Bio

Tonie Moore is the Director of Nursing for the Ambulatory Primary Care Service, Urgent Care, and Dental Program for Denver Health and Hospital. She has over 28 years of healthcare leadership and management experience.

Education

Tonie earned her B.S. in Nursing, M.S. in Organizational Leadership, and Leadership and Management certification from Regis University.

Civic Engagement

Tonie is the Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging Co-Chair and is a board member for University of Denver Healthcare Management Advisory Board and previous board member for Colorado Organization of Nurse Leader. She is also a member of National Association of Health Services Executives and the American Organization of Nurse Leaders.

Professional Background

Tonie has experience in educating and mentoring a vast number of leaders from various clinical and nonclinical areas. As a leader she has voiced the importance of supporting and walking alongside her team as they progress within their management careers. Tonie’s experience also includes being a facilitator for the LEAN Management Systems for senior leaders within Denver Health. She is also the founder of Believing in Her LLC.

Teaching Philosophy

Tonie believes in creating a positive and inclusive learning environment that would support and align all students with the mission of DU. The opportunity to teach and educate others through courses related to and advancing health equity and social justice is a stepping stone in this process. Constructing course material to foster the recognition of implicit bias and heath disparities will help students conceptualize interventions in hope of making substantive positive change towards health equity and justice.

Bio

Deb Gardner has been a practicing Registered Nurse for more than 35 years and currently serves as Associate Chief Nursing Officer supporting Denver Health Community Health Centers, primary care and specialty clinics.

Professional Background

Deb has served in her current role for eight years and has worked at Denver Health for the past 25 years in a variety of roles. Deb’s clinical practice focused on labor and delivery/obstetrics and gynecology. In her current leadership position, she is responsible for supporting patient care, quality and experience through leadership, education, training, onboarding, policy development coaching, mentoring and leadership development for frontline in staff in the Ambulatory Care Nursing, Rehab Services, and Care Management departments. Deb was instrumental in founding a medical assistant training program at Denver Health as well supporting max vaccination efforts, and virtual hospital care during the COVID pandemic.

Education

Deb earned her B.S. in Nursing from the University of Colorado College of Nursing, and her M.S. in Nursing Leadership from Regis University Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions Hartman.

Bio

Breanna Wong is the Principal Manager of Product Strategy for Microsoft’s Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) solutions. She has focused on these AI solutions, which automatically document clinical care, since 2020 and loves sharing insights into the rapidly developing fields of AI and clinical documentation software with students.

Breanna has performed HIPAA, reimbursement, and financial consulting for private practices and ASCs. She also worked for a large healthcare system, with experience running IT project intake, the provider Epic usage coaching program, Epic Community Connect implementations for practices and hospitals, and the affiliate IT program.

Passionate about empowering others, Breanna serves as a course developer and adjunct faculty at the University of Denver and MSU and on the boards of the Colorado Chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), Colorado Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), Denver Medical Study Group (DMSG), Colorado Health Administration Alumni Association, and the Cornell Club of Colorado. She achieved her MBA-Healthcare Administration and M.S. in Finance from the University of Colorado and triple majored at Cornell University.

Bio

Rachel Rogers has more than two decades of clinical experience in speech-language pathology, bedside nursing, health informatics, and frontline leadership. Until 2024, she served as the Academic Director for the Healthcare Programs and the Interim Assistant Dean of Curricular Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at DU’s College of Professional Studies. 

As a healthcare leader, Rachel leveraged her diverse clinical background to advance issues of healthcare access and quality for marginalized populations. She is deeply passionate about recognizing healthcare as a fundamental human right. She has focused her efforts on using innovations in health information technology and population health tools to help address persistent, systemic barriers to high-quality healthcare for all.

As an instructor, Rachel champions health justice by shaping the next generation of healthcare leaders. Drawing directly from her dissertation research and academic studies concentrated in principles of inclusive learning, she embraces initiatives to create welcoming, supportive learning environments that foster diverse perspectives and ways of knowing. She firmly believes students are able to learn best when recognized for their identities and intersections thereof. This drives Rachel to continually learn about and implement inclusive pedagogical approaches and invite each individual learner’s background and experience into their education.

Education

Rachel holds an Ed.D. in Higher Education from the University of Denver, an M.S.Sp Masters in Speech-Language Pathology from Emerson College, a BSN from University of Colorado College of Nursing, and an MA in Communication Disorders from the University of Connecticut, Storrs.

Helping Students Be Successful

As an instructor in the healthcare management and health informatics programs, Rachel firmly believes in cultivating inclusive classroom environments where both students and instructors are able to learn from one another through sharing their experiences and perspectives. Rather than embracing the outdated “sage on stage” model where the instructor imparts their knowledge upon passive students, Rachel prefers to be an active guide focused on community-building, student empowerment, and the co-creation of knowledge. She recognizes that graduate students arrive with professional and personal insights that contribute to a vibrant learning community. One of Rachel’s favorite classes to teach is the Capstone Seminar where students put their coursework and independent research skills into action to grapple with a complex healthcare issue.

Bio

Maria Creavin has more than 25 years of experience in healthcare, including clinical experience at top research medical centers, teaching experience in the university classroom, line management experience at managed care organizations, and strategic business development experience in various healthcare sectors.

Education

Maria earned a B.S. in Nutrition and Biology from Simmons University, an M.S. in Health Policy and Management from Harvard University, an MAS in Technology Management from the University of Denver, and is currently completing her DHA in Healthcare Administration from Central Michigan University.

Professional Background

As a healthcare business development and digital health consultant, Maria has provided critical analysis and innovative healthcare strategies to new business segments. She worked with digital health projects seeking to reduce childhood obesity using gaming technologies, and created ongoing business development and modeling for a clinical information company. For a project in Peru, she computerized inventory and financial systems for traditional and alternative medicine clinics and developed medical utilization reports and improved workflows.

For a multi-state poison center she developed an automated drug identification system using IVR (interactive voice response) technology that created efficiencies that have been expanded to other states and revenue sources. For several years, she was the Director of Business Development for a managed care company, implementing a self-insured managed care program with integrated financing and service in regional markets comprising $1 billion in revenues.

Motivation for Teaching

Maria strives to communicate both basic concepts and new ideas in ways that capture students’ attention and provide sound practical learning. She tries to bring concepts to life via case studies, guest speakers, and practical applications.

Helping Students Be Successful

Many graduate students are at a juncture of change in their careers (e.g. expanding on past clinical experience). Maria tries to find the resources to help make students successful. Through group and individual communication and the use of university resources, she aims to provide ample guidance and direction.