2012 - 13 Board of Directors & Staff
Paul has worked in the health care arena for 30 years. A majority of that time has been in the Operating Room and Post Anesthesia Care Unit. Paul began his career in clinical education as an operating room supply chain management consultant. He became formally involved in vascular access in 1999. Paul currently works as Senior Director of Marketing and Clinical Education for RyMed Technologies, Inc. In this position, he provides direction to the marketing, clinical education, and sales departments. Paul is a retired Lieutenant Colonel and Chief Nursing Officer in the Utah Air National Guard, where he oversaw 20 clinicians. Paul is the father of five children, two girls and three boys, and the grandfather of seven beautiful grandchildren. Paul currently serves as the president of the Association for Vascular Access.
Jack LeDonne was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1952. He graduated from Fordham University, in 1974, and attended medical school for one year, in Italy. In January, 1977, he enrolled in the first class at St. George’s University, School of Medicine, Grenada, West Indies, graduating in 1981.
Dr. LeDonne completed his surgical residency at the Wyckoff Heights Hospital, in Brooklyn, and fellowships at the Shock-Trauma Center (MIEMMS) in Baltimore and Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass. He has been working in the Department of Surgery, at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, since 1991.
Vascular access is Dr. LeDonne’s clinical and research interest. His publications in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons: Percutaneous Cephalic Vein Cannulation( in the Delto-pectoral groove), with Ultrasound Guidance and Detecting and Fixing Errant Central Venous Catheters, without Radiography, contain the first videos published by that journal.
Rich is currently a PICC Business Analyst for Bard Access Systems. At a time when homecare was still in its infancy, Rich was one of the founders of an Option Care home infusion service which provided pharmaceuticals and nursing care services to home care and hospice patients throughout Northern California. He later developed a vascular access team that managed the PICC insertions for four San Francisco Bay Area hospitals and was one of the original members of Bavan. As an active clinician and PICC placer, he has worked both in the hospital in a variety of areas and in the community developing alternate site care models. In his long career, he has worked with pharmaceutical manufacturers, insurers, and large healthcare organizations providing consulting services, business planning, and helping to develop best practices in a challenging economic environment.
Debbie has been a nurse for 34 years with extensive experience in vascular access in adult/pedi critical care areas, NICU, ER, home infusion, IR, ACU and PACU.
PICC certified since 1992, Debbie frequently serves as a consultant, clinical educator and speaker in vascular access for several companies. She is co-founder of the Maine Vascular Access Network (MEVAN), started in 2004, serving as president for 6 of the last 8 years.
She has been a member of the Association for Vascular Access since 1999, serving on several AVA committees during that time. With a unique personal and professional perspective of long term vascular access devices, Deb is passionate about providing educational opportunities for those caring for patient's with VAD's, with specific focus on the "Care and Maintenance" aspect after the VAD's have been placed.
Being a member of the Board of Directors has been very exciting. AVA has been very busy over the past year with the development of the VACC certification, adult and pediatric vascular access guidelines, our international collaborative relationships with other countries and organizations and various position statements.
She looks forward to addressing upcoming needs of members and continuing to grow the mission of this multidisciplinary organization.
Mark started his nursing career with the completion of his BSN in 1985 followed by his MNSc in 1992. Mark brings over 25 years of nursing experience to AVA with special interest in providing quality education to medical professionals on all aspects of Vascular Access. Since 2006, Mark has served on the Scientific Meeting Committee and chaired the 2009 meeting and is now serving his second term on the AVA board. Mark is a founding member of ARVAN (Arkansas Vascular Access Network). Outside of nursing, Mark enjoys performing choral music, cooking (eating!), traveling and spending time with his partner and their two rescue beagles.
Ms Lembo, MSN/ED, CRNI has been a registered nurse for 40 years with the past 24 years in the specialty of vascular access. She is currently Vascular Access Supervisor at the Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, N.J.
Ms. Lembo is a Past president of the local infusion Nurses Society (INS) chapter. As a member of Association for Vascular Access (AVA) since 2000, she served on the best practice committee. Through the years Linda has been active in developing and managing infusion therapy including educational programs on insertion and maintenance of PICC lines.
VA Medical Center & The Vascular Group, Albany, NY
Specialty: Interventional radiology, critical care, vascular surgery, surgical oncology, general & thoracic surgery
Michele Lee Biscossi, ACNP-BC,MS,RN,CNL,VA-BC,is an acute care nurse practitioner and a clinical nurse leader in interventional radiology at the Albany Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany, New York. She is also an acute care nurse practitioner of vascular surgery/interventional radiology at the Vascular Institute at Albany Medical Center.
Ms Biscossi is an adjunct faculty member and clinical instructor at Excelsior College in Albany and Russell Sage College in Troy, New York. Ms Biscossi holds three national board certifications: She is certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing as a Clinical Nurse Leader. Additionally, she is Vascular Access-Board Certified by the Vascular Access Certification Corporation for the Association for Vascular Access (AVA). She has been placing central lines for the last 15 years and has been practicing in her field since 1994.
Ms Biscossi is a member of American Nursing Informatics Association, New York State Coalition of Nurse Practitioners, American College of Healthcare Executives, and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. She has also been an active member of AVA for more than 12 years. She is on the National Board of Directors for AVA as a Director-at-Large. She is one of four coauthors of the Vascular Access Certification Exam Review Guide. Ms. Biscossi is also currently leading a National Task Force for AVA charged with development of a fully electronic evidence-based Vascular Access Assessment Scale. Ms Biscossi recently received the Veterans Integrated Service Network Distinguished Clinician Award and the Nurse of Excellence Award. She has presented at conferences and meetings across the country, has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis, and the International Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care and is involved in several research projects.
Ms Biscossi earned a master of science degree nursing completing a dual major—one as a clinical nurse specialist in critical care and one in nursing education—from the Sage Colleges, Sage Graduate School in Troy, New York, where she also obtained a post-masters certificate 2 years later as an acute care nurse practitioner
Jennifer is certificated through the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) as a Progressive Care Certified Nurse, Critical Care Certified Nurse, and a Certified Clinical Nurse Specialist. She is also VA-BC certified. Jennifer was involved in the item writing portion the VA-BC examination in 2010. Jennifer is currently enrolled as a Doctoral Student at Wright State University in Dayton Ohio and teaches as Adjunct Faculty at the University of Cincinnati in the distance learning Master’s degree program.
Jennifer boasts that the support of her husband of 23 year, Rodney, enables her to be so active with her organizations. They has three smooth fox terriers dogs and 20 registered Holstein cows.
Pamela comes to AVA with a background in clinical oncology care, including roles as an oncology clinical nurse specialist, enterostomal therapist, oncology product line manager in community hospitals, and as an independent oncology care consultant. On the volunteer side, she has served on the Oncology Nursing Society’s Board of Directors as Board Secretary and as its President during a time of major organizational restructuring and associated changes in board governance. PJ also served as a Trustee on the Oncology Nursing Society Foundation and as Board Liaison to the society’s Certification Corporation. Recently she has completed a four year term as Consumer Representative to the FDA’s Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee. Over the past ten years, she has been directly involved in an international effort to bring cancer care to developing and low resource nations. Most recently, Pamela completed the requirements for the PhD in nursing at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
Lois is employed by the Association for Vascular Access as the Director of Professional Development and Editor of JAVA, AVA's scientific journal. She is also the program director of the Vascular Access Certification Corporation. Lois received her bachelors degree in nursing from Boston University and Masters Degree in Nursing administration from the University of Phoenix. Lois' background includes over 30 years as a registered nurse with more than 20 years involved in vascular access as a clinician, educator, and manager. In addition to her acute care experience she has a strong homecare background. She established 2 homecare agencies, worked as a Director of Nursing for a home infusion pharmacy, and worked as a clinical nurse specialist for several manufacturers of vascular access products. Lois is a recognized speaker and is involved in various local and national professional organizations.
Tonya has been with AVA since 1998. She manages the day to day operations of the association. She provides support to the D-Team and Nominations & Bylaws Committee, as well as she is the direct contact to AVA's Corporate Members. Tonya provides support to the CEO and Board of Directors to carry out the mission and strategic plan of AVA.
Lory manages all aspects of AVA's financial processes including: Budget preparation and analysis; review of financial reports; reporting; general ledger; RFP preparation and review; cost/benefit analyses; financial database management; accounting; billing; payroll, etc.
Cindy has 20+ years of business management and customer service experience. She has served in many capacities including Business Manager, Marketing Coordinator, Customer Service Manager, and Executive Assistant. Cindy had previously been in the Employee Benefits Industry. She has been published in the American Dental Association Journal as well as the Utah Dental Association Newsletter. She was recognized as one of two Direct Reimbursement Specialists for the State of Utah. Cindy offers administrative support to AVA and VACC. However, Network Coordination is her main focus. Cindy is the communications manager between the National Association and all its Networks. She is a fantastic recource to our many networks.