Reviewers Meet the Rest of Our Editorial Team!

Rosalee Seymour, PhD, RN

Roz Seymour, known by her peers and students as Dr. Roz, graduated from the Hahnemann Hospital Diploma program in Philadelphia, PA. She began her career as a staff and operating room nurse. Dr. Seymour received her BSEd with a minor in public school nursing from West Chester State University and began teaching at Hahnemann. She earned a master of science degree with a focus in mental health nursing from the University of Delaware and became a clinical specialist. Her doctorate is in Educational Leadership and Administration. She has taught at the Diploma, Associate, Baccalaureate Generic and returning RN, and Master's levels. Dr. Seymour has instructed various courses throughout her career, including psychiatric nursing, nursing research, teaching/learning methods, rural health, health informatics, nursing issues, and nursing theory. Dr. Seymour has taught at Hahnemann University, Widener University, Wilmington College, and currently at East Tennessee State University. She was the Executive Director for the Delaware Board of Nursing. She has been an active member of each state nurses' association in which she has resided and will be a delegate to the ANA convention in July, 2000. Her research focus is in teaching/learning and evidence-based care using computers as tools. Dr. Seymour's preferred methodology is Meta-analysis and/or quantitative. She has numerous presentations and publications. Dr. Seymour is also certified in nursing informatics.

Nedra Farcus MS, RN

Nedra Farcus is an Instructor in Nursing at Penn State Altoona. She earned a BS in Nursing from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1970, an MS in Family Nursing from Duquesne University in 1979 and a post masters certificate in Nursing Informatics at Duquesne University in 2000 . She is currently enrolled in the doctoral program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. Ms. Farcus teaches RN to BS nursing courses at the Penn State Altoona Campus, including the course titled Introduction to Computing and Nursing informatics. She has been involved in nursing for over thirty years and has experience in clinical practice, teaching, and academic administration. Her clinical interests include implementing and evaluating electronic delivery systems for enhancing communication and socialization opportunities for homebound chronically ill older adults. Her educational interests include the exploration, implementation, and evaluation of various electronic delivery methods for nursing education courses.

Toni Hebda, PhD, RN

During the past 28 years I have had a variety of experiences in nursing. I graduated from Washington Hospital SON, a diploma program, and worked in medical-surgical areas and in-patient psychiatric care while I attended Duquesne University for my BSN. I then began teaching at my diploma school while I earned my MNEd from the University of Pittsburgh. After a short hiatus from the classroom, I returned to the University of Pittsburgh for my doctoral studies in higher education. I had an interest in computer applications within healthcare during this time. For my dissertation I surveyed baccalaureate programs to determine the extent to which they employed computer-assisted instruction. I completed my doctoral work in 1986. In 1988 I co-founded a group for nurses and other healthcare professionals and support staff who were either interested in learning more about the use of computer applications to support healthcare or were already working in the area and were willing to share their knowledge. I served in several offices for the organization that became Tri-State Nursing Computer Network. My interest in informatics led me to obtain my MSIS from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Library and Information Management and ANCC certification as Informatics Nurse.

Throughout the years I have had positions in staff development, served as vice-president of nursing at a small hospital and was a faculty member in the baccalaureate programs at West Virginia University, Cleveland State University and Waynesburg College. I also taught graduate-level nursing informatics courses on-line for Duquesne University using First Class courseware. My most recent full-time position was in information services at Allegheny General Hospital. In that role I conducted system training, supported several clinical systems and helped clients to identify their needs for system selection and support. At present I am working on the third edition of Handbook of Informatics for Nurses and Health Care Professionals with my co-authors. We also wrote the Internet Resource Guide for Nurses and Health Care Professionals. Throughout the years my I have instructed basic students in medical-surgical, pediatric and maternity care. I attempted to provide basic information literacy skills for my basic students. Due to extenuating family circumstances I took a leave from my informatics position and failed to send in materials to obtain my ANCC recertification as Informatics Nurse. I plan to re-certify in the near future and will be re-turning to full-time employment soon. I am a member of the American Nurses Association and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMMS).

Kathleen Mastrian PhD, RN

Kathleen MastrianDr. Kathleen Mastrian is an Associate Professor and Program Coordinator for Nursing at Penn State Shenango. She earned as BS in Nursing at Penn State, a Master's in Nursing From Pitt and a PhD in Medical Sociology from Kent State University. Dr. Mastrian is the campus coordinator for the nursing program and teaches two nursing informatics courses. In addition, Dr. Mastrian teaches a Freshman Year Seminar (FYS) in Social Problems, serves as coordinator of the FYS courses for the campus, and teaches INSYS 200 (Technology as a Teaching Tool) to adult students.

She has been involved in the education of non-traditional aged students for over 20 years in the RN nursing program. The average age of the students is early to mid 40's. She pioneered the use of Credit by Portfolio Assessment to award advanced standing nursing credit for registered nurses. She has also been active in the development of technology enhanced courses for registered nurses facilitating asynchronous participation.

Elizabeth A. Phillip MSN, RN, C

Liz Phillip has been employed by FCG Management Services, LLC (FCG MS) since 2001 as a Project Lead for implementation of the EpicCare ambulatory electronic medical record implementation at University of Pennsylvania. She also has an extensive background in nursing practice, education, and management. Her academic background includes a Post-Master Certificate in Nursing Informatics from New York University and she is certified in Nursing Informatics from the American Nurse Credentialing Center. Her information system experience includes using administrative and clinical databases to measure clinical effectiveness and patient outcomes. She has also participated in developing an electronic incident reporting system for measuring the impact of patient safety initiatives. Her publications include: Co-author Dr. Barbara Carty and Elizabeth Phillip (2001). Nursing Education in the Era of Information Technology in Essentials of Computers for Nursing, 3rd ed. NY: McGraw Hill.

Darlene Froberg, MN, BSN, RN

I graduated from the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology with a diploma in Nursing in 1986. Following graduation, I worked with geriatric patients for several years. Since then, I have completed a Health Care Administration Certificate, a BSN (Post RN) and a MN from the University of Saskatchewan (Canada). My interest in informatics is fairly new compared to my colleagues. I first 'discovered' informatics prior to entering the MN program in 2002. I was amazed at the thought that I could combine computers with nursing as a career choice. Throughout my MN program, I had several opportunities to focus my knowledge of informatics towards computer use in nursing education.

I sat on the College of Nursing Information Technology (IT) Committee, developed a teaching portfolio web site for faculty, and was responsible for co developing and maintaining a departmental web site. I have also acted as a provincial coordinator for an inter-provincial Web-based project that illustrated the best practices of educators interested in using educational technologies in their teaching practice. I have worked as a teaching assistant in a distance education course that utilized Web-CT as the course delivery system and have extensive knowledge of instructional design and multimedia. My Master's Project used qualitative research, in the form of a case study, to develop and test a model for on-line course development for nurse educators. I am one of the founding members of the Canadian Nursing Informatics Association and currently hold the position of Newsletter Chairperson and Webmaster for the recently formed Saskatchewan Nursing Informatics Association. I designed, developed and maintain the web site for this Special Interest Group of the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses' Association. I am self-employed as a Consultant/Designer specializing in instructional design and course delivery of health related content.

Ann Lyness, PhD, RN

Ann Lyness was a part time faculty member at the University of South Carolina, College of Nursing, from 1998 to 2007. She concentrated on computer activities, primarily web related work. Previously, she had been at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Nursing, for more than 25 years where she served in a number of capacities such as faculty in undergraduate and graduate teaching, thesis and dissertation guidance, conducting research, and in an administrative role for a Learning Resources Center. She earned a BSN, MPH, MLS and PhD at the University of Pittsburgh. Her interests in Informatics have included various applications of electronic text and visual images for communication, documentation, and information resources.

Amany Abdrbo

Amany Abdrbo received her baccalaureate degree in nursing, her Masters education from Cairo University, Egypt, and her PhD in nursing informatics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in 2007. She teaches nursing informatics at Case Western Reserve University, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing for her post doctoral scholar work. She is actively involved in curriculum development for Masters classes in nursing informatics and conducting nursing informatics research studies regarding nurses and nursing students' perceptions about information system use in hospitals.

In 2006, she was awarded two research grants from the American Nurses Association (ANF) and Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) to fund her doctoral dissertation. In 2007, she was awarded the Summer Institute of Nursing Informatics (SINI) Abstract High Scholarship from The University of Maryland, School of Nursing. In 2008, she was awarded the Honorable Mention Certificate from the Nursing Informatics Research Section of Midwest Nursing Research Society (MNRS) for the merit of her PhD dissertation work.

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