Our first leadership team was elected on September 10, 2014 and will serve for one-year renewable terms.  They are:

Mary Foley – Chair

Michael Johnson – Chair-Elect

Laura Hein – Past Chair

Patty Zuzelo – Recorder

Ralph Klotzbaugh – Budget Officer

Kaity Molé – Student/Health Professional-in-Training Representative

Here are biographical sketches of each of our leaders:

Mary E. Foley PhD, RN, FAAN

Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing. She is the Director of the Center for Nursing Research and Innovation, and has worked with the Center as Associate Director since 2004 became Director in 2011. The Center works with a number of San Francisco Bay Area healthcare institutions to provide knowledge of the evidence based practice process to clinical staff and to improve care. She is currently serving as the Interim Assistant Director of the Master’s Entry Program in Nursing (MEPN) at UCSF. She has been a nursing representative to the UCSF Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender issues since 2009.   Mary has worked with the Collaborative Alliance for Nursing Outcomes (CALNOC) since 2004 and was appointed to the CALNOC Board of Directors in July, 2014. Mary is past president of the American Nurses Association and the National Student Nurses Association. While at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco she was a Staff Nurse, Director of Nursing, and Safety Officer.

A registered nurse for over 40 years, Foley continues to write and lecture, promoting safe care for workers and patients, and families nationally and internationally. She served on the board of the National Patient Safety Foundation, continues as an advisor to the Partnership for Patient Safety (p4ps) and the Patient Safety Education Program, and is a continuing member of the TMIT Patient and Family panel. She is a nursing partner with Karen Curtiss to increase family involvement in hospital care through the “Safe and Sound in the Hospital” program. In November, 2011 she became Nursing Co-Lead for the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Future of Nursing California Action Coalition. She was elected to the board of CGFNS International in 2012, and is Chairperson of the Safe in Common campaign to reduce needlestick and sharps injuries to workers and patients.

Foley received her nursing diploma in 1973 from New England Deaconness Hospital School of Nursing, her BSN in 1976 from Boston University School of Nursing in Massachusetts, and her Master’s of Science in Nursing Administration and Occupational Health from UCSF in 1994. She received her PhD in Nursing from UCSF 2010. In October 2013, Foley was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing.

Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson is a lecturer in the School of Nursing at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a doctoral candidate in the College of Nursing at Medical University of South Carolina. Starting with his master’s thesis, Michael has been devoted to LGBTQ research and scholarship. He has published numerous articles and presented at the national and local level. His commitment to advancing LGBT equality goes beyond just research. He is the faculty advisor for the LGBTQAI student group at UNLV and is a contributing blogger for lavenderhealth.com. He has also served on numerous committees within the GLMA organization, including the 2nd Annual Nursing Summit planning committee, the Nursing Section Planning committee, and the abstract reviewer committee.

Laura Hein

Dr. Hein is an Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina. She is the leading scholar on LGBT health in South Carolina, and is nationally and internationally recognized. She was the initiator and primary author of the only nursing White Paper denouncing reparative therapy, which was adopted as policy by the International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses (ISPN). She was the first recipient of the ISPN Diversity Award for contributions to LGBT health. In 2013 she received the Palmetto Gold Award from the SC Nurses Foundation for excellence in nursing, specifically for educating students about LGBT health. Her work has been cited within and outside of nursing, and in the National Association of Social Workers’ policy statement on Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Issues. In September 2013, Dr. Hein was invited to the White House by HHS Secretary Sebelius, for a briefing of 150 LGBT leaders on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and was invited back for a follow-up briefing by HHS Secretary Burwell in July, 2014. Dr. Hein is the fifth nurse to ever serve on the Board of Directors of GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBT Equality in its 30+ year history. She co-chaired the planning committee for the first Nursing Summit at the 2013 GLMA conference and co-led the effort that established the first Section within GLMA, as a home for LGBT nurses. As a nurse intimately involved in the process of formation of the Nursing Section, the Nursing Summits as well as GLMA operations, Dr. Hein is uniquely qualified to serve as Immediate Past Chair of the Nursing Section.

Patti Zuzelo

Patti Zuzelo has served as President, National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (2010 – 2011) and has an extensive leadership background in national activities related to advanced practice nursing and education. Dr. Zuzelo currently serves on the APRN Clinical Training Task Force, charged by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to develop a white paper that re-envisions APRN clinical training. She has served on several national task forces including the Strategic Advisory Group for QSEN Phase IV, Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN), and the National Task Force on the Guidelines for Clinical Nurse Specialist Education. Dr. Zuzelo is the author of The Clinical Nurse Specialist Handbook, recognized with the 2007 AJN Book of the Year Award in the advanced practice nursing category. Dr. Zuzelo is a Clinical Professor in Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions. She has held previous appointments as a tenured Professor as well as Associate Director of Nursing for Research with Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Zuzelo is credentialed as both an adult nurse practitioner and adult health CNS and is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). She has an appointment to the AAN’s GLBTQ Expert Panel. Her research and scholarship interests are varied and have typically included opportunities for coaching nurses through the research process.

Ralph Klotzbaugh

Ralph Klotzbaugh works as an assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire in the School of Nursing. His research includes issues related to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) health equity and the essential role of nursing in ensuring advocacy for this population.   He is currently working on a research project investigating levels of LGBT inpatient hospital satisfaction, as well as research involving perceptions of care among inpatient psychiatric patients identifying as LGBT. Ralph also works as a family nurse practitioner at a community health clinic in Somersworth, New Hampshire. He has also served as a board member and officer for the Southern Tier AIDS program in Binghamton, New York. He is currently developing an LGBT identified faculty and staff organization at the University of New Hampshire and volunteering at the Southern New Hampshire HIV/AIDS Task Force. He is an active member in the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association and the American Public Health Association and maintains membership in the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties and American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Ralph lives with his partner of 15 years, their two Spaniels and one Maltese and enjoys CrossFit and snowboarding.

Kaity Molé

I am currently finishing up my BSN at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and will be continuing on into an MSN in Public Health Nursing/Nurse-Midwifery while working as an RN at House of Ruth, a domestic violence shelter (I currently work here already as a student RN) and hopefully an L&D job. I’m a birth and abortion doula here in Baltimore and also provide doula services to the City Detention Center. I’m a research assistant as well to Dr. Jackie Campbell at JHUSON working on research on intimate partner violence and HIV susceptibility. I recently developed and implemented Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Health Assessment curriculum into the JHUSON curriculum as it had none and am a proud queer member of the healthcare community!