About the Authors

Janice C. Palaganas, PhD, RN, NP, ANEF, FAAN, FSSH

Janice C. Palaganas is the Director of Educational Innovation and Development for the Center for Medical Simulation in Boston, Massachusetts, Department of Anesthesia and Critical Pain Management, Harvard Medical School. She is also Associate Professor in Interprofessional Studies and Associate Director of the PhD Health Profession Programs at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Institute of Health Professions. Palaganas received her bachelor of science in nursing and two master's degrees—adult nurse practitioner and geriatric nurse practitioner—from the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her PhD in nursing from Loma Linda University, where she explored healthcare simulation as a platform for interprofessional education.

Palaganas has developed a passion for teamwork from her background as an emergency nurse, trauma nurse practitioner, director of emergency and critical care services, and faculty for schools of medicine, nursing, allied health, management, a physician assistant program, and emergency medicine. As a behavioral scientist and former clinical nurse and hospital administrator, Palaganas focuses on using healthcare simulation as a platform for interprofessional education (IPE). She has served as a committee member for the publication of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) report on measuring the impact of IPE on practice. Palaganas's primary role is to develop health profession educators in an IPE setting. She previously led the Center for Medical Simulation instructor course, which teaches simulation to educators all over the world. She developed the Center for Medical Simulation Interprofessional Virtual Campus as the principal investigator of a board grant awarded by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. She is currently the chair of the Credentialing Commission for the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH), overseeing the Accreditation, Certification, and Fellows Academy.

Palaganas has shaped the field of simulation, leading the development of the SSH's accreditation and certification programs; served as Editor-in-Chief for the SSH's first textbook, Defining Excellence in Simulation Programs; authored seminal articles; and coauthored field-changing research, including the National League for Nursing (NLN) study for high-stakes assessment using simulation. As the Associate Director of PhD Programs for Health Professions Education at MGH Institute of Health Professions, she has led the development and the launch of the first PhD Program in Simulation and in IPE. She has been invited as a keynote speaker for numerous national and international conferences.

Beth Tamplet Ulrich, EdD, RN, FACHE, FAONL, FAAN

Beth Tamplet Ulrich is a nationally recognized thought leader known for her research in nursing work environments and the experiences of new graduate nurses as they transition from nursing school into the workforce. Ulrich is also recognized for her leadership in developing the roles of nephrology nurses and improving the care of nephrology patients. Ulrich has extensive experience as a healthcare executive, educator, and researcher. She currently serves as Professor at the Cizik School of Nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, where she teaches in the doctoral program, and as Editor-in-Chief of the Nephrology Nursing Journal, the official journal of the American Nephrology Nurses’ Association (ANNA). Ulrich previously served as the Vice President of Hospital Services for CAE Healthcare; has extensive senior executive experience in CNO, COO, and Senior Vice President positions in both hospitals and large healthcare systems; and has held graduate and undergraduate faculty positions. She has been a co-investigator on a series of national nursing workforce and work environment studies and on four studies of critical care nurse work environments conducted for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, and the primary investigator on two ANNA national studies on nephrology patient and nurse safety.

Ulrich received her bachelor's degree from the Medical University of South Carolina, her master's degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and her doctorate from the University of Houston in a collaborative program with Baylor College of Medicine. She is a Past President of the American Nephrology Nurses’ Association, a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, a Fellow in the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, and a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She was recognized as the Outstanding Nursing Alumnus of the Medical University of South Carolina in 1989 and as a distinguished alumnus of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing in 2002, and she received the Outstanding Contribution to the American Nephrology Nurses’ Association award in 2008. In 2018, she received the Marguerite Rodgers Kinney Award for a Distinguished Career from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. She has numerous publications and presentations to her credit on topics including nephrology nursing, nurses’ work environments, and how new graduate nurses transition into professional nurses. Both the first and the second editions of her landmark book Mastering Precepting received American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award recognitions in two different categories. In 2014, Ulrich and Beth Mancini collaborated to publish the first edition of Mastering Simulation: A Handbook for Success, which was also honored with an AJN Book of the Year award.

Mary Elizabeth (Beth) Mancini, PhD, RN, NE-BC, FAHA, FSSH, ANEF, FAAN

Mary (Beth) Mancini is Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Education Innovation at The University of Texas at Arlington College of Nursing and Health Innovation, where she holds the Baylor Professorship for Healthcare Research. Before moving to an academic role in 2004, Mancini was Senior Vice President for Nursing Administration and Chief Nursing Officer at Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas, Texas, a position she held for 18 years.

Mancini received an ADN from Rhode Island Junior College, a BSN from Rhode Island College, a master's in nursing administration from the University of Rhode Island, and a PhD in public and urban affairs from The University of Texas at Arlington. She completed a Johnson & Johnson Wharton Nurse Executive Fellowship at the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania and a National Association of Public Hospitals Management Fellowship program through the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.

Mancini is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking work in simulation and in high-quality, high-volume, accelerated online education. Her work in this area resulted in UTA's College of Nursing becoming the country's largest college of nursing in a public university and led to the College of Nursing receiving the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's prestigious Star Award in 2012. In recognition for her many contributions to the fields, Mancini was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, the National League for Nursing's Academy of Nurse Educators, the American Heart Association, and the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. In 2013, she was recognized with a Regent's Outstanding Teaching Award from the University of Texas system and was appointed a visiting scholar in innovation and simulation at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. In 2014, she was reappointed as a visiting scholar in simulation and curriculum.

Mancini is an active volunteer with numerous professional organizations. She currently serves as a member of the National Academies of Science Global Task Force on Innovations in Health Professions Education and a member of the American Heart Association's Educational Science and Program committee, as well as its Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation work group. She is also co-chair of the Basic Life Support Task Force for the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation. She has served as President of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and is a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada's Simulation Task Force and the World Health Organization's Initiative on Training, Simulation, and Patient Safety.

Mancini's research interests include innovations in education, interprofessional collaborative practice, and the development of high-performing healthcare teams through the use of simulation. She has received more than $6.5 million in competitive grants, has more than 100 publications to her credit, and is a sought-after speaker at local, national, and international conferences on topics such as simulation in health professions education; innovations in online education; development of high-volume, high-quality educational programs; patient safety; outcomes related to basic and advanced life support education; and work redesign.