Speakers

Carolyn Jones
Award-winning Photographer and Filmmaker
Author, The American Nurse

Carolyn Jones, author and filmmaker behind The American Nurse Project and Defining Hope—spent two years documenting the work of emergency nurses across the country, a journey that led her to conclude that “without them, we don’t stand a chance.” That was before the global coronavirus pandemic that has thrust our nation’s nurses even further onto the frontlines of healthcare, addressing our physical and emotional needs before sending us back out into the world. Jones will share excerpts from her new documentary In Case of Emergency, shedding light on some of the biggest health care challenges facing Americans today—from the opioid crisis to gun violence to behavioral health and lack of insurance—and the ways in which they collide in our emergency departments. The WHO has designated 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse,” and with everything our nurses have been tasked with this year, in the US and across the globe, this truly is the year of the nurse.

Lydel A. Wright, MSN, BSN, RN, NEA-BC
Executive/Health Care Leader
EmPACT Chairman & SafeWatch Founder

Lydel Wright is an entrepreneur, advocate, and celebrated leader of health care innovation.  After 12+ years in a variety of nursing staff and leadership positions, Wright turned his attention to policy development, technology development and deployment, and public service. His pursuit of entrepreneurship began with his work to create SafeWatch – innovative technology that takes a multi-focal look at the aging population and clinical workflow redesign. He chairs the non-profit EmPACT Foundation, which Empowers People to ACT through community service, and works to create equitable opportunities for socioeconomically disadvantaged students. His innovations include two electronic medical records and a redesigned hospital gown that improves privacy and functionality. In the process sector, Wright has worked to develop health care products, policies, and procedures to more effectively engage nurses. He was the first and only African-American Johnson & Johnson Nurse Innovation Fellow, and holds an MSN and BSN from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Ernest J. Grant, PhD, RN, FAAN
President
American Nurses Association

Dr. Ernest J. Grant is the 36th president of the American Nurses Association (ANA), the nation’s largest nurse’s organization representing the interests of the nation’s 4 million registered nurses.

A distinguished leader, Dr. Grant has more than 30 years of nursing experience and is an internationally recognized burn-care and fire-safety expert. He previously served as the burn outreach coordinator for the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at University of North Carolina (UNC) Hospitals in Chapel Hill. In this role, Grant oversaw burn education for physicians, nurses, and other allied health care personnel and ran the center’s nationally acclaimed burn prevention program, which promotes safety and works to reduce burn-related injuries through public education and the legislative process. Grant also serves as adjunct faculty for the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing, where he works with undergraduate and graduate nursing students in the classroom and clinical settings.

Grant holds a BSN degree from North Carolina Central University and MSN and PhD degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Nursing in 2014. He is the first man to be elected to the office of president of the American Nurses Association.