KEYNOTE SPEAKERS 

Jennifer S. Mensik Kennedy

Opening Keynote Session
Wednesday, July 15, 10:00 - 11:00 AM 

A sought-after presenter and prolific author, Jennifer S. Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, serves as the 38th president of the American Nurses Association. In this national leadership role, Dr. Mensik Kennedy boldly advocates for the nation’s 5.5 million RNs. In 2026, TIME named Dr. Mensik Kennedy to the TIME100 Health list in the Titan category for her global influence on the profession. In 2025 and for the third consecutive year, she was named by Modern Healthcare as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare. 

Dr. Mensik Kennedy’s insights on nursing leadership, workforce, and professional practice issues have shaped her public appearances and extensive body of work. She is an accomplished author and co-author of multiple books and publications focused on nursing leadership, workforce innovation, and professional transition. 

Prior to her presidency, Dr. Mensik Kennedy held key leadership positions within the nursing profession, including serving the American Nurses Association as Treasurer, Second Vice President, and Director-at-Large. She also served as President of the Arizona Nurses Association from 2007 to 2010. Additionally, Dr. Mensik Kennedy held the role of governor of nursing practice for the Western Institute of Nursing in 2010-2014.

Dr. Mensik Kennedy earned a PhD from the University of Arizona College of Nursing with a focus on health systems and a minor in public administration from the Eller College of Management. She holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a BSN from Washington State University. Dr. Mensik Kennedy also earned an ADN from Wenatchee Valley College-North. She is an assistant clinical professor at the Oregon Health and Science University School of Nursing. Dr. Mensik Kennedy was inducted in 2014 as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She has been recognized as Alumna of the Year by both University of Arizona College of Nursing and Washington State University College of Nursing.

Jose Cucalon Calderon

Second Keynote Session
Thursday, July 16, 8:45 - 9:45 AM 

Jose Cucalon Calderon is an Associate professor of Pediatrics for the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine/Renown Children’s Hospital. Born and raised in Ecuador, attended medical School at Universidad Catolica Santiago de Guayaquil and did his pediatric training at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama.

Dr. Cucalon Calderon has made a career working with underserved communities in both urban and rural areas in the US, with most of his work for the last 6 years in Nevada focusing on Latinx communities in the state. This includes access for preventive health services, health literacy, training curriculum to include Spanish for medical encounters , cultural humility and on the ground advocacy to improve health care delivery at the state.

Rosario Medina, PhD, FNP-BC, ACNP, CNS, FAANP, FAAN

Closing Keynote Session
Friday, July 17, 12:15 - 1:15 PM 

Rosario brings to UNM more than 43 years of active nursing experience and decades of academic leadership. Her leadership history has been focused on building practice capacity that increases access to underserved populations, building academic programs to prepare a highly diverse workforce, and providing evidence-based clinical environments for student experience and research.

Prior to joining the UNM College of Nursing, she was the Associate Dean of Clinical and Community Affairs at the University of Colorado- Anschutz College of Nursing in Aurora, Colorado, where she had the executive oversight of more than 140 faculty and staff in multiple faculty-managed clinical enterprises serving the Denver metro and rural Colorado. They included five midwifery practices, a campus community primary clinic, three integrative Federally Funded Health Centers, and two pediatric primary care clinics all focused on caring for underserved populations.

Medina has served as an educational leader in a variety of roles at the University of Colorado. They include Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the Graduate Programs, Assistant Dean for Graduate Nursing where she was responsible for 15 master's programs, Assistant Dean for Graduate Student Affairs, and as the Director of the Doctor of Nursing Program. Medina also promoted pathway programs into nursing and served as a mentor to aspiring nurses.

Medina's 25 years as a Family Nurse Practitioner and researcher has helped her become an expert in understanding underserved populations and knowledgeable in community-based research aimed at changing practice to positively influence health care outcomes in underrepresented populations. Her research focuses on the health beliefs, values and needs of the underserved Hispanic population, specifically in screening and prevention of chronic diseases, medication assisted treatment for opioid use disorders in Colorado's underserved frontier and rural counties, and the impact of shifting to tele-health during COVID.

Much of Medina's clinical, research, teaching, and publication activities have focused on improving health and health equity outcomes and addressing social determinants of health for Hispanic women and other underserved populations, including rural communities. She was recently honored as a leader for her efforts to diversify the nursing workforce by developing curriculum aimed at caring for underrepresented populations and developing policies that diversify the academic and practice nursing workforce.