About the RegisteredNursing.org Staff & Mission

In her 30+ years as a registered nurse, Catherine Burger has worked in a myriad of patient care and leadership specialties across the continuum of healthcare, including labor and delivery, ICU, home health, ambulatory care, education, infection control, and clinical practice consulting.

Upon completing an ADN from Pacific Union College, Catherine worked in various bedside roles until her career evolved into nursing leadership for a large HMO in Northern California. She then completed a BSN at the University of Phoenix and a Masters in Organizational Leadership at Colorado State University.

Catherine is the founder and CEO of a consulting and freelance writing business, is an advanced board-certified nurse executive, serves as the Director of Clinical Practice & Infection Prevention for an FQHC, and is the CNO & Media Response Specialist for RegisteredNursing.org.

Situated in the beautiful Idaho mountains, Catherine loves traveling and spending time with her husband and their five children.

Amanda Bucceri Androus is a Registered Nurse from Sacramento, California. She graduated from California State University, Sacramento in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in nursing. She began her career working night shifts on a pediatric/ med-surg unit for six years, later transferring to a telemetry unit where she worked for four more years. She currently works as a charge nurse in a busy outpatient primary care department. In her spare time she likes to read, travel, write, and spend time with her husband and two children.

Alene Burke RN, MSN is a nationally recognized nursing educator. She began her work career as an elementary school teacher in New York City and later attended Queensborough Community College for her associate degree in nursing. She worked as a registered nurse in the critical care area of a local community hospital and, at this time, she was committed to become a nursing educator. She got her bachelor’s of science in nursing with Excelsior College, a part of the New York State University and immediately upon graduation she began graduate school at Adelphi University on Long Island, New York. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Adelphi with a double masters degree in both Nursing Education and Nursing Administration and immediately began the PhD in nursing coursework at the same university. She has authored hundreds of courses for healthcare professionals including nurses, she serves as a nurse consultant for healthcare facilities and private corporations, she is also an approved provider of continuing education for nurses and other disciplines and has also served as a member of the American Nurses Association’s task force on competency and education for the nursing team members.

Susan Donckels, BSN, RN is a wife, mother of four, and free-lance health writer who lives in the mountains of California with her husband, Doug. She enjoys travel, experimenting with new techniques in free-motion quilting, and is currently a student of Arabic.

Jessica Dzubak, RN, MSN is the Director of Nursing Practice for the Ohio Nurses Association. She is also a freelance writer specializing in the healthcare industry. She enjoys her two dogs, which add commentary to her articles by laying their heads across the keyboard while she’s writing.

Louise Lee is a registered nurse in Los Angeles, California.She completed her bachelor’s in Speech Pathology & Audiology at St. John’s University at Queens, New York in 2011 and then pursued a career in nursing by completing a rigorous 15 month accelerated program at Wagner College.Upon receiving her nursing degree in 2015, she moved to Los Angeles, California and has since worked in the field of ophthalmology surgery and currently working in plastic surgery.In her spare time, Louise enjoys hiking, writing, reading and fostering cats.

Lisa Spano is a Registered Nurse originally from St. Paul Minnesota. She graduated from St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN with her bachelor’s degree in nursing in 2011. She has a diverse array of nursing experience from Float Pool covering med-surg, psych, oncology, and rehabilitation at a hospital, to inpatient neurology and neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. She volunteered abroad in Costa Rica at a small local clinic for six months, worked as a home care Director of Nursing for and currently works as a Triage Nurse for a hospice service in San Diego California. She is licensed as an RN in the states of Minnesota, California and Wisconsin. In her spare time she loves to surf, travel, read, hike, meditate and spend time with her husband and their dog.

Janine Kelbach, RNC-OB, has extensive experience as an RN in the labor and delivery setting. After becoming a breastfeeding resource nurse and certified CPR instructor, Janine became an assistant manager at a high acuity facility in Ohio, working in postpartum and labor and delivery educating new nurses. In 2012, Janine began writing on healthcare topics for various blogs and websites. Besides writing, Janine enjoys being a mom and spending time with her family and their Great Danes.

Caitlin has been a Registered Nurse for more than a decade and a Nurse-Midwife for more than five years. She has worked across the country but calls Cleveland, Ohio her home. She lives with her four children, husband, and fur babies. She began working as a freelance medical writer three years ago because of her passion for educating patients, families, and nurses alike!She is currently pursuing her doctoral nursing degree so that she can pursue her passion for medical education.

Emily Lynch, RN, BSN, is a nurse who enjoys writing about issues nurses face with the hope that every nurse will find a career they love.She lives in Kentucky and works remotely for a pharmaceutical company.In her spare time, she enjoys reading, cooking, exercising, and the occasional break to pet her cats.

Anna Moats-Gibson MSN, RN is very passionate about her work as a postpartum nurse and patient educator as well as her role as a nursing instructor.When her experience expanded into the MDS/ LTC world, she saw a need for more educational tools.She discovered that writing is one way she can share more knowledge and education with patients and nurses, alike. Besides writing, she enjoys soaking in many rays of sunshine while watching her children grow and play outdoors, in the ever-changing seasons in Iowa.

Irina Wiley RN, BSN is a registered nurse care manager, freelance writer, and blogger residing in New York City. She is passionate about helping people by promoting a healthy lifestyle, mindfulness, and self-love. Besides being a nurse and a writer, Irina enjoys spending time with her friends, family and two bulldogs.

Wendy Arena has been a registered nurse for over twenty years, has a Master’s Degree in Nursing Education, and currently works as a mental health nurse and clinical instructor. She has always loved to write and recently began writing nursing and health content for online publications. Wendy is also a wife, the mother of two daughters, and a registered yoga teacher. Her favorite ways to relax include yoga, hiking, and gardening.

Karen Cas-Alinas is a freelance health content writer and an international medical graduate based in Toronto, ON. She contributes regularly on a family health blog, a physiotherapy clinic blog, and to her own filipinaincanada.com blog. When her toddler and baby are both sleeping, she likes to watch Asian shows and read non-fiction books.

Maegan Wagner, RN BSN has worked across many nursing specialties including hospice, acute care, and travel nursing but has found her niche in case management. Aside from helping others, she enjoys reading, CrossFit, and days at the beach.

Cindy Blye is a nurse-turned-writer with experience in Newborn Intensive Care, Pediatrics, and Case Management. Her works include pediatric nurse certification review materials, policies and procedures, training materials, nursing blog articles, health and wellness articles, and local business reviews. Cindy has three grown children and lives with her husband in North Carolina where she enjoys spending time with her family, gardening, and cooking.

Blyss is a certified operating room nurse who has been scrubbing and circulating for more than seven years. She is originally from Delaware, but moved with her husband and dog to the Atlanta area in 2017. After a few years in Georgia, she decided to make the leap to become a travel nurse. Blyss is an avid reader, lover of book podcasts, and pursues healthy lifestyle choices while freelance writing content for Nurse Splane Writes.

Jessica is the Employee Health and Education nurse for a FQHC in Idaho. Jessica started her medical career as an Army medic, serving a tour in Afghanistan. Upon returning home she worked nights as a home health aide while starting college. While in school she also worked as a Nursing Assistant in the Emergency Room at the local VA Medical Center. A fellow medic turned her onto a per diem job as a Correctional Medical Specialist in the local state prisons. Jessica ultimately earned an Associate of Science at Boise State University and went on to complete her LPN, RN, BSN, and most recently, her MBA. She continued to work at the state prisons in various capacities to include providing nurse sick-call, emergency response, Hepatitis C and chronic disease management, QA/QI, behavioral health, auditing, labor management, and more, for over fourteen years. Jessica had the opportunity to work in a variety of facilities as a Director of Nursing, Health Services Administrator, and held the Regional Director of Nursing position for close to a year prior to leaving correctional healthcare in search of a new adventure. Her yellow brick road led to a local FQHC where she worked as a clinic RN Supervisor for a little over a year before being offered her current position. Jessica is also an adjunct Professor for a local nursing program where she teaches BSN and master’s prep level students. She has two dogs, no idea how many plants, loves to cook and loves to eat even more, enjoys writing, and never stops moving, doing, and seeking new adventures and knowledge.