2024-2027 NSAC RN/APP Committee
Amy Donegan, MS, CPNP-PC, Chair
Amy Donegan is a nurse practitioner at Nationwide Children's Hospital and is the current co-chair of the RN/APP NSAC. Amy has been involved with the Crohn’s and Colitis foundation since 2007, initially at the local level and more recently, on the national level. She has over 38 years of pediatric nursing experience with 25 years focused in pediatric gastroenterology. Amy works exclusively with the pediatric IBD population. Her main areas of interests are in transition and transfer of care, health maintenance and self-management education. Amy leads a comprehensive, multidisciplinary annual IBD clinic that includes psychology, social work and nutrition support.
Outside of work, Amy loves spending time with her three adult children and husband of 32 years. She likes to ride bikes, play with her two dogs, listen to audio books and watch football and women’s volleyball.
Rachel Conklin, MMS, PA-C
Rachel Conklin, MMS, PA-C is a Physician Assistant who specializes in adult gastroenterology for The Gastroenterology Center at Valley View Hospital, in Glenwood Springs, CO. Rachel has been a provider in gastroenterology for five years. Her clinical practice is now limited and dedicated specifically to patients with IBD and Celiac Disease. She works with patients who live in rural and access-restricted areas, and a majority of her patients have had limited GI or IBD specialty care. She always emphasizes education, partnership and communication with her patients to help them understand their diagnosis, treatment, target and medications.
She has completed extensive education in IBD as well as the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation’s APP Preceptorship at the University of Chicago in 2023. She is very grateful to this Foundation and the Chicago IBD team for their teaching and for the firsthand experience learning in their care settings. Rachel is now also very honored and grateful to work with Dr. Benjamin Click and the University of Colorado Health Virtual Multidisciplinary IBD team through RADIUS (Rural APPs and MDs Delivering IBD Care in the US). This program allows Rachel to extend access for her patients to the UCHealth multidisciplinary, specialty IBD team and to benefit from their close partnership on continuing her patients’ care locally.
Prior to her GI practice, Rachel led clinical practice and research programs in radiation oncology, cancer survivorship and tobacco treatment. She has over 11 years of experience as a PA and over 17 years of experience in medicine. She is a proud graduate of Wake Forest School of Medicine Department of PA Studies in Winston-Salem, NC, where she earned a Master of Medical Science and a research specialty certification in Population and Translational Science, and of Vanderbilt University, where she earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering.
From the start of her education, and throughout her training and years as a professional, Rachel has continued to learn the importance of always considering the whole patient, their environment and their care experience. She now gets to lead with these considerations in her role as Director of Clinical Solutions for digital health company Everly Health. She is enjoying this opportunity to positively impact the design and delivery of large scale diagnostics and virtual care programs.
In her free time, Rachel enjoys skiing, mountain biking, camping, hiking and being active in any way with her two incredible children and her wonderful husband.
Angelina E Collins, MSN, ANP-BC
Angelina Collins is a Board Certified Adult Nurse Practitioner at the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at the University of California, San Diego. She received her Nursing and Masters in Nursing from the University of San Diego.
Angelina is passionate about providing comprehensive, patient centered care for those with all stages of Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis - from the newly diagnosed, to those who have longstanding disease and complications, as well as patients in clinical trials.
Angelina has been a board member for the Greater San Diego and Desert Area chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation since 2015 and currently serves as the healthcare provider committee chairperson of the Greater San Diego and Desert Area chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation.
Bryan P. Herrera, PharmD
Bryan Herrera is a clinical pharmacist specializing in surgery and gastroenterology at Stanford Health Care. He received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from University of California, San Francisco School of Pharmacy and completed post-graduate residency training with San Francisco VA Healthcare System. His role at Stanford Health Care involves supporting pharmacy needs for outpatient procedural areas across multiple specialties and seeing patients as an embedded pharmacist in the Digestive Health Center. As a new practitioner, Bryan has recently joined NSAC after becoming a professional member of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation earlier this year.
Dr. Herrera’s clinical area of focus is inflammatory bowel disease, with specific interests in health maintenance, pharmacotherapy, and dietary supplements. His scholarly interests include pharmacoepidemiology and patient-centered outcomes research of advanced therapies. He is also a member of the healthcare reform committee for the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists. A fun fact about Bryan is he dances salsa!
Helena in’t Veld, MSN, FNP-C
Helena has been a Nurse Practitioner with Arizona Centers for Digestive Health in Avondale, AZ since 2018. Prior, she was in primary care for three years. While her organization is a GI and hepatology practice, Helena has a special interest in IBD.
Helena has served on NSAC since 2021, however has been involved in her local chapter’s medical advisory committee (now known as HPEC) since 2019. It is important to Helena to give back to the Foundation because, “it has been so good to her.” Helena had the privilege of rotating in the APP Preceptorship in 2019 at University of Chicago and “will always be grateful for that experience.”
Helena is particularly interested in preventive care in IBD patients, as we often become the primary providers for our IBD patients. Additionally, her practice is involved in some clinical trials. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, watching baseball (Go White Sox!), and spending time with her husband and floppy eared German Shepherd.
Maureen Kelly, DNP, CPNP
Maureen’s training and background as a nurse practitioner are in the areas of pediatric primary care and pediatric gastroenterology. She is an Associate Professor of Nursing at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing and nurse practitioner at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, NC.
Maureen’s primary area of interest in GI is pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), particularly health maintenance, self-management, transition to adult care, and care coordination efforts. She has extensive clinical experience caring for pediatric patients with IBD and is responsible for annual health maintenance visits for UNC’s adolescent patients. Within this clinic, Maureen assesses and delivers preventive services including immunizations. Maureen has held leadership roles locally and nationally within the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation over the past 14 years.
Phoung Luu, PA-C
Phuong Luu is a Pediatric Advanced Provider in the IBD Center at UT Southwestern/Children's Health in Dallas, Texas. She is a new member of the National Scientific Advisory Committee (NSAC) and has been involved with the Foundation for over 10 years through programs such as Camp Oasis.
Her primary areas of interest within IBD include educating newly-diagnosed patients and their families, as well as research and advocacy. Outside of work, Phuong enjoys traveling, hiking, kayaking, and reading.
Billi Marie Meli, RN
Billi Marie Meli is a dedicated and enthusiastic registered nurse with extensive experience in pediatrics since 2015. Currently, she serves as an IBD Outpatient Nurse Coordinator at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. She is a current member of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and participates in events such as the Take Steps Walk and volunteered on the Medical Staff at Camp Oasis for the first time in summer 2024.
Billi is passionate about advocating for the pivotal role of nurses in pediatric IBD care. Her interests include transition of care, new diagnosis and CDED education, population management, and health maintenance. This is her first term serving on the NSAC committee, and she is grateful for this opportunity. When she's not at work, she finds joy in being a busy hockey mom and spending time with her two wonderful kids!
Sharon Perry, MSN, APRN-CNP
Sharon Perry is a Nurse Practitioner at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. She has been a member of the National Scientific Advisory Committee (NSAC) for two years and has been involved with the Foundation for 10 years.
Her areas of interest within IBD include pediatric health maintenance, education for newly diagnosed patients, and the transition of care. Outside of work, Sharon enjoys playing with her dog, Finn, and listening to true crime podcasts.
Mary Kate Preite, APRN, NP
Mary Kate Preite received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania and later obtained her masters degree from Georgetown University. She began her career as a nurse practitioner in the gastroenterology department at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. She then came to Massachusetts General Hospital and began working in the division of gastroenterology.
Mary Kate’s clinical focus is in the treatment of patients with inflammatory bowel disease, which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. She is also interested in caring for patients with microscopic colitis, celiac disease and general gastrointestinal issues. She is involved in trials investigating the effect of diet on inflammatory bowel disease. Mary Kate has served as a preceptor for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation’s Advanced Practice Provider Preceptorship for several years and has spoken on healthcare maintenance in IBD at the Boston IBD Conference.
Charlotte Rensberger, APN
Charlotte has been in pediatric nursing for over 20 years and has been an advanced practice nurse since 2013. Diagnosed with Crohn's Disease as a teen, her passion for IBD patients and their experiences runs deep.
She has been working as a nurse practitioner with pediatric gastroenterology for the past few years, which is what prompted her heightened involvement with the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. She participated in the Foundation’s 2023 APP Preceptorship Program.
She has a special interest in IBD patients, assisting teens in transition to adult practice, IBD nutrition, short bowel syndrome, and ostomy patients. She enjoys speaking at conferences both professionally and personally, talking about her experiences as a patient and how this affects her bedside manner and treatment approaches.
In her spare time, Charlotte enjoys baking, crocheting, and doing her nails. She lives in Michigan with her husband and two teens.
Isabel Riotman, APN
Isabel Roitman is a Nurse Practitioner working in Gastroenterology, specializing in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, at Northwell Health's Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. Isabel has had a progressive nursing career at Lenox Hill, starting out as a Registered Nurse in the Medical Surgical Unit and then transitioning to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. After receiving her Master’s in Advanced Care Nursing from New York University in 2016, she went on to work as the first IBD Nurse Practitioner at LHH focusing her role on improving the lives of her patients by providing highly skilled care as well as access to newly emerging treatment modalities through clinical trials.
Isabel recently pursued an MBA in Strategic Healthcare Management from Hofstra University and has applied her expertise to her most recent role as Supervisor of Advanced Care Providers, promoting quality improvement initiatives and interprofessional development within the GI Department. Isabel's IBD passions are Pregnancy, Mental Health, and Medication Optimization. Isabel has been involved with the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation through philanthropic events like Take Steps and Camp Oasis, as well as professionally by participating in the CCF's APP Preceptorship and speaking on educational APP Video Series.
When she’s not working, you can find Isabel enjoying her time at her family's restaurant with her two kids and husband.
Michele Rubin BSN, MSN, APRN-CNS-BC, CGRN
Michele Rubin is an APRN certified as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Gastroenterology Nursing. She has 45 years of experience in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) at the University of Chicago Medicine (UCM) in leadership, IBD medicine, IBD research and currently in IBD colorectal surgery. She is the Associate Director of the IBD Center. Michele works closely with the UCM multidisciplinary IBD patient management team of gastroenterologists, surgeons, APPs, nurses, dieticians, GI Psychologists etc. in managing the care of IBD patients and their families. The care and management of J-Pouch patients is her particular interest in IBD. She initiated the J-Pouch clinic at UCM to ensure patients adapt successfully, have positive outcomes and receive ongoing J-Pouch surveillance and support. She is a known leader and lecturer on IBD across the country and has published numerous articles. She has been a professional member of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation since 2009 and on the NSAC committee as well.
Michele was elected to the National Board of Trustees for 2 terms from 2009 to 2015 to represent nursing on the board. While on the board she established and chaired the IBD Nurses Task Force which eventually became the CCF National IBD Nurse Initiatives Committee. Then the committee included IBD Advanced Practice Providers (APP) which continues today as the IBD Nurse and APP Committee to promote education and the development of IBD Nurses/APPs. Since being a member, she has also chaired numerous Foundation’s National and local Chapter Nurse and APP sessions over the years. Participated in numerous projects to give patients a voice and promote better care for IBD patients such as working on promoting the “multidisciplinary model of care for all IBD patients. In 2017, Michele helped to initiate and lead the Foundation’s initial APP Preceptorship program which has grown from 2 sites, to now 5 sites and has become a popular educational training program for IBD APPs across the country. The program continues today and accepts 15 applicants who spend three days in an IBD center of excellence learning how to manage and treat IBD patients in a multidisciplinary model of care. In addition, they have access to ongoing mentorship from their site team of IBD providers.
A fun fact about Michele is that she is often thought to be the “wife” or the one she prefers is “daughter” of the IBD Gastroenterologist, Dr. David Rubin, who is also practicing at the UCM. Not a day goes by at either work or professional meetings that patients or others ask the question “Are you related to Dr. David Rubin? Her response is “Yes, I am his daughter!” But the truth is she is neither, but they do have fun with it!
Michelle Worthington, APN
Michelle is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner with a specialty in acute care at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. She went to Georgia College and State University for undergraduate and went on to continue her education at the University of South Alabama for her Master’s program. She began her career in the Pediatric ICU for the first 10 years but now helps take care of Chronic Disease patients with the Gastroenterology group. Her journey is guided by commitment to Childrens quality care, aiming to better healthcare for all. Michelle has been an active member of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation since 2018 with a passion for patient education and commitment to advanced practice provider committees.
Her main interests in inflammatory bowel disease include transition readiness, patient/family education and multidisciplinary care. She is also an active member of the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Association and helps serve as the Continuing Education co-chair since 2023. This is the first year Michelle will be serving on the NSAC committee and hopes to bring her knowledge and background to help promote education and the development of IBD Nurses and APPs. When she is not working, you can find her traveling, biking and hanging out with her Sheepadoodle named Pretzel.