Is a nurse leader and expert in human-centered patient design and simulation and healthcare innovation with extensive clinical experience in the emergency department, acute in-patient hospital settings, and academia over the past 12 years. Dan is an author, scholar, positive deviant and is the Head of Clinical Innovation at Trusted Health. Dan has held a variety of leadership roles, including nursing director, clinical faculty director, consultant, and direct care in emergency departments, academic medical centers, large colleges of nursing, and private educational firms. He earned his Bachelor’s in Nursing and was in the first cohort to graduate from the Masters in Healthcare Innovation program at Arizona State University. Dan was also the first-ever graduate of the PhD in Healthcare Innovation Leadership program at ASU under the mentorship of Dr. Kathy Malloch and Dr. Tim Porter-O’Grady. Dan’s clinical background is in Emergency and Trauma nursing at level 1 trauma centers in California and Arizona. Dan is also faculty at The Ohio State University College of Nursing and taught and at Arizona State University in the subject of Innovation, and Leadership. He recently authored a first of its kind book titled “Evidence-Based Innovation Leadership for Health Professions” which describes the leadership and collaboration skills needed to lead the future of healthcare delivery.

In closing, Dr. Jami Kovach will present "Action Learning." A technique called action learning can help organizations strike that balance by finding answers within instead of spending on training or outside consultants. The premise of action learning is real people resolving and taking action on real problems in real-time and learning while doing so. This process requires participants to take ownership of a problem that is important to the organization and to engage with others in creating a solution. To explore the problem and possible solutions, participants are asked to reflect on their own biases, attitudes, and expectations within small groups. Through interactive group sessions, a coach or facilitator guides participants through the action learning process, which helps them work through their problems. Through this presentation, the audience will learn about the action learning approach, which they can start using immediately to change the way they and others in their organizations think and talk about a problem to expand their thinking about possible solutions.

Dr. Jamison V. Kovach is an Associate Professor at the University of Houston. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University. Her industrial experience includes more than five years as a product and process improvement engineer in the U.S. textile industry. Her current research investigates the use of methods for product and process innovation, expanding the use of these methods, and developing new improvement approaches. Dr. Kovach’s prior experience working in manufacturing provides her with unique insight into the significant challenges associated with appropriately implementing quality improvement methods to solve organizational problems. Given that valuable understanding, her research has critically examined the application of process improvement and process design/redesign methods, such as Lean Six Sigma and Design for Six Sigma, through applied research partnerships between industry and academia. For her work, Dr. Kovach was recognized as the 2010 ASQ Feigenbaum Medalist, she is an Academician in the International Academy for Quality, and she is an ASQ Fellow. Her research in quality engineering and process improvement/redesign has been published in a wide variety of peer-reviewed journals and books.