 10:20 – 11 a.m. |
Keynote |
| 11 – 11:15 a.m. |
NSP I and NSP II Update Laura Schenk, DNP, RN, CNE Kimberly Ford, BS |
| 11:15 a.m. - noon |
Poster Presentations and Roundtable Discussion - Session 1
|
| noon - 12:15 p.m. |
Break |
| 12:15 - 1 p.m. |
Poster Presentations and Roundtable Discussion - Session 2 Session 1 Repeats. |
| 1 - 1:15 p.m. |
Break |
| 1:15 – 2:15 p.m. |
Keynote Panel: ANA’s Nursing Staffing Task Force Members Katie Boston-Leary, PhD, MBA, MHA, RN, NEA-BC, CCTP Cheryl Peterson, MSN, RN, Sherry Perkins, PhD, RN, FAAN, Moderator: |
| 2:15 – 2:30 p.m. | Break |
| 2:30 – 4 p.m. | Podium Presentations (includes Q&A via chat box) Formal 15-minute sessions describing initiatives to prepare and strengthen the nursing workforce |
| 4 – 4:15 p.m. |
Summary and Closing Remarks |
Resources
Download these resources for the Virtual Leadership Summit.
- MDAC 2025 Summit Zoom Backdrops
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Podium Presentations
| Title | Speaker |
|---|---|
| Academy of Clinical Essentials in Action: A Revolutionary Nurse Staffing and Education Model |
Heather V. Westerfield, DNP, RN, CNE, CMSRN; Lisa Rowen, DNSc, RN, CENP, BCC, FANOL, FAAN; Casey Embert, BA; Robin Seal-Whitlock, PhD, RN, CNE; Kathryn Reuwer, MSN, RN; Jenni Day, PhD, RN; and Jodi Baker Stein DNP, RN, CNE |
| Delivering High Quality Faculty Development in 10 Minute Microlessons | Susan Bindon, DNP, RN, NPD-BC, CNE, CNE-cl, FAAN |
|
Insights into Inconsistent Infant Safe Sleep Practices Among African American Caregivers |
Malliga Jambulingam, PhD, RN; Margaret Alston, PhD, PT; Ariel Hunt, DrPH; David Thomas, DrPH; and Yvonne Bronner, DSc |
| Postpartum Depression Screening and Referral in Low-Income and Diverse Community |
Marilyn Berchie, DNP, CRNP, NP-c; Linda Costa, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN; and Kimberly Callendar, DNP, CRNP, APRN-BC |
| R3: Resilience, Retention and Renewal: Results of a Needs and Opportunity Survey for Ethics and Resilience in Maryland Faculty | Erin Wright, DNP, CNM, APHN-BC, FACNM and Victoria Hughes, DNS, MSN RN |
| Team Nursing in the Emergency Department: A Medical/Surgical Nurse Extender Care Model | Laura Ogle, DNP, CENP, CNE, CEN and Kristin Quade, MSN, RN, CNM |
Dr. Peggy Daw Exemplary Leadership Award
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The Maryland Action Coalition (MDAC) Exemplary Leadership Award was created in 2022 to recognize and celebrate the leadership and accomplishments exhibited beyond one’s day to day role.
In 2023, the award was renamed in memory of Peggy Daw, DNP, RN-BC, CNE, FAAN.
The nominee embodies the core values of MDAC; honors diverse experiences and perspectives; and sets an example of including others while exploring new ideas and partnerships to achieve large-scale goals.
The nominee’s achievements enhance MDAC’s strategic mission and advance access and opportunities for others.
About Peggy Daw, DNP, RN-BC, CNE, FAAN
Peggy E. Daw, DNP, RN-BC, CNE, FAAN, served for 12 years (from 2010 - 22) as Nurse Support Program II grant administrator at the Maryland Higher Education Commission. In this position, she marshaled resources of the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission, the Maryland Higher Education Commission, and the Maryland Deans and Directors of Schools of Nursing to create a statewide lattice of educational Nurse Support Program grants, which changed the structure of educational financial support in Maryland to expand the nurse educator workforce. She was the architect and developer of nine different types of continuous nurse educator grants, academic-practice partnerships, and statewide resource grants totaling over $200,000,000 and funded through 2025.
Her work promoted rapid expansion of the associate-to-bachelor’s programs. Her efforts resulted in new statewide funding for the Maryland Clinical Simulation Resource Consortium, providing clinical simulation equipment statewide and establishment of simulation quality guidelines; the Nurse Leadership Institute, which prepares nurse faculty and clinicians for leadership positions and collaborative partnerships between academia and practice; the Maryland Nursing Workforce Center; and many other forward-thinking programs.
Most importantly, Daw developed a supportive working collaboration of academic and practice nurse leaders across the state to communicate; inform; and mutually create, implement, and continuously improve initiatives to strengthen and advance nursing in Maryland.
Daw passed away in December 2022.
Recipients
2025 Recipient: Mary Etta C. Mills, ScD, RN, FAAN, Professor Emerita, University of Maryland School of Nursing
2024 Recipient: Lisa Rowen, DNSc, RN, CENP, BCC, FAONL, FAAN, Chief Nurse Executive, University of Maryland Medical System
2023 Recipient: Peggy E. Daw, DNP, RN-BC, CNE, FAAN, Former Director, Maryland Higher Education Commission, as presented to her family
2022 Inaugural Recipient: Joan Warren, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, NEA-BC, FAAN, Executive Director, MONL Inc./MNRC
Maryland Action Coalition Membership Form
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