YSN Alumnae/i

Immediate Past President

Judy Beal, MSN '75, DNSc, RN

Judy is Professor and Associate Dean of Nursing at Simmons College. She is actively involved a wide variety of research activities and in developing strategic partnerships, most recently establishing an accelerated BSN to MSN program in Cairo, Egypt. Judy received YSN's Distinguished Alumna Award in 2005.
Email: judy.beal@aya.yale.edu

President

Bethany Golden, MSN '03

Bethany works currently as a Certified Nurse Midwife for the Planned Parenthood Golden Gate in San Francisco. She received her BA from Brown University in 1995 and her MSN and certificate in nurse-midwifery from Yale University in 2003. She co-founded ICAS/Juntos Adelante, a not-for-profit that re-allocates resources to women's grassroots projects and developed a midwifery clinic in Esteli, Nicaragua in 2002. She has been courtesy faculty for YSN's Nicaraguan Community Health rotation since 2003.
Email: bngolden@yahoo.com

President Elect

Asefeh Faraz MSN '08

Asefeh graduated from the University of Washington in 2004 with a BS in Psychology as well as a BA in Spanish. In 2008 she graduated from Yale University School of Nursing with a Family Nursing Practitioner specialty. She has worked at Yale University Health Services, Allergy, Immunology & Travel Dept as well as the Fair Haven Community Health Center and participated on the YSN Alumnae/i Association board as the Student Director 2005-2007. Asefeh is also a Class Agent for the Class of 2008. After graduating in May of 2008, Asefeh moved back to Seattle, WA where she works at a Community Health Center as a Family Nurse Practitioner serving the uninsured and underserved population of the greater Seattle area.
Email: asefeh.faraz@aya.yale.edu

Secretary Treasurer

Bernadette M. Forget, MSN '78 EdD, RN

Bernadette received her BSN from Boston College School of Nursing in 1976 and her MSN from Yale University School of Nursing in 1978. She received her EdD from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1997 her dissertation was titled: The transformation of nursing practice in the acute care hospital. Bernadette held positions with the Hospital of UPENN, Mass. General, and NIH before coming to Yale New Haven Hospital in 1978. Since then, she held posts of increasing responsibility most recently as Interim Vice President for Patient Services. Since 2006, Bernadette has been enjoying her retirement.
Email: bernadette.forget@yahoo.com

Ruth Chen, MSN '99

Ruth is Assistant Professor of Nursing at McMaster University School of Nursing in Hamilton, Ontario. She received a BA in Molecular and Cellular Biology from University of California at Berkeley and earned her MSN from Yale University School of Nursing in 1999 specializing in pediatrics. She served as Clinical Faculty for Yale immediately following her graduation. She is currently working on her doctorate in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics-Health Research Methodology from McMaster University.
Email:chenrp@mcmaster.ca

Peg Cushman, MSN '76, MS

Peg recently joined the graduate faculty of Penn State University School of Nursing where she will teach and pursue research on complementary and alternative medicine. Peg is a diploma graduate from the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1969, received her BSN from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972, and her MSN from Yale in 1976, specializing in Community Health and Health Care Administration. She received an MS in Herbal Medicine from TAI Sophia Institute in Laurel, Maryland in 2004, and her PhD from the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2008.
Email: mcushman@aya.yale.edu

Linda Juszczak, DNSc '99

Linda is Deputy Director of the National Assembly on School-based Health Care in Washington, DC. She most recently served as Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In addition to working as a nurse practitioner, her responsibilities included acting as the Director for Education and Training at the Montefiore of School Health Program at Montefiore Medical Center, and directing the Center for Evaluation and Quality for the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care in Washington, DC. She is a past president of the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care and has been actively involved in the Society for Adolescent Medicine. Her professional experience includes work as a nurse practitioner and a manager for hospital, community and school-based programs for adolescents. She received her undergraduate degree from Skidmore College, a masters in nursing at the University of Colorado, a Pediatric Nurse Associate certificate and masters in public health from the University of Minnesota, and a doctorate in nursing from Yale.
Email: ljuszczak@nasbhc.org

Erin Shawn, MSN '03

Erin is a Family Nurse Practitioner serving the local refugee community and the uninsured through the Multomah County Health Department of Portland, OR. She received her BA in Health and Social Sciences from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA and her MSN in 2003 from Yale. Erin is a member of Sigma Theta Tau and while at Yale, she received the Wilbur G. Downs International Health Fellowship award. She was a Community Healthy Educator with the Peace Corps from 1997-1999 in Bolivia, South America.
Email:erin.shawn@aya.yale.edu

Lisa Summers '83, CNM, DrPH

Lisa became a nurse in 1975 and worked as a Labor & Delivery nurse before heading to YSN, where she completed the nurse-midwifery program in 1983. She practiced clinically in large midwifery services and in private practice and served on faculties of nurse-midwifery education programs and medical schools for 13 years. In 1997, she joined the staff of American College of Nurse-Midwives and served there for 11 years, for the last 2 years as Director of Professional Services. She spent last year as a health policy analyst at the National Partnership for Women & Families, focusing on health system reform efforts. In January 2009, she joined the staff at the American Nurses Association as Senior Policy Fellow in the Department of Nursing Practice & Policy, where she focuses on advanced practice nursing issues. She holds a doctoral degree in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
Email: lisa.summers@ana.org

Linda P. Vieira MSN '72

Linda graduated from YSN in 1972 with a MSN in maternal - child health and midwifery. After graduation she spent five years as an instructor in nurse midwifery at YSN. She moved to Aspen, Colorado in 1977 where she was the first nurse midwife to work in a private practice in the state's history. She practiced prenatal care, intrapartum & postpartum care for women in the Aspen area from 1977 until 2007 both in private practice as well as treating low income and undocumented women in a public health program that she started for Community Health Services. From 1996 until 2006 Linda co-owned a private practice with another CNM that employed physicians offering a full range of women's health care. She is still currently actively employed as a CNM in women's health care both in private practice as well as public health with a sub-specialty interest in women's post menopausal issues. Linda was honored by YSN Alumnae/i in 2006 for being the first to set up a free standing CNM practice that employed physicians offering a full range of services. Linda has been married for 29 years and has two children ages 26 and 25.
Email: jyoung@sopris.net

Student Director

Lesley Magnussen '10, MPH, RN

Lesley is in her first specialty year as a Women's Health/Adult Nurse Practitioner student at YSN. She completed her Masters of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she was named Outstanding Master's Student of 2004, a Dean's Award recipient, and a member of Delta Omega Honor Society. She was recently nominated for membership to Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society, and served as past co-chair of the YSN Student Government Organization. Mrs. Magnussen's interests lie in education and prevention of gynecologic diseases as well as policies and legislation surrounding Nurse Practice Acts.
Email: lesley.magnussen@yale.edu

Beth Cheney MSN '89

As the Women's Health Coordinator at Windham Hospital in Willimantic, Connecticut, Beth manages the Women's Health Clinic, and is instrumental in organizing and managing its adjunct Prenatal Clinic. In addition, she maintains a private internal medicine practice two days a week. She received a BSN from the University of Rochester School of Nursing and her MSN from the Yale University School of Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner specialty program. She is an adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor in the Adult, Family, Gerontological and Women's Health Primary Care Specialty in Nursing Program at Yale University. In 2008, in recognition of her health care advocacy on behalf of underserved women and infants, she was honored with the CT APRN Society's APRN of the Year Award and a Hartford Business Journal's Health Care Heroes of the Year Award.
Email: bcheney@aya.yale.edu

Shirley Girouard MSN '77, PhD

Shirley earned her Diploma in Nursing from Hartford Hospital School of Nursing in 1968; she received a BA from Eastern Connecticut State College in 1972, her MA in Medical Sociology from UCONN in 1974. She received her MSN from Yale University School of Nursing with a specialty in Medical-Surgical Nursing in 1977 and her PhD in Health and Social Policy from Brandeis University in 1988. Shirley is currently a Professor and Director at the San Francisco State University School of Nursing.
Email: sgiouar@sfsu.edu

Priscilla Kissick, MN '56, RN

Priscilla served as Founding Director and Executive Director of Wissahickon Hospice for twenty years before retiring in 2000. Priscilla also practiced at Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics as a Consultant. She taught at University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing as well as at Georgetown University as an instructor of Public Health. Since graduating from YSN in 1956 Priscilla trained at St. Christopher's Hospice, London, England. She has been accepted as a member of Sigma Theta Tau and has been honored with the 1986 YSN Distinguished Alumna Award.
Email: wkissick@comcast.net

Co-chairperson, YSN Alumnae/i Fund & Class Agent

Nina Relin Adams, MS, MSN '77, RN

Nina is a Family Nurse Practitioner, recently retired from Yale University Health Services. She has served as Chairperson of the YSN Alumnae/i Fund and as Chairperson of Class Agents since 1997. Nina actively participates in the YSN Creative Writing Award Program and the Alumnae/i-Student Connection Program. Nina is currently Artistic Director of the New Haven FilmFest.
Email: nina.adams@aya.yale.edu

Co-chairperson, YSN Alumnae/i Fund & Class Agent

Sarah M. Kleinman MSN '08