Omaha System Board of Directors
The volunteer Board of Directors was established in March 2001 to provide leadership for Omaha System revisions, presentations, publications, conferences, Website, and other advisory activities. More details are included in the 2005 book, Appendix D. The Board meets every two years following the Omaha System International Conference and communicates by phone and email between Conferences. Board members also communicate with members of the Listserv.
Current Board members have diverse practice, education, research, and software expertise related to the Omaha System. To contact a specific Board member, use the following information.
Robin R. Austin, PhD, DNP, DC, RN-BC, FAMIA, FNAP, FAAN
Assistant Professor
University of Minnesota School of Nursing
5-140 Weaver-Densford Hall, 308 Harvard Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455; USA
952-412-6375
quis0026@umn.edu
Robin is an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. She directs the Center for Nursing Informatics and the Omaha System Partnership practice-based research network, and coordinates the Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) Informatics specialty. Robin integrates her clinical background with informatics and data science methods to represent the patients’ perspective across the healthcare continuum.
Robin’s research combines expertise in consumer and clinical informatics, and her research with large datasets and data science methods examines social determinants of health and resilience. Robin and Karen Monsen developed the MyStrengths+MyHealth application that incorporates the Simplified Omaha System terms. Through this work she leads an international collaborative of scientists, clinicians, and consumers to advance the use of simplified Omaha System terms to understand whole-person health from the consumer perspective. She incorporates her interests into organizational memberships including induction as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 2024. Robin has been involved in the Omaha System since 2014 and joined the Board of Directors in 2023. She has published articles about the use of MyStrengths+MyHealth and the Omaha System; she contributed to Chapters 5 and 6 for the next book. In addition, she has presented her research at national and international conferences, including at the Friends of the National Library of Medicine. She has presented at Omaha System International Conferences in 2017, 2019, and 2022. In 2019, Robin received the Omaha System Partnership PhD Student Research Methodologist Award.
Kathryn (Kathy) H. Bowles, RN, PhD, FACMI, FAAN
Professor and van Ameringen Chair in Nursing Excellence
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
418 Curie Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104-4217; USA
Vice President and Director of the Center for Home Care Policy & Research
VNS Health, NY
215-898-0323
bowles@nursing.upenn.edu
Kathy is a Professor and van Ameringen Chair in Nursing Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and VP and Director of the Center for Home Care Policy & Research at VNS Health. She co-founded RightCare Solutions in 2011, a software company based on her team's research on decision support for post-acute care referrals. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the American College of Medical Informatics, and a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society and International Nursing Research Hall of Fame. In 2024, Kathy was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and the New York Academy of Medicine. Also in 2024, she and her team obtained a new ICD-10 code for sepsis survivors.
Initially introduced to the Omaha System in 1993, Kathy conducted the first Omaha System study in acute care, has published numerous articles and chapters about the Omaha System, and is co-author of Chapter 5, Use of the Omaha System in Research, for the next Omaha System book. Most recently, Kathy has engaged her doctoral students in using the Omaha System’s terms in natural language processing studies. She has served on the Omaha System Board of Directors since 2001. Kathy received the first Omaha System Excellence in Research Award in 2011. She was honored with the Senior Methodologist Award at the 2017 Omaha System Partnership meeting and has spoken at the Omaha System International Conference 11 times.
Jeana M. Holt, RN, PhD, DNP, FNP-BC, APNP
Assistant Professor
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College of Nursing
1921 E Hartford Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53211; USA
414-229-6768
jmholt@uwm.edu
Jeana is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College of Nursing, where she teaches PhD and Doctor of Nursing Practice graduate students and conducts research. She formerly served as the director of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College of Nursing House of Peace Community Nursing Center and Primary Care Services, where she used the Omaha System and the College’s software to study of influences about how and why interventions work or do not work in different contexts.
Jeana’s research focuses on understanding the complex relationships between social and structural determinants of health, from biology to policy and nursing science. Her research includes developing care systems responsive to the individual- and community-level strengths, challenges, and needs using the Omaha System that systematically and comprehensively collects whole-person data and intervention preferences. Jeana has been involved with the Omaha System since 2011 and joined the Board of Directors in 2016. She has published articles and chapters about the Omaha System and community-based nursing practice. Jeana is the co-author of Chapter 4, Use of the Omaha System in Education, and co-author of a box in Chapter 5, Use of the Omaha System in Research, in the next Omaha System book. In addition, she and her colleagues served as the school host for the 2015 Omaha System International Conference, and she spoke at the 2017, 2019, and 2022 Conferences.
Taffany Hwang, MSN, DNP, PHN, PNP-BC, MPH
Nurse Consultant III
California Department of Public Health
Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch
850 Marina Bay Parkway,
Building P, Third Floor
Richmond, CA 94804; USA
taffany.hwang@aya.yale.edu
Taffany is a board-certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner with a dual MSN-MPH degree from Yale University and a DNP executive candidate at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. After a decade of practicing in primary and acute care pediatrics, she transitioned into a health policy and administration role at the California Department of Public Health. There, she provides administrative oversight of local public health nursing activities, including interpreting statutes and mandates into standardized practice policy and reviewing and approving contract funding of over 20 million dollars for 49 local health programs.
Taffany’s doctoral inquiry focuses on improving public health informatics, particularly collecting usable and meaningful public health interventions provided to the community by public health nurses and community health workers. After an extensive integrative review of numerous articles, she discovered the Omaha System and Omaha System Board members. Taffany designed, engaged multidisciplinary stakeholders, and implemented the Omaha System to be adapted and used in one of the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Programs in a California Health Department as a pilot. Preliminary project data indicates a measurable improvement in public health nurses’ satisfaction with the Omaha System, reduced charting burden and increased robustness of nurse-sensitive data quality. She plans to continue advocating for use of the Omaha System in documentation and data collection to promote data-informed and evidence-based policies. Taffany joined the Omaha System Board of Directors in 2023.
Karen E. Johnson, RN, PhD, FSAHM, FAAN
Associate Professor
The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing
1710 Red River
Austin, TX 78701; USA
512-471-7971
kjohnson@mail.nur.utexas.edu
Karen is an Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing. She conducts research to address health inequities in adolescents. Most of her work focuses on substance use, mental health, and co-occurring health-risk behaviors in adolescents who are at-risk for school dropout and attending alternative high schools. She also explores the role of providers in addressing health-risk behaviors during sports physicals. She is particularly interested in the role of school nurses in addressing health-risk behaviors with vulnerable youth.
Karen was introduced to the Omaha System during her PhD program at the University of Minnesota, where she collaborated with Dr. Karen Monsen on various projects and attended her first Omaha System International Conference. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and a member of The University of Texas at Austin Omaha System Users Group. She has used the Omaha System in teaching community assessment skills to bachelors and master’s level public health nursing students. She has also contributed to research publications that use Omaha System data to explore the impact of public health nursing interventions. Karen and The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing served as the school host for the April 2019 Omaha System International Conference in Eagan, Minnesota, where she delivered the opening speech. Karen joined the Omaha System Board of Directors in 2017.
Brian J. Kates, MA, CPRP, LPCC
Parks Operations Administrator & Director of Meadows Park Community Center
City of Colorado Springs
1943 El Paso Avenue
Colorado Springs, CO 80905; USA
719-385-7942
brian.kates@coloradosprings.gov
Brian served as Director of the Meadows Park Community Center since 1998. The Center has 3.0 full-time, 15 seasonal staff, and many volunteers, serving about 65,000 people annually. Programs include out-of-school time opportunities for youth, exercise and meal programs for older adults, and special events for families. Brian uses stories, qualitative data, and quantitative data to capture program outcomes. During a financial crisis in 2010, he collaborated with area nursing educators and began to use the Omaha System. It was especially useful to quantify outcomes of Center customers after they received Center services.
In 2013, Brian and colleagues established a community collaborative to connect health, recreation, and academic professionals who served Colorado Springs youth; it expanded to a state-wide group. For these efforts, he received the National Leadership Academy Public Health Award. Brian continues to collaborate with others and use the Omaha System. He currently serves on the evaluation committee that ensures compliance within national accreditation standards for parks and recreation agencies, and introduces administrators and colleagues to the value of measuring physical, social, and mental health with the Omaha System. He is completing a professional clinical counselor license. Brian’s publications are listed on the Omaha System Website. He authored a contribution to Chapter 3 for the next Omaha System book. Brian also shared details about Omaha System use during his 2019 speech and poster presentation and the 2022 Omaha System Conferences. Brian joined the Omaha System Board of Directors in 2019.
Karen S. Martin, RN, MSN, FHIMSS, FAAN
Health Care Consultant
Martin Associates
5711 N. 167th Avenue Circle
Omaha, NE 68166; USA
402-333-3209
martinks0007@gmail.com
Karen is a Health Care Consultant. She was employed at the Visiting Nurse Association of Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska from 1978-1993 where she was the principal investigator of Omaha System research. Since 1993, she has provided consultation to prospective, new, and experienced interprofessional Omaha System users and software developers nationally and globally. Karen has served as a visiting scholar and speaker in more than 24 other countries.
Karen’s practice includes documentation, information management, outcomes measurement, and dissemination of the Omaha System. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, and has provided testimony for federal meetings and the Institute of Medicine. In 2008, she was included in the American Medical Informatics Association-Nursing Informatics Working Group's Nursing Informatics History Project; in 2024, she contributed an update for their Listserv. She received the MNRS Informatics Section Distinguished Researcher Award, alumni awards from Methodist Hospital School of Nursing and the University of Iowa, and the Ruth B. Freeman distinguished career award from the Public Health Nursing Section of the American Public Health Association. Karen is the author of the 2005 Omaha System book, 5 more books, 70 editorials, and author/co-author of more than 150 articles and chapters. She will author the next Omaha System book. She conducts workshops, and is a co-developer of the Omaha System Website. She has been the chair of the Omaha System Board of Directors, and the lead co-chair of the Omaha System International Conferences since 2001.
Karina Mazur, RN, BSN, IBCLC, IMH-E
Public Health Nurse Supervisor, Nurse Family Partnership
Kitsap Public Health District
345 6th Street, Suite 300
Bremerton, WA 98337; USA
karina.mazur@kitsappublichealth.org
Karina is the Public Health Nurse Supervisor at the Kitsap Public Health District for the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) program offered in partnership with Jefferson County Public Health. This regional team covers Kitsap, Jefferson, and East Clallam Counties in Washington State. Karina began employment in 2012. She has worked in a variety of programs that include direct services to families facing social and economic barriers to health and wellness, supporting regional systems-level changes, and as a supervisor supporting, learning, and growing alongside the Nurse-Family Partnership team.
Kitsap Public Health District administrators and staff successfully implemented the Omaha System and electronic documentation in 2006 when the county’s Parent Child Health Program began using Champ Software. The current team includes six nurses, one community health worker, two community health educators, one support staff, and one manager. Karina and the team continue to work on quality improvement documentation efforts, with Omaha System language used on a daily basis to support nurses in charting visits with families, and with data used to help maintain funding. Her colleagues submitted a Nurse-Family Partnership pathway for Chapter 3 of the next Omaha System book; they have been using pathways since 2006. Karina is a co-author of the Kitsap Public Health District’s “Quick Reference Documentation Protocol”. She joined the Omaha System Board of Directors in 2024.
Karen A. Monsen, RN, PhD, FAMIA, FNAP, FAAN
Professor Emeritus
University of Minnesota School of Nursing
5-140 Weaver-Densford Hall, 308 Harvard Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455; USA
612-624-0490
mons0122@umn.edu
Karen is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. She founded and directed the Omaha System Partnership within the University of Minnesota Center for Nursing Informatics, a research network that employs standardized data to inform health care quality questions. Karen’s cutting-edge research employs diverse methods including visualization, theory-based analysis, data mining and longitudinal analysis.
Beginning in 1998, Karen led the implementation of automated Omaha System-based software at Washington County Department of Public Health and Environment, Stillwater, MN. Karen is the author of many scientific publications related to the Omaha System, guest co-editor of two journal issues including the November, 2023 issue of JAMIA, and a co-author of Chapter 5 for the next Omaha System book. Karen mentored numerous students and faculty, and presented frequently nationally and globally. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. Karen has been a member of the Omaha System Board of Directors since 2001; is a contributor to the Omaha System Website; and has been a co-chair of Omaha System International Conferences since 2005. Recognition for her work with the Omaha System Users Group received the American Public Health Association (APHA) Public Health Nursing (PHN) Section's Nursing Creative Achievement Award (2008), and she also received the Lillian Wald Service Award (2016). Karen received the first Omaha System Excellence in Education Award (2011), and the Excellence in Research award (2019). She received the AMIA Virginia K. Saba Informatics Award (2021).
Jeanette M. Olsen, RN, PhD, CNE
Associate Professor and Director of Assessment and Evaluation
University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire College of Nursing and Health Sciences
5 Roosevelt Ave.
Eau Claire, WI 54701; USA
715-836-5722
olsenjea@uwec.edu
Jeanette is an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire College of Nursing where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, conducts research, and serves on multiple committees. She is involved in developing a new Nursing Education Leadership track for the DNP program, and serves as Director of Assessment and Evaluation for the College, leading program effectiveness and accreditation activities. She is on the Board of Directors for her local hospital, Cumberland Healthcare. Jeanette is the inaugural recipient of the Suzanne Strowig University Fellowship with which she is pursuing a post-master’s certificate through Jacksonville University, Florida, and conducting nursing informatics scholarship.
Jeanette was introduced to the Omaha System in 2012. Her doctoral research examined factors associated with physical activity among rural women by analyzing Omaha System data. Subsequent studies used the Omaha System to examine factors associated with health behaviors and intervention effectiveness in US and international populations. Jeanette presented posters at the Omaha System International Conferences in 2015, 2017, and 2019 and co-authored a presentation for the 2021 virtual Omaha System Update Conference. She also co-authored six articles listed on the Omaha System Website and a book chapter about the Omaha System. She is the co-author of Chapter 1, The Past, Present, and Future of the Omaha System; Chapter 3, Use of the Omaha System in Practice; and Chapter 6, Use of Information Technology with the Omaha System, for the next Omaha System book. Jeanette joined the Omaha System Board of Directors in 2023.
Marleen H. Versteeg, RN, MSc
Program Manager and Senior Consultant
Vilans and the Omaha System Support Foundation
Churchilllaan 11
Postbus 8228
3527 GV, Utrecht
The Netherlands
+31(0)30 – 78 92 300/+31622810271
m.versteeg@vilans.nl
Marleen is Program Manager and Senior Consultant at Vilans, The National Centre of Expertise for Long-term Care. She has been employed at Vilans since 2010 and involved with the Omaha System Support Foundation since 2017. She was employed in hospitals, elderly care facilities, and a research institution previously. Marleen was introduced to the Omaha System in 2015.
Some Dutch nurses and health care professionals became Omaha System supporters in the 1980s. Buurtzorg, formed in 2006, began to introduce and use the Omaha System throughout The Netherlands as a tool to increase the professionalization of nursing practice, especially in district/home health and nursing home care settings. Vilans became the executor of the Omaha System Support Foundation in 2015. Marleen, the Omaha System project team, and Vilans Board members work with those in practice, education, and EHR suppliers to develop, disseminate, and implement knowledge to support users in practice. They develop tools, care plans, teaching modules, and videos; maintain a Website; conduct presentations; and organize meetings and Webinars. They encourage the use of evidence-based data to make the work of healthcare professionals more transparent, effective, and efficient. The Foundation works with national organizations to advance and support working with the Omaha System. Marleen spoke at the Omaha System International Conference in 2019. She is a co-author of many publications and research proposals, and contributed to Chapters 3 and 6 for the next book. Marleen joined the Omaha System Board of Directors in 2023.
Frances KY Wong, RN, PhD, FAAN, FHKAN (Education & Research)
Chair Professor (Advanced Nursing Practice), Associate Dean (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences)
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, School of Nursing
Hunghom, Hong Kong
China SAR
852-27666419
frances.wong@polyu.edu.hk
Frances is a Chair Professor and Associate Dean at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research work and publications focus on advanced nursing practice, transitional care, and nursing education with high impacts on research itself, service, society and policy in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Frances published 180 journal articles in international refereed journals, most are in the top 20% of the Nursing Journal list. She edited 3 books. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the Hong Kong Academy of Nursing.
Frances incorporated the Omaha System in her courses, research, and publications, starting in the late 1990s. She has successful developed transitional care models, which applied the Omaha System as one of the key elements of the structured intervention, for different patient groups including those who have cardiac, renal, respiratory, and stroke conditions, and palliative needs and steering primary healthcare. She joined the Board of Directors in 2011 and was awarded with Omaha System Excellence in Research in 2017. Frances developed a team to test and confirm the validity of the Omaha System used among the Chinese population, as well as to translate the Omaha System into Chinese (Appendix A available here in Chinese) in 2011. She is active globally and has given numerous Omaha System speeches, consultation, mentored educators and students in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Finland and Norway. Currently she is supporting an insurance company to incorporate the Omaha System in its service system.