2023 AVA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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It is with great pleasure and honor that we inform you the slate of candidates for the 2023 AVA Board of Directors recommended by the AVA Board of Development Commission (BDC), has been accepted by the membership. Thank you to everyone who participated and cast their vote!

The individuals who will join the AVA Board of Directors on January 1st, 2023 are Mark Rowe, Lynn Deutsch, and Warren McGlauflin. Michelle DeVries will step into the President-Elect role, Staci Harrison will step into the Secretary role, and Nael Mhaissen will serve another term as Director-at-Large.

Please join us as we welcome the 2023 Board by recognizing their commitment to AVA’s growth as they assist our organization in meeting our strategic goals.

2023 PRESIDENT-ELECT:

MICHELLE DEVRIES, MPH, CIC, VA-BCTM, FAPIC

Chellie DeVries has been involved in Infection Control for more than 25 years, with a focus in vascular access. With a background in Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology her interest is in improving safety and outcomes associated with all types of vascular access devices. She has published and taught internationally and throughout the United States on topics at the intersection of vascular access, patient safety and Infection Prevention and previously served on the Vascular Access Certification Corporation (VACC) Board of Directors. She is currently serving as co-president of her local network (HoosierVAN) and is thrilled to join her colleagues as part of the National AVA board.

2023 TREASURER:

MARK ROWE, MNSC, RNP, VA-BCTM

Mark is a graduate of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) with both a bachelor’s and master’s in nursing science. His initial eight years in the art of nursing were in the specialty of burns/trauma but for the past 30 years, he has focused on Vascular Access as a clinical/education specialty. As a Senior Vascular Access Specialist, along with a great nursing team, assist by hosting the Vascular Access Residency program. He retired from beside service in December of 2021 but remain active in the education of the specialty. He was honored to serve as 2014-2015 Board President of the Association for Vascular Access (AVA) after serving as Director at Large for four years and past Scientific Meeting Chairperson.

2023 SECRETARY:

STACI HARRISON, DNP, RN

Staci Harrison is an innovative leader with more than 25 years of experience in nursing. Currently, she serves as the Southern California Regional Director of Medical-Surgical and Critical Care for Kaiser Permanente, where she leads the vascular access workgroup. Staci has proven success in leadership roles where she has collaborated with groups to achieve excellent patient care outcomes. She has been instrumental in fostering the collaborative efforts across the Kaiser Healthcare system while leading the vascular access workgroup. After earning her Doctor of Nursing Practice in 2017, she lends her knowledge at various universities as an instructor in their online curriculum. As a member of the board, she will utilize her collaborative and leadership skills to transport the mission and vision of AVA.

2023-2024 DIRECTOR AT LARGE:

LYNN DEUTSCH, MSN, RN, CRNI, VA-BCTM

Lynn has been a nurse for 42 years and has worked as a vascular access nurse since 2000. She has an ADN, BSN, and MSN in nursing. She was CRNI of the Year in 2015. She has been certified in infusion therapy since 1997 and VA-BC since 2015.

She has worked in a variety of settings including home infusion and ambulatory infusion. She currently works as an adjunct professor of nursing in the clinical setting in addition to her full-time vascular access position. She brings clinical expertise as a vascular access nurse and educator. She believes AVA is a multidisciplinary organization whose goal is to provide the best vascular access care to all patients. She believes in collaboration among other professional organizations to improve patient care. She looks forward to having the opportunity to serve this organization.

2023-2024 DIRECTOR AT LARGE:

NAEL MHAISSEN, MD

Nael Mhaissen is a pediatric infectious disease physician at Valley Children’s Healthcare in Madera, California, where he has been serving in different leadership roles including: the medical director of the infectious disease division, the medical director of infection prevention and control, and the chair of the health information management committee. He also chairs the committee of vascular access safety, which is a collaborative workgroup he created joining the efforts and expertise of the vascular access and the infection prevention teams and shifting the paradigm from focusing on preventing CLABSIs to focusing on preventing ALL vascular access related safety issues.

Dr. Mhaissen believes that improving the quality of care and ensuring patient safety require a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach that breaks the boundaries between the different disciplines and brings everyone’s expertise and goals together rather than focusing on the individual problems in silo.

2023-2024 DIRECTOR AT LARGE:

WARREN MCGLAUFLIN, RN, BS, VA-BCTM

Warren became involved in vascular access in 2008 when he joined radiology at Central Maine Medical Center. In 2010 he joined MEVAN (Maine Vascular Access Network) and AVA – it was at this time he attended his first AVA scientific meeting. This started his journey to learn all there was regarding the most current vascular access research and evidence-based practice.

In 2015 he became a Nurse Leader covering the new revenue-based cost center for the vascular access team. This helped them develop into a more independent team working within the scope of practice of the members. Since the inception of the VAST he has sat on the CLABSI reduction committee and helped brings rates down to 0, as well as root cause committees, blood draw complication reduction committees, and policy writing for vascular access.

He has remained committed to AVA remaining a member and having attended multiple scientific meetings as well as sitting on the D-Team (becoming chair for the 2022 scientific meeting) for 4 years. 13