KEYNOTE SPEAKERS 

Antonia Villarruel PhD, RN, FAAN
Opening Keynote - Raíces Fuertes, Nuevas Alas: Celebrating the Past, Building for the Future 

Wednesday, July 16, 2025, 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM Central Time

A bilingual, bicultural nurse researcher, Dr. Villarruel has extensive experience working with Latino and Mexican communities, focusing on health disparities, youth risk reduction, and community-based participatory research. She developed Cuídate!, a program nationally disseminated by the CDC that reduces sexual risk behavior among Latino youth. Dr. Villarruel holds leadership roles with the National Academy of Medicine and the Future of Nursing Campaign for Action, and has been recognized with numerous honors, including induction into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame and election as a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. She earned her MSN from the University of Pennsylvania and her PhD in nursing from Wayne State University.

Mary Lou de Leon Siantz, PhD, RN, FAAN
Second Keynote - Unaccompanied Immigrant Children: The Intersection of Trauma and Migration in the 21st Century 

Thursday, July 17, 2025, 8:45 AM - 9:45 AM Central Time

Mary Lou de Leon Siantz PhD RN FAAN, is Professor Emerita Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing and Founding Director of the Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Science (CAMPOS) University of California Davis. She is nationally recognized for her interdisciplinary efforts to prepare health and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals, starting with Latinas, in leadership and policy. She is internationally respected for her research in migrant population health. As a professor at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, de Leon Siantz has taught, conducted research and continues to mentor students in leadership policy and population health. Her research has focused on the impact of migration on the health and development of Hispanic migrant and immigrant children and families. Most recently she has chaired the American Academy of Nursing Child, Adolescent, and Family Expert Panel. She currently chairs the subcommittee and consensus panel on the Health of Unaccompanied Immigrant Children. Dr. de Leon Siantz is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow, as well as Fellow in the Western Institute of Nursing Research. Among her many honors, the American Nurses Association SAMSHA Minority Fellowship Program has recognized her as a Pioneer in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. She is a co-founder of the Mental Health Nurse Scientists of the Americas, an international psychiatric mental health nursing organization focused on Mental Health in the Americas, established with psychiatric nursing colleagues from the University of Cordoba, Argentina in 1996. She is a Founding Member, a Past President of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) and Founder of Hispanic Health International during her NAHN presidency.

Jen Buck, Leadership and Relationship Expert
Third Keynote - Inspire, Engage, Impact! 

Friday, July 18, 2025, 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Central Time

Jen Buck began the first decade of her career in a startup helping to launch a billion-dollar global and award-winning brand while in a leadership development training role. Having now been a professional Keynote Speaker for 27 years, she’s given over 10,000 programs impacting more than one million people throughout her tenure. As a five-time best selling author with ten publications, hosting a television show that was seen in 50 countries worldwide, as well as a podcast that highlights female leaders who are changing their corner of the world, Jen is committed to amplifying great leaders and helping them make an impact in the rooms where decisions are made.

Melissa Hladek, PhD, CRNP, FNP-BC, FAAN
Closing Keynote - The Wounded Healer: How Hope Becomes Power for the Latino/a Nurse

Friday, July 18, 2025, 12:50 PM - 1:50 PM Central Time

Dr. Hladek is an expert in health equity, behavior change and aging. Her research focuses on the intersection of how stress, self-efficacy, and sociocultural factors influence aging and multiple chronic conditions, especially advanced kidney disease, as well as the development of strengths-based, person-environment strategies and policies to improve outcomes. Dr. Hladek is funded through multiple institutes at the National Institute of Health, the American Heart Association and the John A. Hartford Foundation.

Dr. Hladek is a staunch advocate for centering patients’ values and goals in both research and clinical healthcare decision-making. As such, Dr. Hladek is the lead nurse practitioner in the national effort to disseminate Patient Priorities Care (PPC) to NP clinicians and students, also working with the PPC national team in multi-disciplinary dissemination and Spanish translation efforts. These contributions have refined the clinical practices of more than 13,000 clinicians and students toward person-centered care for older adults, focusing on vulnerable groups. Her two current pilot randomized control trials are both co-developed between the participant and the interventionists to address issues like: symptom burden, functional limitations, the home environment, communication skills and digital literacy.