Nursing Workforce Advisory Committee Profiles
Andrea V. Arnett
Workforce Planning and Development Consultant / Nurse Recruiter
Sentara Healthcare
Andrea V. Arnett serves as a Workforce Planning and Development Consultant / Nurse Recruiter at Sentara Healthcare. Andrea is responsible for developing strategic staffing plans, focusing on both short and long term initiatives, to assure that staffing levels are appropriate to meet system needs. A large part of Andrea's duties include researching data to effectively forecast expected turnover, hires needed and workforce demographics. Andrea's entire career has been in healthcare, with many years experience as a nurse recruiter, medical librarian and licensed practical nurse.
Dr. Richardean Benjamin
Dean, School of Nursing
Old Dominion University
Dr. Richardean Benjamin currently serves as chair of the School of Nursing at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia a position she has held since 2002 and a member of the faculty since 1989. Dr. Benjamin has been an educator in baccalaureate and higher degree programs since 1983. She completed her basic nursing education at Grady Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, in Atlanta, Georgia, the baccalaureate degree at Armstrong State College in Savannah, Georgia, the master’s in nursing at the Medical College of Georgia, and the doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas.
Prior to joining the faculty at Old Dominion University, she served as an administrative associate of the American Nurses Association Minority Fellowship Program (1988); a post-doctoral fellow in psychiatric epidemiology at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of the University of Pittsburgh (1986-1988); and as a faculty member at Georgia Southern University (1983-1986).
Dr. Benjamin is certified as a clinical specialist in psychiatric and mental health nursing and has teaching experience at the baccalaureate, masters and doctoral levels, including distance education and online methods of course delivery. During her tenure as chair of the School of Nursing, the program has embarked on a number of initiatives: partnership with Shenandoah University to offer a nurse midwifery track, implementation of the on-line RN-BSN and nurse educator tracks, and the use of standardized patients to enhance the cultural competence of nurse practitioner and baccalaureate students.
Dr. Benjamin provides service to the following professional organizations: president-elect of Virginia Partnership for Nursing, State Grassroots Liaison for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Board of Directors Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and the Psychological Health Subcommittee of the Defense Health Board of the Department of Defense. She is a Fellow in the Academy of Nursing Education.
Rebecca Bowers-Lanier, EdD, MPH, RN
Nursing Leadership Institute of Central Virginia
Rebecca Bowers-Lanier, EdD, MPH, RN is a legislative consultant for Macaulay & Burtch, P.C., in Richmond, VA. In that role she lobbies and provides grassroots advocacy support and education for nurses, midwives, dietitians, massage therapists, community services boards, autism providers, and licensed professional counselors.
Prior to 2003, Dr. Bowers-Lanier was the Deputy Director of Colleagues in Caring: Regional Collaboratives for Nursing Workforce Development, a national program funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She is nationally recognized as an expert in nursing workforce issues and solutions. Her experience includes work as a nursing faculty member and program head.
She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s in public health from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a doctorate in higher education administration from the College of William and Mary in Virginia.
She is a past-president of the Virginia Partnership for Nursing and the Virginia Nurses Association and currently serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Daily Planet, a homeless services provider for metro-Richmond. Dr. Bowers-Lanier is a 2006 graduate of Leadership Metro Richmond 2006 class and a recipient of the prestigious Nancy Vance Award of the Virginia Nurses Association.
Barbara S. Brown
Vice President
Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA)
At VHHA, if an issue or member concern has a number attached to it, it will find Barbara S. Brown, vice president. She oversees VHHA’s databases and analyses about facilities, patients, workers and communities. She tracks and analyzes workforce data from national as well as state data sources to assist VHHA in it efforts with policy makers, educators and the General Assembly. Dr. Brown directs VHHA’s funding programs for nursing and allied health camps that educate youth about careers in health care. She is the VHHA liaison to the Virginia Department of Health, Virginia Health Information, the Virginia Organization of Nurse Executives and other state and national organizations or agencies concerned with health care data and health services research. Dr. Brown is VHHA members’ contact for concerns about the VHHA inpatient and ambulatory surgery data sharing programs. Dr. Brown received her B.S.N. from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), M.S. from the University of Pennsylvania and her Ph.D. from VCU.
Pamela F. Cipriano, PhD, RN, FAAN, NEA-BC
Chief Clinical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer
University of Virginia Health System
Pamela Cipriano is the Chief Clinical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer at the University of Virginia Medical Center, a Magnet Hospital. In this role she is responsible for the provision of clinical care by over 3,500 employees, including more than 1,700 registered nurses, as well as pharmacists, social workers, therapists, and other support personnel. She is also a clinical associate professor in the School of Nursing.
Dr. Cipriano (Pam), a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, has served in numerous elected and appointed positions in national nursing organizations throughout her career. Most notably, she was Treasurer of the American Nurses Association, and on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Nursing. Currently she chairs the Academy’s Nursing Workforce Commission which is studying the impact of technology on the nurse’s work environment. She is the Editor-in-Chief of American Nurse Today, the official journal of the American Nurses Association. She serves on the Joint Commission’s National Nursing Advisory Council, and has been a Sigma Theta Tau International Distinguished Scholar, and an American Nurses Foundation Scholar. In addition to serving as a hospital nurse executive, she has held roles as a clinical nurse specialist, manager, faculty member, and staff nurse.
In 2008, she received the “Distinguished Membership Award” from the American Nurses Association, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing Outstanding Alumna Award for leadership in Nursing.
Educational background
Diploma in Nursing: the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Bachelor of Science in Nursing: American University
Master of Nursing: University of Washington
Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (Executive Administration): University of
Utah
Shirley Gibson
Interim Vice President of Nursing Operations
VCU Health System
Shirley Gibson is Vice President of Nursing Operations at VCU Health System. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees Virginia Commonwealth University. Her career spans over forty years with the majority concentrated in administration and leadership positions in nursing. She previously held Nurse Executive positions at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, VA, and at HCA, Henrico Doctors’ Hospital and Bon Secours, St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond, Virginia.
Shirley is an active participant in nursing professional organizations and currently serves as the President of the Virginia Nurses Association. She is past president and member of the Board of Directors of the Virginia Organization of Nurse Executives, Director for the Virginia Partnership for Nursing, a Colleagues in Caring initiative with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is designed to explore and develop strategies regarding nursing workforce issues and a member of the Steering Committee of the Nurse Leadership Institute. She has been instrumental in working with nursing leaders in practice and education to develop a strategic plan for nursing concerning the current and future shortage of nurses. In 2002 she was appointed by the Governor of Virginia to serve on the Advisory Council for the Future of Nursing. She has served on the Strategic Planning Committee for the American Organization of Nurse Executives. Shirley has a tremendous passion for the nursing profession which has afforded her recognition as a nursing advocate and spokesperson for nursing. She was awarded the Virginia Nurses Association’s highest Award in 2003, the Nancy Vance Award.
Florence Jones-Clarke, RN, MS
Member, Virginia Board of Nursing
Education
North Carolina A&T State University- BSN- 1965
VCU- MS in Gerontology/Health Administration- 1990
Experience
43+ years as a Registered Nurse
Department of Veteran's Affairs- 1984-2006- Retired
Staff Nurse
Extended Care Coordinator
Clinical Program Manager
Virginia State University
Clinical Instructor- Part-time- 2006-Present
Other Employment
American Red Cross
Southside Regional Medical Center
VCU/MCV
Community Activities
President of VNA- 2000- 2004
Board of Nursing- Vice President-2005-2009
American Nurses Association- Board Member 2008-Present
Center for American Nurses/ANA- Board Member -2004-2008
Past President of the Central Virginia Black Nurses Association
PJ Maddox
Professor, George Mason University
Chair, Dept. of Health Administration and Policy
Dr. Maddox received her doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York in Health Systems Administration. She is a nurse with a distinguished career in nursing; health services research and hospital management. Dr. Maddox’s academic and research interests range from examining the impact of financing arrangements and delivery systems to program outcomes and Health Policy analysis. She is a recognized expert in health management and strategic planning, health policy analysis and health outcomes research.
Dr. Maddox came to George Mason University in 1995 from the National Institutes of Health. At GMU she developed the graduate program in health administration and established the health services research program in the Center for Health Policy, Research & Ethics where she served as Director. At the Clinic Center of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, she served as Deputy Director for Nursing and Service Chief for numerous institutes. She has held management and academic teaching appointments in a variety of Universities and Academic Medical Centers throughout the US (Saint Mary’s Hospital, Reno, NV, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, MA, University of California Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, and INOVA Fairfax Hospital, Fairfax, VA). She is recipient of numerous professional awards, and serves on philanthropic boards and service organizations concerned with Community Healthcare and International services. Currently she is a member of the Governing Council of the Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association.
Dr. Maddox is nationally recognized as a teacher, lecturer, researcher and consultant in the fields of nursing and contemporary healthcare management. She is author of numerous textbook chapters, articles and papers on policy, technology and ethics in health management, in applied health services research and on managing health services amidst workforce shortages and limited financial resources. She is co-editing a Community resource textbook on Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response Planning that is expected to be published in late 2004 (Jones and Bartlett).
As a researcher Dr. Maddox’s work has involved evaluation of state telehealth programs, testing a proposed federal program funding allocation methodology for the Division of Nursing, evaluating state Medicaid program outcomes and health workforce planning. She has just completed the first supply/demand analysis of nursing workforce in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Currently she is funded through a HRSA State Planning Grant to Virginia to study the problem of employed uninsured and develop an economically viable model to improve health insurance coverage.
Beverley A. Soble
Vice President Regulatory Affairs
Virginia Health Care Association
Ms. Soble has been on staff with the Virginia Health Care Association since
1985 where she is responsible for monitoring regulatory activities for nursing
and assisted living facilities. In that role she interacts with State and
Federal Agencies that license and regulate long term care facilities, and
nursing home and assisted living administrators. She monitors legislation
that has a regulatory impact on members of the Association and develops
training and education programs sponsored by VHCA for all levels of staff.
In addition to staffing a number of Association committees, she serves on
a variety of statewide task forces and advisory committees related to aging
and long term care. Most recently she served as Chairman of Virginia Commonwealth
University’s Center on Aging Advisory Council, and is a co-founder
of the Virginia Pressure Ulcer Resource Team, member of Virginia’s
Pandemic Influenza Advisory
Committee, and convener of the state’s Nursing Facility Advisory Committee.
Recently Ms. Soble was appointed to the Virginia Partnership for Nursing.
She represents long term care as a member of the state’s Emergency Special Medical Needs Planning Work Group and collaborated with Virginia’s Department of Health Emergency Operations and Response staff to identify placements for long term care residents displaced to Virginia by Hurricane Katrina.
Prior to joining the VHCA, Ms. Soble was a Program Director at the Virginia Department for the Visually Handicapped where she directed a statewide volunteer program for blind and visually impaired persons in Virginia. She holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition to her professional career, Ms. Soble has continued her involvement as a volunteer with numerous organizations in the community.
Joanne Wakeham, RN, Ph.D.
Director, Public Health Nursing
Virginia Department of Public Health
Joanne has over 25 years public health experience at the local and state level. In addition to her pubic health experience she has served as a consultant and program evaluator in a non-profit environment for the Children’s AIDS Network and for the Eastern Virginia AIDS Resource Center. She also serves as a contract instructor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency teaching courses on such topics as executive development, executive leadership, strategic management of change, and organization theory and practice. Joanne retired from the U.S. Army Reserve Nurse Corps in 2007 after serving 21 years in the military.
Since 2005 Joanne has served as Director, Public Health Nursing for the Virginia Department of Health. Before returning to public health practice, she taught in undergraduate and graduate programs at several universities in Virginia and Iowa.
Joanne received a diploma in nursing from E.J. Meyer Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Buffalo, NY; a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA; a Master of Science degree in nursing from Hampton University in Hampton, VA and a Doctor of Philosophy from Old Dominion University.
She is a member of the American Nurses Association, Virginia Nurses Association, Virginia Public Health Association, the Association of State and Territorial Directors of Nursing and Sigma Theta Tau International. She serves on the Board of the Virginia Partnership for Nursing, and the VCU Community Advisory Board and has served on the UVA School of Nursing Community Public Health Leadership Advisory Council.
Diane Walker RN, MSN, FNP-BC
Diane Walker is currently serving as President of the Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners, (2008-2010) and has served in the leadership of this organization since 2002. She was nominated twice for the Distinguished Nurse Practitioner Award (2008, 2009). She is presently working in private practice as a nurse practitioner, and has worked in a variety of health care settings including a Free Clinic and Community Health Center. She has served as adjunct faculty for Shenandoah University and George Mason University.
Diane Walker received her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from Winona
State University, Master’s of Science in Nursing from the University
of Virginia and Post Mater’s Certificate as a Family Nurse Practitioner
from Virginia Commonwealth University.