Texas Healthcare Safety Conference

Amy Faith Ho, M.D., M.P.H. (amyfaithho.com) is a practicing emergency physician, board certified in emergency medicine (ABEM) and clinical informatics (ABPM). In addition to working clinical shifts as an attending physician, she is a faculty member at John Peter Smith Hospital and teaches resident physicians and medical students. As the Chief Systems and Informatics Officer, she specializes in electronic health record integration, clinical databases, data models, analytics, and billing, coding, and revenue cycle. She has multiple publications in peer-reviewed journals on both clinical outcomes and operations, and she is a frequent lecturer for state and national medical organizations. She has a passion for health policy and medical humanities, and her work has also been featured by NPR, Chicago Tribune, The Hill, KevinMD and others. Her speaking and media engagements include presentations with TEDx, MedPage, Medscape, TLC, Discovery Channel, and more.

Greg Brannan from Deer Oaks EAP Services has over 20 years of experience in training and organizational development. He specializes in providing engaging training courses designed to help organizations improve workplace culture and morale, and help individuals build strong relationships, improve attitudes, and cope effectively with stress. Greg was trained in marriage and family counseling, and has worked for over 25 years in the behavioral health care field.

Ashley Ring is a passionate health communicator and plain language writer with 10 years of experience in public health promotion. She provides strategic leadership for health communication campaigns, partnerships, and social media initiatives and lends health literacy expertise in the development and evaluation of plain language public health products for clients. Whether she’s managing complex projects or creating an award-winning health campaign, Ashley’s empathy and her belief in health equity make her a true champion for the end user.

Melanie Schwarz is a skilled plain language writer and editor with more than a decade of experience who’s passionate about translating complex science into engaging, consumer-friendly health information. She believes that clear health communication benefits everyone — and that it’s a powerful tool to promote equity and break down barriers to care. At CommunicateHealth, Melanie works with government clients, nonprofits, and private organizations interested in improving community health to create products that truly make a difference in people’s lives.

Aprilyn “April” Diansuy is a nurse by profession and is Certified in Infection Control. She finished her Bachelor of Science in nursing in 2008 in the Philippines and completed her Master of Arts in Nursing in 2016. She was a medical-surgical nurse for years before switching her career path and worked as an Infection Preventionist for 8 years in various places including the Philippines, United Arab Emirates, and San Antonio, Texas, where she currently resides. Last October 2023, she joined the Texas Department of State Health Services as a Healthcare-associated Infection Epidemiologist of Public Health Region 8.

Amanda Decimo is a Tuberculosis (TB) Nurse Consultant with the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) TB and Hansen’s Disease Unit in Austin. Prior to joining the Unit’s Clinical Care Team in May of 2023, she worked as a Nurse Case Manager with the DSHS Region 8 TB Program in San Antonio. Her interest in TB started years ago during an internship for nursing school at a TB clinic in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Since then she has worked in various inpatient and public health settings. She spent many years working in critical care and anesthesia before pursuing her long-term interest in TB. In her free time, you’ll find Amanda searching for outdoor adventures with her husband, daughter, and her Brittany spaniel.

Angel Guevara is a graduate from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, completing a Master of Public Health in 2014 and Master of Science in Biomedical Informatics in 2016. Since 2015, Mr. Guevara has worked for the Texas Department of State Health Services in Public Health Region 11 under Zoonosis Control, Epidemiology, and currently as an HAI Epidemiologist. In 2022, Mr. Guevara became Certified in Infection Control. Mr. Guevara provides epidemiological consultation, education, and trainings to public health stakeholders on preventing the emergence and transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms in healthcare settings. Mr. Guevara conducts surveillance of multidrug-resistant organisms, investigates healthcare-associated infections, and responds to outbreaks in Public Health Region 11 healthcare settings.

Linda Stimmel is a senior attorney consultant at Wilson Elser LLP. Ms. Stimmel graduated with her doctorate from Southern Methodist University Dedman School. Her team represents hospitals, physicians, and various non-physician healthcare providers in operational, regulatory, transactional and litigation matters. Clients benefit from Linda’s 20 years as a health care lawyer and from the business acumen she developed in her former career as a corporate executive for a global company. She has built long-term relationships with her clients by continually working to ensure that they are in the best position to address any legal issues that arise, often providing complimentary risk management presentations as well as one-on-one counseling to their health care professionals.

Michael Castro is the West Coast District Manager for Barclay Water. He provides solutions designed for healthcare facilities, universities and the hospitality market to manage risk from Legionella and other waterborne pathogens. Mr. Castro holds a Master of Public Health degree from Grand Canyon University, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell University. He has shared his 24 years of experience and expertise in water treatment and microbiological filtration for hospital water systems through national and international educational programs across the United States. He has provided education to state departments of health, local healthcare organizations, and to more than twenty‐five chapters of APIC, ASHE, ASPE and ASHRAE. He gathered an international, multidisciplinary group of water safety experts to initiate the creation of ASTM D8422 (Standard Practice for Pre‐Stressing Point‐of‐Use Water Filters) and previously served as a technical advisor to the California Department of Public Health Healthcare‐Associated Infections Advisory Committee, Environmental Cleaning in Healthcare Subcommittee.

Joyce M. Black, PhD, RN is the Florence Neidfelt (NEED-felt) Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. She is the current President of the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP), having previously served as President, Vice-President and Secretary. Dr Black served as the co-chair of the task force to update the definitions of the stages of pressure injury including medical device pressure injury. Dr. Black has received many awards for her work in pressure injury, most recently the Kosiak award from NPIAP for her work in rediscovering deep tissue pressure injury.

Sarah Work is currently a Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Epidemiologist for the Texas Department of State Health Services’ Healthcare Safety Unit. Sarah received her Master in Public Health from Virginia Tech in 2020 with a concentration in infectious disease. She began working as an epidemiologist for the Virginia Department of Health, eventually moving into an HAI role. Since September 2022, she has worked in the North Central region of Texas, which includes the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex and surrounding areas. Sarah earned her Certification in Infection Control in March 2024 and is excited to continue working with healthcare facilities to reduce the burden of healthcare associated infections.

Tina Moraga is a Multi-Drug Resistant Organism (MDRO) epidemiologist for the Healthcare Safety Unit at the Texas Department of State Health Services. Tina worked as an Infection Preventionist and consultant in San Antonio healthcare facilities for 3 years prior to joining the Covid response as an epidemiologist with Public Health Region 8 in 2020. Tina has a Bachelor of Science in Health Physics from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she also attended the School of Public Health as a graduate student. She has a special interest in environmental infection control, including the control and prevention of Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and outbreak responses in healthcare facilities.

Mary Ann DeMaet is the Operations Manager for the Department of Infection Control at the University of Texas Medical Branch. She has 14 years of experience in both nursing and infection control. She received her Master of Science in Nursing with an emphasis in Executive Leadership through the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 2020. She has been board certified in Infection Prevention and Control since 2018 and is actively involved in both the local chapter and national Association of Professionals in Infection Control (APIC). Her expertise in infection prevention and control was essential in the development and management of the active surveillance screening program for Candida auris and she has shared her feedback on the management of incarcerated patients outside of the hospital setting with CDC officials and key leaders in correctional managed care.

Kathryn Wire has extensive experience managing risk and safety functions in acute care, including academic, tertiary, and critical access, physician practices of all sizes, long-term care, and regional health systems, including the initiation of programs within large health systems. For ten years, she led her own consulting firm, sharing expertise in those areas. She has volunteered her time and leadership skills for numerous roles, including speaking and writing, for the American Health Lawyers Association, the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, and local chapters of those organizations. She is a certified Just Culture trainer and has worked with several organizations to integrate Just Culture and shared accountability into their safety culture journey.

Melissa LeBrun is a Board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) that has a background in both Emergency and Family Medicine. She first obtained a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in Biochemistry from Louisiana State University in 2005. She then completed her Nursing degree in 2007 from Our Lady of the Lake College/Tulane Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2011, she completed her master’s degree in nursing from Loyola University New Orleans. In December 2016, she completed her terminal degree, a Doctorate in Nursing Practice, from Chatham University in Pittsburgh. In 2022, she received a Master in Public Health from Dartmouth College and completed a fellowship with the CDC/CSTE in Infectious Disease and Epidemiology/Healthcare Safety in Austin, Texas. She is currently the CEO of Executive Medical Clinic of Lake Charles. Dr. LeBrun serves as the FNP Program Director and Assistant Professor of Nursing at Loyola University New Orleans.

Jondell Lafont- Garcia is a licensed professional counselor. She currently holds a Master of Arts in Health Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. She currently serves as the Program Specialist VII, at the Office of Mental Health Coordination at the State of Texas Health and Human Services Commission where she provides leadership and expertise in mental health first aid initiatives statewide.