Media Queries
For all media Inquiries please contact:
Meredith Hunter
Senior Communications & Outreach Manager
(202) 434-3864
Weekly Updates and Alerts
Resources for Media:
CCNA Leadership Bio
Susan Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN
Senior Adviser for Nursing, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Director, Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action
Dr. Hassmiller is the Senior Adviser for Nursing at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In this role, she shapes and leads the Foundation’s strategies to address nurse and nurse faculty shortages in an effort to create a higher quality of patient care in the United States. In partnership with AARP, Hassmiller directs the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action.
Hassmiller was a member of the National Board of Governors for the American Red Cross, serving as chair of the Disaster and Chapter Services Committee and national chair of the 9/11 Recovery Program. She is now a member of the National Nursing Committee, and is serving as the Board Chair for the Central New Jersey Red Cross. Previously, Hassmiller served with the Health Resources and Services Administration, where she was the executive director of the U.S. Public Health Service Primary Care Policy Fellowship and worked on other national and international primary care initiatives. She also has worked in public health settings at the local and state level and taught public health nursing at the University of Nebraska and George Mason University in Virginia.
She received a PhD in nursing administration and health policy from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., master’s degrees in health education from Florida State University and community health nursing from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Florida State University.
Susan C. Reinhard, PhD, RN, FAAN
Senior Vice President, AARP Public Policy Institute and Chief Strategist, Center to Champion Nursing in America
Dr. Reinhard is a nationally recognized expert in nursing and health policy, with extensive experience in translating research and developing coalitions to promote policy change. In addition to serving as the Chief Strategist for the Center, Dr. Reinhard directs the Public Policy Institute at AARP, which is the focal point for public policy research and analysis at the federal, state and international levels.
Before coming to AARP in 2007, Dr. Reinhard served as a Professor and Co-Director of Rutgers Center for State Health Policy where she directed several national initiatives to work with states to help people with disabilities of all ages live in their homes and communities. She directed a national technical assistance center to assist 53 states and territories funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to re-design their long-term care systems. She also led a national effort to help states enroll more low-income older adults and people with disabilities in the Medicare Savings Programs.
In previous work, Dr. Reinhard served three governors as Deputy Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, where she led the development of health policies and programs that gained national prominence. She also co-founded the Institute for the Future of Aging Services in Washington, DC and served as its Executive Director of the Center for Medicare Education. Her research and policy expertise includes nursing and health care workforce development and regulation, family caregiving, consumer choice and control in health and supportive care, development of assisted living and other community-based care options, quality improvement in long-term care, state pharmaceutical policy, and medication safety.
Dr. Reinhard is a former faculty member at the Rutgers College of Nursing and is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She holds a master's degree in nursing from the University of Cincinnati, and a PhD in Sociology from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Patricia A. Polansky, RN, MS
Director of Policy and Communications
Pat Polansky is the director of policy and communications for the Center to Champion Nursing in America, an initiative of AARP, the AARP Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Pat directs policy, communications and outreach strategies contributing to the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, a nationwide effort to transform health care through nursing.
An expert on nursing, aging issues and long term care, Pat worked as assistant commissioner for the Division of Aging and Community Services (DACS) in the New Jersey (NJ) Department of Health and Senior Services where she oversaw programs designed to improve access to services for the state's 1.5 million older adults that would improve their well-being, allow them to remain independent, and continue to live in their respective communities.
Before joining DACS, Pat was executive director of the NJ Board of Nursing and co-founder of a health care consulting firm, and worked in executive management roles at New Jersey hospitals for over 20 years. Pat also held nursing positions at both the staff and supervisory levels, and is still proudly a registered nurse in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She is the recipient of the Governor's Nursing Merit Award and the outstanding alumna designation from University of Pennsylvania's College of Nursing, among other honors.
Pat served as president of the National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities (NASUAD) and taught as an adjunct professor at Fairleigh Dickenson University, University of Pennsylvania, New York University, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
Ms. Polansky holds a master's degree in Community Health from Rutgers University and completed doctoral work at Columbia University. Her undergraduate degrees are from the Englewood Hospital School of Nursing and the University of Pennsylvania.
Winifred V. Quinn, PhD
Director, Legislation and Campaign Operations
Dr. Quinn advocates for progressive nursing policy changes at the state and federal level so that healthcare consumers have a highly skilled nurse when and where they need one. Policy issues that she works on relate to improved funding for nursing education and legal barriers that prevent all levels of registered nurses from practicing to the full extent of their education and expertise. Winifred's federal work includes working on nursing education provisions within the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Her state level work is to provide technical assistance to teams that are working to improve funding for nursing education or that are working to modernize scope of practice laws. Dr. Quinn also helps organize a broad coalition that champions nurses' issues and works with representatives of other consumer organizations, businesses, insurers, and provider organizations.
Before working in this role, Winifred served in New Jersey State Government as the Senior Policy Advisor in the Division of Elder Advocacy within the Department of the Public Advocate. While there, she represented the Department in a range of activities including legislative and regulatory advocacy with a primary role on a team that investigated the state's Residential Healthcare Facilities and made recommendations on improving public policies so that these locations could be improved upon and be a higher quality community-based option in which people with disabilities could reside.
Prior to that, Winifred worked in the New Jersey AARP State Office as the Associate State Director-Advocacy where she led a team that won the passage of a law to allow people of all ages with disabilities the option to remain at home while receiving Medicaid long-term care and support services.
Winifred's role as an advocate emerged from her position as a Research Analyst at Rutgers Center for State Health Policy. There, she served on the technical assistance team that worked with all 50 states to improve systems and streamline policies to help people of all ages with disabilities live in their homes and communities.
Winifred's experience as a caregiver for each of her parents ignited her passion for helping older adults and to help ensure that they have access to quality of care in the setting of their choice.
Winifred is an alumna of Union County College in Cranford, NJ and Douglass College, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. She received her master's degree in Counseling from Montclair State University in Upper Montclair, NJ and completed her PhD in Health Communication from Rutgers School of Communication, Information and Library Services.