GOING BEYOND
Meet the New Board Members The College of Nursing Board of Advisors provides strategic counsel, creates community awareness and helps obtain financial support for the college. UC College of Nursing welcomes two new members with a wealth of leadership experience, Bradley Jackson (BJ) and Susan Opas (SO). Tell us a little about yourself. BJ: I’m a Cincinnati native and have been a board-certified pediatrician for more than 30 years. I completed my undergraduate degree at UC as a recipient of the Louise Taft-Semple Classic Scholarship and went on to graduate with a medical degree from Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio. Afterward, I completed my pediatric internship and residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). I currently live in Columbus, Ohio, working as the plan performance medical director and chief medical officer of the Anthem Ohio Medicaid Plan. Previously, I worked for eight years as plan performance medical director for the Amerigroup Maryland Plan and for nearly 15 years as co-founder and practicing clinician of Premier Pediatric Group in Mason, Ohio. I have served as a volunteer assistant professor of pediatrics for UC College of Medicine and CCHMC and as president of the CCHMC medical staff. I have also served in leadership roles locally and nationally, including on the Board of Trustees for the National Medical Association, and as a senior physician for the Village Life Outreach Project and medical director for Crossroads Church on mission trips to Africa and Central America. SO: I am a proud 1971 UC Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) graduate. After graduation, my husband and I moved to Los Angeles, raised three children and were married for 37 years. I earned a master’s in nursing as a pediatric clinical nurse specialist and a post-master’s certificate as a pediatric nurse practitioner, followed by a PhD in educational psychology from the University of California Santa Barbara. Between 1973 and 2001, I taught all
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ages and stages of childhood and all levels of inpatient and outpatient care to undergraduate and graduate nursing students. Then, until July 2021, I practiced as a pediatric nurse practitioner with Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills area’s developmentalbehavioral program. I was also identified as a leader of Southern California’s developmental-behavioral group and Woodland Hills Advance Practice Providers. In addition to clinical practice, in 2011, I began yearly volunteer international humanitarian missions with ProjectHOPE, for which I remain a disaster response team member. I’m a reviewer for two journals, along with abstracts and grants for a variety of local nurse research meetings and have been an active committee member in both academic and practice settings. I have co-authored a book, published peer-reviewed journal articles and a recent chapter for an advance practice book. I have also been a guest speaker on developmental-behavioral topics at local, state and national nursing and public health meetings. My two professional passions are UC College of Nursing and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. I was inducted as a nurse leader into Sigma in 1982 through UCLA’s Gamma Tau Chapter and have maintained dual membership in UC’s Beta Iota Chapter. Since being inducted into Sigma, I have served in many Gamma Tau board positions, including chapter president, and have chaired committees at the international level. I currently serve as coordinator for Region 2 North America, serving 35 chapters in Southern California, west Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. I am a Virginia Henderson Fellow, Billye Brown Fellow, Sigma Fellow and a Pillar Society member, all earned through philanthropy.
