RPSLNAA Alumni Awards

Dr. Ruth Kleinpell, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAANP, FCCM, is currently Associate Dean for Clinical Scholarship, Independence Foundation Chair in Nursing Education at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Kleinpell is also a Professor at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and Rush University College of Nursing.  Dr. Kleinpell is certified as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and has over 25 years of clinical experience in the ICU and acute care settings.

Dr. Kleinpell has received federal and foundation grant funding to conduct research related to outcomes after critical illness, the role of the advanced practice nurse and patient and family centered care. Dr. Kleinpell currently serves as a board member on the World Federation of Critical Care, the American Nurses Credentialing Center, and the Tennessee Nurses Association Political Action board.    

Dr. Kleinpell is a past president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the third nurse to serve in this capacity in the 46-year history of the organization. Dr. Kleinpell is also past president of the World Federation of Critical Care Nurses, an international organization with over 40 country members representing over 500,000 critical care nurses worldwide. Dr. Kleinpell is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, the American College of Critical Care Medicine, the National Academies of Practice, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and the Institute of the Medicine of Chicago.

Mary Carol Racelis, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC, ONC-A, is an Advance Practice Clinical Nurse Specialist at Rush University Medical Center and an instructor in the Department of Adult Health and Gerontological Nursing Rush University College of Nursing (CON). She received a BSN degree at the University of Iowa in 1987 and an MSN degree at Rush University CON in 1992. Mary Carol will be entering the Rush University CON Transformative Leadership: Systems DNP program this upcoming September. 

Before joining Rush University Medical Center in 2012 as a CNS, she worked at three other Chicagoland hospitals in various nursing roles. Tapping into these experiences and learning from mentors along the way, Mary Carol has a passion for partnering with clinicians and leaders to improve patient safety and outcomes to care. One area has been applying orthopedic pain management best practices elevating care quality and patient experiences. Over the past nine years at Rush, she has mentored CNSs and collaborated with others taking organizationally supported steps empowering the APRN-CNS role. Recent work includes teaming to design the CNS and clinical nurse leader (CNL) dyad model, advancing clinical quality roles. During the spring 2020 pandemic, she gained crisis leadership experience supporting clinicians and practice on the first acute care unit caring for Covid-19 inpatients. Recently, Mary Carol achieved ONCB advanced orthopedic certification by portfolio and completed a team-based Duke Johnson & Johnson Fellowship strengthening Rush academic – medical center partnership and mentorship for MSN student capstone projects.  

Mary Carol has published and presented clinical best practices at national conferences both podium and poster for the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists, and National Association for Orthopaedic Nurses, and Society for Vascular Nursing.