What We Do

ACNN’s mission is to promote excellence in child neurology nursing practice through the development and support of nurses caring for children with neurological conditions. We aim to advance standards of care, provide educational opportunities, foster research and facilitate regional and international multidisciplinary collaboration.

ACNN Committees

Awards Committee

  • Review applications for ACNN awards
  • Consider additional ways of acknowledging member excellence


Communications Committee

  • Help improve between-conference member interaction through:
  • Quarterly newsletter
  • Publication updates from our members
  • Social media posts
  • Website content


Conference Planning Committee

  • Assist with the planning of the annual ACNN conference during bi-weekly meetings (every other week during planning season)
  • Create conference agenda and planning timelines
  • Identify and coordinate speakers
  • Assist with event outreach efforts


Education Committee

  • Help identify speakers and topics for webinars
  • Coordinate between-conference learning events


Membership Committee

  • Re-examine membership categories
  • Consider group memberships
  • Set a more equitable fee structure

Quality, Research, and Scholarship Committee

  • Promote scholarship within the organization by curating a collection of members scholarly work
  • Review applications for and manage the Elizabeth F. Hobdell Research Grant program


Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

  • Collaborate with colleagues who share your professional interests in epilepsy, headache, movement, neuromuscular, development, acute care, critical care, and ambulatory nursing.
  • SIGs may choose to network with each other to share clinical perils and pearls, collaborate on research or produce scholarly work such as practice guidelines, position statements, book chapters or journal articles.


Transition to Practice (TTP) Task Force for NPs/PAs

  • Collaborate with advanced practice colleagues to create a road map and develop educational content for onboarding new APPs


Transition to Practice (TTP) Task Force for RNs and Clinical Assistants

  • Collaborate with colleagues to develop an orientation guide for ambulatory or acute care nurses and clinical assistants

Board of Directors

Every member of our board of directors is a thought leader who has made significant contributions to our society. 

Each one brings a unique set of skills and expertise to our organization. 

Current Board Members

Mona Jacobson

President

Mona is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner with 15 years experience in pediatric neurology and previous 23 years in primary care pediatrics. She is a general neurology provider at Children's Hospital Colorado. Mona has expertise in perinatal stroke, new onset seizure and neurofibromatosis.  Along with her clinical role she serves as the advanced practice lead for education. 

Rasha Srouji

President-Elect

Rasha Srouji DNP, CPNP, CNRN is a nurse practitioner in the Neurology department at Boston children's Hospital and the lead NP for onboarding and the procedural clinic. She has been a member of ACNN for the past 7 years and has been chair of the conference planning committee for the past two years. 

Susanna Fenstermacher

Treasurer

Susanna Fenstermacher, MSN, RN, CPNP-PC, is a pediatric nurse practitioner in the Division of Pediatric Neurology at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She specializes in the care of children and young adults with epilepsy, including dietary therapy and neuromodulation. She joined ACNN in 2022 and has also participated in the conference planning committee.

Deanna Duggan

Secretary

Deanna has 18 years’ experience as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner at Texas Children’s Hospital. She is a Headache Specialist and active member in the American Headache Society. Deanna previously served as President of the Houston Area Chapter of NAPNAP and participates in the ACNN Transition to Practice Committee.

Toni Kavanagh

Director At-Large

Toni Kavanagh RN, BSN, MSHA, MBA, CNRN is currently the program coordinator for pediatric neurology at Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital in New York. She has ten years of experience in pediatric neurology. She has been the recipient of the Claire Chee award for Excellence from ACNN and recipient of the Emma Rose award from The Epilepsy Foundation of Metropolitan New York.

Samantha Weaver

Director At-Large

Samantha is a PNP-AC, RN, MSN, CNRN in Birmingham, AL. She has served the last two years on the Alabama chapter National Assoc of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, performing dual roles in communication and membership chair. 

Susan Caffery

Director At-Large

Susan graduated with BSN from California State University Sacramento. Graduated from University of Nebraska Medical center in 2000 with my FNP. She has worked in primary care, urgent care, military and flight medicine until starting in pediatric neurology in 2010. She has been co- investigator on several medication studies in pediatric neurology. She is currently the co-lead APC for Sutter Medical Group in Sacramento and nurse practitioner in pediatric neurology. 

Association Staff

ACNN is managed in partnership by Capture Management Solutions

Michele

Denkinger

Executive Director

Emily

Koss

Account Manager

Ken

Lingen

Finance Manager

Carl

Lingen, MBA, QAS, PHR

Advisor