The MGFA Nurses Advisory Board (NAB) is comprised of nurses concerned with the care of MG patients and nurses who specialize in neuromuscular diseases like MG. The NAB actively educates and recruits nurses through its continuing education programs and various professional organizations throughout the United States and Canada. The NAB is also active in writing and reviewing MGFA literature for distribution to patients and families. MGFA offers nursing research grants for those who qualify.
These grants are awarded annually to nurses or nursing students interested in studying problems encountered by patients with MG or related neuromuscular conditions. Annual deadline for applications is April 1. Download the Nursing Research Grant Application.
Wilma is a nurse practitioner in an acute care London, Ontario hospital providing medical services to both hospitalized and ambulatory care individuals and families with neuromuscular diseases, since 1981. A Myasthenia Gravis Clinic has been established and patients are assessed on a regular basis. Wilma has collaborated on multiple research studies in MG including swallowing problems, fatigue and sleep apnea. She has authored many articles on neuroscience nursing including MS, GBS, and MG. She is co-author of the nursing chapter of the MGFA Health Professionals manual. Wilma lectures extensively on neuromuscular diseases locally, nationally and internationally. Her affiliations include Canadian, American and world associations/federations of neuroscience nursing (CANN, AANN, and WFNN). Certification in Neuroscience Nursing and as an Adult Nurse Practitioner (RN (EC) have been awarded. She is also an assistant professor in Health Sciences Faculty at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. As an advocate for patients and families with neuromuscular diseases and particularly MG, she is the current chair of the MGFA's Nurses Advisory Board. She also serves on the Board Development/Nominating Committee and the special Committee of Outreach/Programs.
Madeleine is a board certified adult nurse practitioner. She received her MSN degree from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. She is recently employed in a high-level chronic disease management program at BCBS of MI. From 2000-2007 she was employed in a private general neurology practice and regularly worked in the MG treatment clinic and saw hospital patients. She has lectured on neurological disorders and Myasthenia Gravis to patients and nurses. She is a member of MICNP, GAPNA, and Sigma Theta Tau - International Honor Society of Nursing. She has been a member of the MGFA NAB since 2002 and is the immediate past chair of NAB (Nurses Advisory Board). She is a contributing author of the nursing chapter of the MGFA Health Professionals manual.
Susan B. Fowler has over 30 years experience in the field of nursing. She holds a Ph.D. from Rutgers and a M.S. from California State University at Long Beach. Currently, Susan is Director of Education, Research, and Practice at the Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey in New Jersey. Prior experience includes, Clinical Nurse Researcher at Morristown Memorial Hospital, Outcomes Manager and Scientist at Somerset Medical Center, and Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience at Seton Hall University and Director, Clinical Trials at NJ Neuroscience Institute. Susan is a Past President of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN) and is a successful publisher in many peer-reviewed journals. Susan is a member of MGFA's Nurses Advisory Board and lead author in the clinical practice guideline on MG, a collaborative effort between MGFA and AANN.
Bernadette Lipscomb is a Neuromuscular Clinical Specialist who manages the Neuromuscular Clinic at Duke University Medical Center and Health Systems. Overseeing and coordinating care and services for patients with Myasthenia Gravis, Lambert-Eaton Myasthinic Syndrome and Muscular Dystrophies since 1996. An experienced educator, research coordinator and evaluator, Bernadette has co-authored several research publications. She is a member of the National Association of Neuroscience Nurses, past recipient of the National MGFA Nurse of the Year Award, past President of the MGFA Nurses Advisory Board, current member of the MGFA Nurses advisory Board and member of the Carolinas chapter of the MGFA Board.
Marcia is director of the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Specialty at Duke University School of Nursing, Durham, NC. Her professional interests focus on issues related to pediatric primary care, behavioral pediatrics and myasthenia gravis. A myasthenia gravis patient since age 10, she is very much aware of the many challenges that face MG patients and their support-givers. Marcia has served on the Board of Directors and the Nurses Advisory Board in several capacities and leadership roles. Marcia is currently serving on the Audit & Risk Management and Bylaws Committees. She continues to be an active member of the Carolinas Chapter. Marcia's vision for the MGFA is to "see the components of the Foundation working together cohesively to build a vital research and programmatic base of services so that someday soon we will have 'A World without Myasthenia Gravis.'"
Marilyn Ricci is currently a Neuroscience Nursing and Education Consultant. She has been a Neuroscience Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) for over 30 years. She was employed by St. Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center/Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona in the roles of CNS, Research Nurse Clinician, and Faculty at Grand Canyon University College of Nursing in partnership with St. Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center. She has served appointments on the Nursing Faculty at Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, University of North Dakota, and Texas Woman's University. She received her MS and Clinical Specialty in Neuroscience Nursing from Texas Women's University in Dallas Texas. She has served two terms as chairperson of the MGFA Nurse Advisory Board and as a member of MGFA Board of Directors. She is currently the Nurse Advisor and member of the Jim L. Walker Arizona Chapter MGFA Board of Directors and Nurse Facilitator for the AzMGFA Phoenix Support Group. She has made multiple presentations related to Myasthenia Gravis at the local, state and national level, and has several publications related to Myasthenia Gravis in addition to other neuroscience nursing topics. Other professional activities include being the past president of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN), founding member and past president of the American Board of Neuroscience Nurses (ABNN - the Neuroscience Nursing certifying organization) and an ABNN representative to the American Board of Nursing Specialty. She is currently serving as the President of the Accreditation Board for Specialty Nursing Certification.
Ms. Stuckey worked as a staff nurse, part time, from 1951 to 1970 during which time she married and had 5 children. When the youngest child was in the 2nd grade, she went to work full-time and worked as a clinical nursing instructor at St. Vincent's School of Nursing until the school closed in 1987. In 1974, she was assigned to teach Myasthenia Gravis. There was one short, very short, paragraph in the nursing textbook about MG. She contacted The Alabama Chapter, MGFA for information and became active in the organization. In 1976, she was elected to the MG Board of Trustees, and in 1986, she was diagnosed with MG. The knowledge of MG, gained from her work with the Alabama Chapter, was very beneficial as she battled the unpredictable course of MG. She has been a member of the Nursing Advisory Board since its inception.
Dr. Williams received her BSN from Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing in 1963. She received both her MS with a major in nursing with a minor in psychology and her PhD with a major in nursing and a minor in psychology from the University of Arizona in Tucson. Dr. Williams has taught nursing primarily at the graduate level both at Arizona State University and at the University of Birmingham, where she currently teaches.
Dr. Williams has been a neuroscience nurse for more than 40 years. She cared for her first myasthenic patient while still in nursing school, in 1963. Her particular interest in myasthenia grew while working as a neurological clinical nurse specialist at Emory University Hospital in the 1970s, and has persisted to the present time.