Board Members

 Heather D. Kooiker, MSN, RN, CNL, CNOR, CRNFA, is a DNP Candidate, Mastered prepared, Board-Certified Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) who also holds Certifications in Perioperative Registered Nursing (CNOR), along with a Registered Nurse First Assistant Certification (CRNFA). Currently employed by Baxter as their Global Clinical Liaison and a member of the Clinical Insights Team. The role includes clinical research, identified through clinical gap assessment, driven by improved patient safety, and dissemination of outcomes in the form of written, and verbal clinical collateral.  She is also a Professor of Nursing for a BSN Nursing Program, instructing Evidence-Based Practice, Perioperative Nursing, and a Senior Capstone course.  Heather maintains her clinical edge by working as a Registered Nurse First Assistant (RNFA) for an ambulatory plastic surgery center PRN. The foundation of her knowledge has been built through 27 years of surgical services work, that experience became diversified when she obtained a Master’s in Nursing. Before joining the academic and medical manufacturing world, she spent many years as a CNL for Surgical Services where she enjoyed project successes as her passion for evidence-based practice grew. She had the privileged of working with multidisciplinary team’s, with the common goal that focused on pressure injury prevention, Surgical Site Infection, among several other identified nursing sensitive indicators, which improved patient outcomes. These goals were met successfully by creating a culture of safety, translating research into evidence-based practice, and eventually improved hospital wide benchmarked patient outcomes. She has several journal publications and has disseminated outcomes nationwide via specialty conferences through live podium and poster presentations. She is the currently the President of the Western Michigan Chapter of AORN, active with the ANA mentoring program, the CCI CNOR Coaching program, she also sits on the executive board and is a peer reviewer for the CRNFA portfolio exam, for the National Surgical Assisting Certification.

Anne has worked in surgical services for 14 years at University of Michigan Health West. Her experience includes Anesthesia Care nurse, Circulator, and Registered Nurse First Assistant. This is her 4th year serving as a board member for AORN, and 2nd year as secretary/treasurer. 

Brenda is an OR RN circulator at Trinity Heath Saint Mary's. She is a gradute of Grand Valley Sate University for her bachelor's degree in nursing. She has been an RN in surgical services for 20 years with experience in the OR, pre-op and PACU.

Spectrum Health West Michigan employee since 2001, AORN Member since 2012, AORN board member since 2016 ( Treasure , Secretary 5 years). Multiple roles at SHWM, Circulator, PAT RN, Service Line Manager, Robotic Coordinator, ASC Manager and Improvement Specialist currently.

Robin is a sports fan, loves to boat and loves project management and solving problems!

Nan is a graduate of Grand Valley State University and has worked in the OR for 24 years as an OR circulator and as an RN First Assistant.  She is currently employed at North Ottawa Community Hospital. Nan has served on the board for 6 years.

Kristy is a RN circulator for Trinity Health hospital West Michigan

As a West Michigan native, Lucas started his Nursing career at University of Michigan West ( Metro Health) in 2018 as an OR Circulator. He graduated from Ferris State University with a Bachelor's degree in Nursing in the Summer of 2018. Continuing to learn the way of the operating room and develop his knowledge, Lucas is very involved in Orthopedic surgery  involving both Trauma and Joint cases.