School of Nursing

Anne-Marie Albano is a professional registered nurse with over twenty years of nursing experience at Mercy Medical Center. During her career at Mercy, Anne-Marie’s clinical focus was in Critical Care and Cardiac nursing. She also spent over ten years in leadership and management in the acute care setting of Care Coordination, nursing supervision, social services, and behavioral health. In both her educational and professional career, Anne-Marie is committed to Catholic education. She earned her MSN and DNP from Elms and is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Anne-Marie is a certified ACLS and BLS instructor and currently teaches Nursing Care of the Older Adult and Nursing Leadership and Management of Care. Her research and educational interests include improving the patient experience, Leadership and Nursing Care Management, Cardiac Care, and Geriatrics. Anne Marie has been with the Haiti Project since its inception.  She held the role of Curriculum Coordinator as well as developing and teaching the Leadership and Management course. She assumed the role of Co-Principal Investigator prior to the second grant.

Dr. Berneche is a certified Family Nurse Practitioner and Assistant Professor of Nursing at Elms College. She earned her BS in nursing in 2011 from Elms College, after which she practiced at Holyoke Medical Center as a critical care, cardiac, obstetrics, and newborn nurse. She earned her DNP in the Family Nurse Practitioner Track from Elms College in 2017. As an NP, she assisted in the opening of an interventional pain management practice at Holyoke Medical Center, and continues to practice as an NP in the urgent care setting at HMC. Dr. Berneche is a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), and Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society. She lives in Wilbraham with her husband and two young children.

Professor Bertheaud is a motivated, enthusiastic, broad-certified Mental Health nurse with a Master of Science in Nursing focused on nursing education. Professor Bertheaud graduated from Baystate Medical Center, School of Nursing, then received her baccalaureate and master’s from Elms College. She has over 40 years of nursing experience, with diverse experiences in mental health, inpatient, and outpatient settings. Her experience includes oncology, geriatrics, critical care nursing, and mental health. Professor Bertheaud has taught at Elms College since 2016. Her strengths are effectively collaborating with all healthcare professionals and students in a calm, caring manner to inspire them to incorporate behavioral aspects of nursing into all healthcare.

Dr. Hannah Coombs is a board-certified Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner with over nine years of nursing experience. She earned her DNP from Elms College, where she received the Excellence in Advanced Clinical Practice Award. Her clinical background includes hospital medicine, medical-surgical, telemetry, and step- down care, as well as experience as a hospitalist and medical admitter.

Dr. Downes has extensive experience in nursing education and has taught in a variety of settings. Her areas of expertise and teaching at the baccalaureate level are women’s health and the childbearing family. At the masters level, Dr. Downes’ expertise is nursing theory and teaching methodologies. She has also taught across many other nursing specialties. Her areas of interest are curriculum development, program evaluation, and the use of technology in teaching. Dr. Downes conducted research on innovative teaching methodologies in nursing education and she is an accomplished presenter in the area of women’s health and teaching methods of nursing education.

Jessie Fisher, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC is a Doctor of Nursing Practice–prepared Family Nurse Practitioner with a background in emergency medicine, primary care, and student health. She serves as the Family Nurse Practitioner Track Coordinator and faculty member in the School of Nursing at Elms College, where she is passionate about mentoring and supporting students as they grow into confident, skilled nurse practitioners. Dr. Fisher’s professional interests include metabolic health, disease prevention, and health promotion. She is dedicated to creating a supportive and engaging learning environment that blends evidence-based practice with real-world clinical experience.

Maryann joined the Department of Nursing in October of 2006 as Operations Coordinator.  She entered academia after nearly twenty years in the property and casualty insurance claims industry as a claims adjuster, supervisor, Home Office Administrative Consultant to the Greater New York, New Jersey Region and HR Consultant/Developmental Coach for the Worcester Claims office. Maryann assumed the role of the Elms Manager of the Haiti Project prior to the start of the second grant funding of the project, collaborating with Elms and Haiti staff to facilitate the operations aspect of the project.  She earned her undergraduate degree at Stonehill College in North Easton, Massachusetts and is an Alumni of Elms College earning a Master’s in Education in 2011.

Jennifer Muller is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Nursing at Elms College. She earned her ADN from Indian Hills Community College in 1993, BSN from the University of Iowa in 1995, MSN with Pediatric Nurse Practitioner focus in 2002 and post-masters certificate with Neonatal Nurse Practitioner certification in 2005. Professor Muller is continuing her education and is currently enrolled in Elms DNP program HISL track. Prior to working at Elms, Professor Muller had over 30 years of nursing experience, with diverse experiences in Pediatrics, Geriatrics, and Neurosurgery. In addition to teaching full-time, she currently practices as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner caring for infants at Middlesex Health’s Newborn Nursery and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Professor Muller is a member of National Association of Neonatal Nurses, National Association of Neonatal Nurses-AP and Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society. She lives in Glastonbury, CT with her husband and has two daughters.

Deana Nunes is an Assistant Professor at Elms College. She earned her BS in Nursing in 1994 and MSN in the Nurse Educator track in 2018 from Elms College, and her EdD from Southern Connecticut State University in 2022. Deana is a certified wound care nurse, earning credentialing at Medical University of South Carolina’s Certified Wound Care Nurse program. She has used this clinical expertise for the past thirty years in the emergent care, acute care, home care, outpatient, and long-term care settings. She is an enthusiastic educator interested in bringing innovative curriculum and teaching strategies to diverse student learners. She has taught in the undergraduate, accelerated second-degree, RN-BSN, and MSN nursing programs. Deana has been an integral part of the Elms and Haiti Partnership educating Haitian nurses about best practices for nursing education since the program’s inception, collaborating on the development and revision of the program curriculum, as well as presenting professional development workshops to program graduates.

Kathleen Pont is a Board Certified Adult Nurse Practitioner since 2008, the Director of the Accelerated Nursing Program at Elms College since 2019, and the Interim Director of the RN-BSN Program since 2024. She earned her Associates Degree in Nursing at Holyoke Community College in 2000. She earned her BSN at Elms College in 2006 and her Adult Nurse Practitioner Degree from UMASS Worcester in 2008. She earned her Doctorate of Nursing Practice in 2023 at Elms College. She currently practices as a Nurse Practitioner caring for elderly patients residing in Nursing Homes after being a Hospitalist for two years. As a Registered Nurse she practiced in the medical surgical, home care, liaison nurse and emergency department settings.

Dr. Sarah Romain is a nurse scientist and educator with expertise in ethical practice, healthcare quality, and clinical trials management. She earned her PhD in Nursing from the UMass Chan Medical School’s Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing and holds a dual bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Health: Science, Society and Policy from Brandeis University. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Romain worked in acute care and clinical research, coordinating industry-sponsored and NIH-funded studies, as well as investigator-led nursing research. Her work focused on improving patient outcomes and advancing nursing knowledge through qualitative and mixed methods approaches. Dr. Romain’s scholarship explores moral agency in nursing, ethical challenges in clinical practice, and the organizational factors that influence nursing workload and well-being. She currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Ethics Committee and a member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Baystate Health. She remains actively involved in collaborative research aimed at strengthening ethical nursing leadership and promoting excellence in healthcare delivery.