Board of Directors

Christy St. John is a Director of Operations and Quality Delivery with Vizient, Inc., based in the DFW area. Formerly, she worked as an Independent Consultant and Nurse Educator. She is a former Chief Nursing Informatics Officer and Director of Nursing Informatics. Christy holds an MSN in Nursing Informatics from Walden University and is a board-certified informatics nurse.

Christy’s interests include elevating and integrating nursing practice and technology, using data to support process improvement and patient outcomes across the continuum, and the high reliability journey. She's presented locally and nationally on a variety of nursing informatics topics. 

Mark Heyward Johnson, MHA, BSN, RN-BC, CMSRN, lives in the Upstate region of South Carolina. Mark first graduated nursing school in 1998 and has worked in acute care settings providing medical surgical, psychiatric, oncology, and cardiac nursing care in his bedside career.

Mark is a graduate of the Clemson University School of Nursing and he also earned a Master’s degree in Health Administration with a focus on Information Systems at the Medical University of South Carolina in 2004. Mark has been certified by ANCC in Informatics Nursing since 2005. Mark’s primary focus as a healthcare IT professional has been patient engagement and patient activation via technology. Mark has served on several patient engagement workgroups and committees at HIMSS and he was named as a Fellow by HIMSS in 2017. Mark has served on the ANIA Board of Directors since 2017 and is currently the treasurer for the association.

Kathleen Morouse, DNP, RN-BC, CCRN-K, is an experienced nurse educator from Pittsburgh, PA. Kathleen's clinical career was in a variety of roles and units but mostly in critical care which she then used all of that bedside experience as an informatics nurse at UPMC Mercy. She currently works as an assistant professor at California University of Pennsylvania as well as an advanced clinical education specialist at UPMC Passavant. Dr. Morouse's areas of expertise include critical care, informatics, and education. She has presented at several regional and national conferences and volunteers for a local hospice.

Denise D. Tyler, DNP, MSN/MBA, RN-BC, started as an associate nurse working primarily in ICU and Oncology. She works as an informatics nurse at Trinity Health, Saint Agnes in Fresno, as a House Supervisor in Visalia, and as an adjunct faculty for Thomas Edison University. Denise lives and works in Central California. She is certified as an informatics nurse. She received her MSN/MBA from the University of Phoenix and her DNP from Chamberlain College of Nursing.

Denise has served on the board of ANIA for 10 years before stepping down to pursue her doctorate. She remained involved in ANIA, serving as assistant editor as well as frequently contributing to the Journal of Informatics Nursing and presenting at the annual conference. Denise has also volunteered for HIMSS and Sigma Theta Tau.

Dr. Katherine Taylor Pearson (COL, Retired, US Army) currently serves as the Director for Client Services for Three Suns Engineering (TSE). Past positions have included Population Health Consultant, U.S. Army, Chief Nurse, VA Primary Care, and Specialty Care, Assistant Professor, University of the Incarnate Word, Southern Regional Medical Command Assistant Chief of Staff, Information Management, Chief Information Officer, and Medical Informatics Officer. Dr. Taylor Pearson served throughout the world and United States for over 30 years. A native of Santa Ana, California, Dr. Taylor Pearson graduated Army ROTC and was commissioned Regular Army. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Seattle University, Seattle, Washington in 1991. She also holds a Doctorate of Nursing Practice from the University of Alabama (2015), a Master of Science in Nursing Informatics and minor in Managed Care from the University of Maryland (2002), and a Master of Arts in Information Management and Computer Resources from Webster University (1999). She has been certified in Informatics through the American Nursing Credentialing Center since 2007, is certified Black Belt LSS, Business Intelligence, and Knowledge Management, and is an Acquisition Professional in Information Technology (Level 3) and Program Management (Level 2). She is also a member of Sigma Theta Tau International, the National Honor Society of Nursing. She has also served as the ANIA Chapter President for South Texas, was the Secretary for the local HIMSS chapter, and was the webmaster for CarinG (Capital Area Roundtable on Informatics in Nursing) which later migrated into ANIA. Dr. Taylor Pearson is married to Mr. Dale Pearson. They have a 1 son, Garret, 22, and 1 daughter, Katelyn, 9 yrs old.

Andrew Awoniyi, ND, RN-BC, has been in Nursing Informatics for over 25 years working across multiple settings to improve patient outcomes, clinicians' efficiency, and overall organizational performance utilizing clinical knowledge, information technology, and other skills. Andrew graduated with a Nursing Doctorate degree from the University of Colorado and a Post-Graduate fellowship and worked in a number of academic institutions and industry to share his knowledge, and contribute to workforce development reducing the potential nursing and healthcare provider shortage. Building a multi-faceted chronic disease program in a rural Pacific Northwest community gave him valuable perspective on the challenges facing rural health residents and clinicians, delivery of services to the underserved, and effectively utilizing technology to bridge the divide. Andrew serves with a number of volunteer nursing organizations such as Sigma Theta Tau, and global development organization Grace for Impact.

Andrew's current position at Axxess, a healthcare technology company based in Dallas, Texas, continues to provide opportunities to drive the vision of delivering exceptional care in the home setting, leveraging his professional and personal experiences in clinical, technology, education, and product development.

Julie Jones, a seasoned informatics nurse with over a decade at the University of Vermont Health Network (UVMHN), was pivotal in the 2009 transition from paper to electronic health records at the University of Vermont Medical Center. Holding a Master's degree in adult nurse practitioner program from the University of Vermont, Julie is certified as an Informatics Nurse by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. In her role as Network Epic Clin App Analyst Lead RN, Julie optimizes our healthcare network's digital infrastructure, blending clinical expertise with technical proficiency. Her key responsibilities include customizing Epic's electronic health records system for healthcare providers, leading a team of analysts to enhance patient care efficiency, and facilitating communication between clinical staff and IT. Beyond her professional accomplishments, Julie has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the nursing community, serving Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) for two decades. As chapter president, she revitalized the chapter, achieving 20% growth and fostering engagement. At the international level, she sat on the STTI board of directors, nurturing collaboration among chapters globally. Julie's dedication also extends to her role as President of the Vermont Chapter of ANIA and as co-chair of the Social Media Committee for ANIA from 2017 to 2019. As co-President of the inaugural ANIA chapter, I pioneered the path for subsequent chapters to follow suit. During her tenure as co-President of the Vermont Chapter of ANIA, she played a crucial role in leading and advancing the chapter's mission and activities. Her role as co-President has been essential in shaping the chapter's identity and impact within the field of healthcare informatics in Vermont. As the co-chair of the Social Media Committee for ANIA from January 2017 to 2019. In this role, I played a significant part in managing and enhancing ANIA's social media presence and engagement. Her responsibilities included creating and curating content for various social media platforms, developing strategies to increase followers and engagement, and collaborating with other committee members to promote ANIA's mission and initiatives through social media channels. 

As Vice President and Chief Nursing Informatics Officer for Baptist Health System in Central Alabama, Joseph Cook, DNP, RN-BC maintains executive responsibility for all nursing technology and clinical application services, as well as all clinical informatics education and support. He co-chairs the Care Transformation Committee overseeing the health system’s organizational change management structure and serves on numerous other committees focusing on process improvement initiatives, lean methodologies, quality and patient safety as well as Chair of the newly enacted virtual nursing services program. Joseph holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Auburn University, a master’s degree in Nursing Administration from the University of South Alabama, and a Doctorate of Nursing Practice in Executive Nursing Administration from the University of South Alabama, as well as ANCC board certification in Nursing Informatics. Joseph is a founding inaugural board member of the Alabama Chapter of the American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA) and a member of numerous other healthcare informatics and nursing professional organizations.

I started my career at Duke University Hospital in the Cardiothoracic Operating Room as a circulating and scrubbing nurse. I then moved to Denver, Colorado where I continued working in the operating room at a local community hospital. During my clinical practice I received my certification as an OR nurse (CNOR). I started my informatics education after receiving a HITEC grant to obtain my certificate in Health Information Management and Health Information Exchange from the University of Colorado. I continued this coursework to then complete my Masters in Nursing Informatics from the same institution. Around this time I transitioned into nursing informatics with the role of Meaningful Use lnformaticist at Catholic Health Initiatives (now Common Spirit Health). This was when I first got my introduction to ANIA! I attended the 2014 conference in Las Vegas and fell in love with the organization. 
I soon transitioned into the role of Epic Op Time/Anesthesia analyst at the very beginning of Denver Health's Epic implementation. This gave me the incredible opportunity to combine my informatics knowledge and perioperative expertise. I then completed my Master's in 2014. During this time I also was invited to and participated in the CCl-lnstitute's revision of the CNOR exam via committee. I got the amazing opportunity to sit down with perioperative leaders from around the country to make sure that all perioperative topics (including perioperative informatics!) were represented in the new version of the exam. 
I started taking on leadership roles in 2019 when I took over as the president of the Colorado Chapter of ANIA. Through this period of time we earned distinguished chapter and conducted a Certification Review Course!. In 2020 I started coursework to obtain my DNP in health systems leadership which then finished in December 2022. During this coursework I focused mainly on healthcare informatics leadership and topics. Finally, I started my most formal leadership role as the manager of a team of analysts that covers building out our system for inpatient pharmacy, inpatient providers, the emergency department, perioperative services, inpatient nursing and many other inpatient clinicians. I am terming off of my chapter president role and would love to take on a new opportunity! 
I am also the mama to a 5 year old son, 1 year old daughter, 14 year old dog and two kittens!