A Call-for-Action: Simulation as a Means to Achieve Healthcare Equity

Dr. Kellie Dionne Bryant DNP, WHNP, CHSE, FAAN

Dr. Kellie Bryant is currently the Assistant Dean of Clinical Affairs and Simulation and Associate Professor at Columbia School of Nursing’s accredited Helene Fuld Health Trust Simulation Center. She also is a consultant for Dr. Uché Blackstock’s Advancing Health Equity company. Dr. Bryant has over 20 years of teaching experience and 15 years of experience in simulation. Throughout her career, she has become an expert in the field of simulation through her experience with designing simulation centers and implementing simulation programs for two of the top-rated nursing schools in the country. In her current role, she oversees the day-to-day operations and implementation of simulation-based education for all the prelicensure and advanced practice nursing students. She is also the medical director of Columbia’s Opioid Overdose Prevention Program, which has provided training to over 2,000 individuals. Additional responsibilities include implementing institutional and community-based initiatives that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Dr. Bryant’s research focus includes simulation use to improve patient safety, opioid overdose prevention, and developing nursing pathway programs for historically marginalized students. Her work has been disseminated globally through 1) 23 published articles, 2) research as Primary/Co-Investigator for over $5,659,000 in research projects and 3) conducting over 100 presentations.

Dr. Bryant serves on many national and international committees. At Columbia University, she was appointed co-chair of the campus-wide antiracism task force for community service. She is currently the chair of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare’s (SSH) media and communication committee, appointed member of SSH’s DEI workgroup, member of the International Nursing Association of Clinical Simulation Learning IncluDE diversity committee, and serves on the editorial board for the Clinical Simulation in Nursing journal. She is serving her third year on the CDC-funded Nurse-Led Vaccine Confidence Advisory Committee. Lastly, Dr. Bryant is currently on the executive board of the Greater NYC Black Nurses Association, including serving as the liaison for the NYC Black and Latinx Providers task force.

She received her Associate's degree in nursing from Hudson Valley Community College. She continued her education at Stony Brook University where she received her Bachelor’s in Nursing and a Master’s Degree as a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner. Lastly, she received her Doctorate in Nursing Education from Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Desiree A. Díaz PhD, FNP-BC, CNE, CHSE-A, ANEF, FSSH, FAAN

Dr. Desiree A. Díaz is the Undergraduate Simulation Coordinator and an Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida. She completed a Post Doc from Johns Hopkins with Dr. Pamela Jeffries, which focused on simulation pedagogy. Dr. Diaz creates tests and disseminates research on cutting-edge technologies such as holograms within the simulation community. Her strategies within simulation research pedagogy over the last decade have promoted health equity and brought awareness to healthcare disparities.  She was a National Coalition Ethnic Minority Nurse Scholar and Health Leadership Fellow. She serves as President-elect of the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation.

Her current grant funding focuses on educating and exploring ways to eliminate healthcare disparities while educating the workforce. As co-PI to a 2.7 million dollar HRSA grant “ENFERMERIA” which looks to empower and enhance linguistic services and culturally congruent care within the Hispanic community while encouraging advancement to graduate degrees of diverse post-baccalaureate student populations and as PI on approximately $500k grant that utilizes simulation to examine healthcare disparities and the role of public health nursing, Dr.Diaz engages multiple means to reduce healthcare inequity and encourage healthcare equity advocates.

Dr. Crystal Murillo PhD, RN, CHSE-A, ANEF, FAAN

Dr. Crystal Murillo (previous surname Graham) is an academic nurse scientist and simulationist with a tripartite portfolio focused on using simulation to prepare nursing students to view themselves as social justice advocates for health equity. Her research, teaching, and service activities revolve around the social determinants of health and learning and improving outcomes for underrepresented and minoritized nursing students and faculty. She has served as a principal investigator for $1.1 million in grant funding to lead nursing faculty in restructuring simulation curricula to focus on the preparation of a critically conscious future nursing workforce. Based on this work, she was invited to speak at the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) - the inaugural nurse from the state of South Carolina invited to speak at the Academy. Dr Murillo is a founding member and the current President of the South Carolina Nursing Education Simulation Alliance (SCNESA). She is also adjunct faculty for the Harvard Center for Medical Simulation. In 2022, Dr Murillo was elected to serve on the Board of Directors for the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL). In the same year, she was inducted as a fellow in both the NLN Academy of Nursing Education (ANEF) and the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN).