Pinnacle Lecture Series
Each semester, the Connell School brings to Boston College an inspiring leader who speaks on an issue at the forefront of health care. Pinnacle lectures are open to all Boston College students, staff, faculty, alumni, and preceptors as well as practitioners and scholars unaffiliated with Boston College. View archived videos of past Pinnacle lectures.
SPRING 2026
How Are GLP-1 Therapies Reshaping Health Care and Beyond?
Monday, March 23, 2026, 5 p.m.
Yawkey Center, Murray Room
In this interdisciplinary panel discussion on nutrition, obesity, lifestyle interventions, and medication management, experts from Boston College, Johns Hopkins, and more will explore the risks, benefits, and rapidly shifting health care landscape surrounding GLP-1 therapies.
About the Speakers
Ariana Chao ’10, M.S. ’11
Ph.D., CRNP, FNP-BC, RN
Associate Professor
Johns Hopkins School of Nursing with Joint Appointment in Medicine
Director of Research
Healthful Eating, Activity & Weight Program
Katelyn O’Brien
Pharm.D., BCPS, CDCES, BC-ADM
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist
Boston Medical Center
Alexander Turchin
M.D., M.S., FACMI
Director of Quality in Diabetes
Mass General Brigham
Associate Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
MODERATOR
Patricia Underwood
Ph.D., FNP-BC, RN, CDCES
Assistant Professor
Connell School of Nursing
Endocrine Nurse Practitioner
VA Boston Healthcare System
The event's speakers are the Dr. Maureen P. McCausland Pinnacle Keynote Speakers for spring 2026.
Continuing Education Contact Hours
This nursing continuing professional development activity is designated for one (1) contact hour provided by Boston College Connell School of Nursing Professional Development and Continuing Education.
Boston Connell School of Nursing Professional Development and Continuing Education is approved as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by The American Nurses Association Massachusetts, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Denetra Hampton
Navy Veteran and Former U.S. Naval Corps Officer
ounder and Filmmaker, For Nurses By Nurses Productions
Spring 2024
A panel discussion that featured:
Ann Burgess
Professor, Connell School of Nursing
Co-author, A Killer by Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind
Consulting Producer, Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer
Victor Petreca
Assistant Professor, Connell School of Nursing
Director, Center for Police Training in Crisis Intervention
Jeff Wood
Program Manager, Protection Strategies Incorporated
Retired Personal Security Specialist and Supervisory Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Fall 2024
Jennie Chin Hansen, ’70, H’08
Past CEO, American Geriatrics Society
Former President, AARP
Spring 2023
Vanessa Kerry
Director, Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change, Harvard Medical School
CEO, Seed Global Health
Director-General Special Envoy, Climate Change and Health, World Health Organization
Fall 2023
Rear Admiral Aisha K. Mix
Chief Nurse Officer, U. S. Public Health Service
Spring 2022
Angelleen Peters-Lewis, Ph.D ’06
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nurse Executive, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Fall 2022
Susan Gennaro
Dean, Connell School of Nursing, Boston College
Spring 2021
Katherine E. Gregory, Ph.D. ’05
Dean, Connell School of Nursing, Boston College
Fall 2021
Patricia Davidson
Dean, School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University
Fall 2020
Gennaro Rocco
Director, Steering Committee, Scientific Research Center Centro di Eccellenza per la Cultura e la Ricerca Infermieristica
Alessandro Stievano
Research Fellow in Nursing, Centre of Excellence for Nursing Scholarship OPI, Rome
Fall 2019
Sheila Davis
Chief of Clinical Operations and Chief Nursing Officer, Partners in Health
Spring 2019
Susan Orsega
Chief Nurse Officer, United States Public Health Service
Spring 2018
Lorna Finnegan
President, National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties
Executive Associate Dean, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing
Fall 2018
Patricia Flatley Brennan
Director, National Library of Medicine
Spring 2017
Marla Weston
Chief Executive Officer, American Nurses Association Enterprise
Fall 2017
Kathleen Rice Simpson
Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist
Editor in Chief, MCN: The American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing
Spring 2016
Loretta Sweet Jemmott
Vice President for Health and Health Equity and
Professor, College of Nursing and Health Professions, Drexel University
Fall 2016
Antonia M. Villarruel
Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Spring 2015
Margaret Grey
Annie W. Goodrich Professor, Yale School of Nursing
Fall 2015
Courtney H. Lyder
Dean and Professor, UCLA School of Nursing
Assistant Director, UCLA Health System
Executive Director, UCLA Health System Patient Safety Institute
Spring 2014
Maureen E. Gormley ’85
Chief Operating Officer, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
Fall 2014
Lee Woodruff
Best-selling author, CBS This Morning show contributor
Co-founder, Bob Woodruff Foundation
Spring 2013
Maureen P. McCausland ’72, M.S. ’77
Senior Vice President and System Chief Nursing Officer, MedStar Health
Fall 2013
Karen Daley, M.S. ’04, Ph.D. ’10
President, American Nurses Association
Spring 2012
Angela Barron McBride
Distinguished Professor and University Dean Emerita, Indiana University School of Nursing
Fall 2012
Linda Burnes Bolton
Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Spring 2011
Karen H. Morin
President of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International
Fall 2011
Terry Fulmer, M.S. ’77, Ph.D. ’83
Dean, New York University College of Nursing
Fall 2010