Board of Directors

Executive Committee:

Sue Wingate
RN, PhD, CRNP
President
Rockville, MD

Dr. Sue Wingate is a cardiology nurse practitioner with Kaiser-Permanente Mid-Atlantic States in Silver Spring, Maryland where she provides direct care to both general cardiology and heart failure patients. Previously, she worked in coronary intensive care, acute care, outpatient cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation settings as a staff nurse, manager, research coordinator and clinical nurse specialist. Sue retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve, after 25 years as a nurse corps officer.

She has published numerous articles and chapters and has been an invited speaker at regional, national, and international meetings on heart failure and other cardiology topics. She serves as a reviewer for several professional journals, is the column editor of “At the Bedside” in The Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, and is an associate editor for The Journal of Cardiac Failure. She was elected as a Fellow in the American Heart Association (AHA)and she has received the Clinical Excellence in Nursing award from the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) .

Sue is active in several professional organizations and is currently a member of the AHA’s Professional Education Committee. She has been President of the local chapter of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses as well as Chair of their national research committee. Sue is also a team leader for Heart Failure continuing education content for the Cardiac Care Associates of the American College of Cardiology.

Sue’s research interests are currently focused on symptom palliation and care of the patient with advanced heart failure.

Vera Barton-Caro
RN, MSN, C-FNP
President Elect
Wheeling, West Virginia


Vera Barton-Caro is a nurse practitioner in a private cardiology practice in Wheeling West Virginia and serves as nurse manager for The Heart Failure Clinic of Wheeling. She and her collaborating physician, Richard F. Terry MD, successfully opened the first free- standing outpatient heart failure clinic in the state. Mrs. Vera Barton-Caro is responsible for direct patient care in a full service cardiology practice while managing all aspects of the heart failure clinic including telemanagement, education, admissions and referrals.

Mrs. Barton-Caro's nursing background includes administrative as well as staff positions in neurosurgical intensive care, medical and cardiac intensive care and the cardiac catheterization laboratory.

Mrs. Barton-Caro was awarded the West Virginia State Award of Excellence from the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners in 2006 for her work in heart failure. She is the President-elect of the Advanced Practice Nurses of the Upper Ohio Valley and is a member of the Heart Failure Society of America, the Advanced Practice Nurses Council of the West Virginia Nurses Association, and Co-Chair of the 2006 American Heart Association Heart Walk for Ohio County. She serves as a preceptor for student nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Mrs. Barton-Caro is an active regional and national speaker on the subject of heart failure. She earned both her Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science in nursing and family nurse practitioner credentials from Wheeling Jesuit University. She is currently pursuing her PhD in nursing through West Virginia University

Marie Galvao
MSN, ANP-BC
Treasurer
Bronx, New York


Marie Galvao currently directs out-patient heart failure services at the Center for Advanced Cardiac Therapy at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NY. In this position she is entirely dedicated to the management of patients with heart failure. This includes clinical management, education, and research, in addition to overseeing the full out- patient practice (cardiopulmonary testing, education, preceptorships, quality management and program development).

After spending a number of years as a critical care nurse and clinical manager of the Coronary Care Unit at the Hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y., Marie started her career in heart failure as a clinical nurse specialist. Initially, she coordinated an NIH sponsored trial, The Studies of Left Ventricular Dysfunction, as well as countless other research trials and projects. Her role, however, quickly expanded and she soon developed an expertise in the management of acute and chronic heart failure. In 1990 she was appointed to the faculty at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and concurrently completed her post-graduate work and certification as an adult nurse practitioner. Marie played an integral role in later expanding the heart failure program to what is now the Center for Advanced Cardiac Therapy at Montefiore Medical Center. Through administrative, scientific and clinical efforts, she has truly made it a priority to raise and optimize the standard of heart failure care.

Over the past 20 years, alone and with her colleagues, Marie has published numerous abstracts and articles on various heart failure topics. She continues to share her expertise through committee work, preceptorships, lectures and publications. Marie has served on advisory and editorial boards, on committees of the AAHFN, HFSA and the New York Heart Failure Consortium. She remains dedicated to the management of her patients and to the advancement of our knowledge and understanding of the syndrome of heart failure.

Cheryl Dennison
RN, ANP, PhD
Secretary
Baltimore , MD


Cheryl R. Dennison, RN, ANP, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing with joint appointment in the School of Medicine Department of Health Sciences Informatics. She is Affiliated Faculty in the Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care. Dr. Dennison is a 2008-2010 John A. Hartford Foundation Claire M. Fagin Fellow and is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, Council on Cardiovascular Nursing. As a clinician and researcher, Dr. Dennison is committed to developing and testing interdisciplinary approaches to improve the quality of cardiovascular care across the care continuum to reduce cardiovascular risk for high risk, underserved populations.

Her current research is focused on reducing system and provider barriers to heart failure (HF) guideline implementation in the acute care setting. She is developing and testing an innovative, interactive, Web-based clinical decision support system to improve nurse and physician implementation of national evidence-based guidelines and thereby improve quality of care among HF patients. Dr. Dennison has experience in developing and testing interventions to reduce cardiovascular risk among high risk populations in the acute care and community settings. Dr. Dennison is co-investigator on two NIH-funded randomized controlled trials to test the effectiveness of community-based cardiovascular risk intervention programs targeting high risk urban populations. In addition, she is co-investigator on an NIH Fogarty Center funded study assessing total cardiovascular risk and barriers to high blood pressure care among black South Africans.

Her research interests include heart failure care and self management, cardiovascular risk management, hypertension, chronic illness management, quality of care, interdisciplinary teamwork, and provider behavior. Dr. Dennison earned a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University, a Master’s degree in Advanced Practice Nursing – Adult Nurse Practitioner from Johns Hopkins, and a Bachelor’s degree in nursing from the Texas Woman’s University.

Rebecca L. Angerstein
RN, MA, MSN, BC, CCRN, CNS, FAHA
Director
Norton, OH


Rebecca (Beki) L. Angerstein is a Cardiology Clinical Nurse Specialist at Northeast Ohio Cardiovascular Specialists in Akron, Ohio. She functions as an Advanced Practice Nurse with direct patient care in both inpatient and outpatient areas as well as being the Director of Clinical Services. Her heart failure interests include prevention, patient education implantable cardiac devices, remote monitoring and diagnostics.

Prior to this role she was a staff nurse in ICU and CCU, critical staff development instructor and has held management positions. She received the “Heart Care Partnership Award” for AHA Get with the Guidelines program coordination and implementation.

Ms. Angerstein received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and her Master of Science in Nursing with a cardiology clinical specialty from the University of Akron. She also earned a Master of Arts degree in Community Health Education form Kent State University.

Her professional affiliations include the Heart Failure Society of America, American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association and American Association of Critical Care Nurses. She has certifications as a Critical Care Registered Nurse and is board certified in Cardiac Vascular nursing. She served as Chair of the AAHFN Annual meeting in 2007. She serves as a reviewer of the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing and was elected a Fellow of the American Heart Association in 2006. She is active in speaking regionally and nationally on numerous heart failure topics.

Linda Baas
RN, PhD, ACNP
Director
Harrison, OH


Dr. Linda Baas has a joint position as Professor at the University of Cincinnati and Director of Nursing Research at The Christ Hospital. In her current role she guides staff nurses in the evaluation of evidence for practice change, assists in the design of performance improvement projects and research studies, and guides staff in publications. Prior to this position she was the Director of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Cincinnati and she worked part time for 10 years as an ACNP in a Heart Failure and Transplant Program. Other past experiences include staff nurse in CCU, Cardiac CNS, and Director of a Cardiac Rehabilitation Program.

Over her career, she has conducted research related to self care resources, quality of life, and technology use in cardiac patients. She also has published in various journals including: Heart and Lung, American Journal of Critical Care, Progress in Cardiovascular Nursing, Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, Emergency Medicine, Dimension in Critical Care Nursing, and the Journal of Nurse Practitioners. In addition she has published numerous chapters in books. Linda is certified as an ACNP from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and as a CCNS from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. She is a Fellow in the American Heart Association Council of Cardiovascular Nursing and a member of the AACN Circle of Excellence.

Linda has been active in many organizations over the years and is currently on the Board of the Society for the Advancement of Modeling and Role-Modeling, and has committee appointments with AHA and HFSA and the local chapters of PCNA and Ohio Nurses Association.

She has been a speaker at all past AAHFN meeting presenting on research, assessment, and exercise topics. In 2008-09 Linda chaired the AAHFN Education Committee. Prior to that she was on the Annual Meeting Committee and chaired the 2008 Annual Meeting in Boston

Ashley Moore
MSN, APRN, ANP-BC
Director
Mooresville, NC


Ashley Moore is a nurse practitioner at Sanger Clinic in Charlotte, NC, providing inpatient and outpatient care and education to a variety of cardiology patients. She also works as a clinical nurse specialist at Carolinas Medical Center, a large, tertiary-care teaching hospital in the Cardiac Division. Ms. Moore earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1993. She completed her Master of Science in Nursing and became certified as an Adult Nurse Practitioner by The American Nurses Credentialing Center in 2004.

Ms. Moore’s nursing background has focused primarily on the care of adult cardiology patients in addition to serving in a variety of positions ranging from an assistant nurse manager on a cardiac transplant/telemetry unit to the lead coordinator of the Heart Failure Program at Carolinas Medical Center.

She has been active in several professional organizations. She is President-elect of the Metrolina Coalition of Nurse Practitioners in Charlotte, NC and is on the Education and Local Task Force Committees of the AAHFN. She is a member of the Heart Failure Society of America and the International Adult Congenital Heart Disease Nursing Network. She is involved with academics and serves as a preceptor for nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist graduate students in addition to guest lecturing in the Adult Health Nurse Practitioner program at UNC-Charlotte on heart failure and other cardiovascular topics. She has also been a speaker for the Nurse to Nurse Program through Scios.