Leading Through Service

By Katelyn Kocis

Leadership in nursing does not always begin with a title. More often, it starts with a willingness to serve—on a committee, within a professional organization or alongside colleagues who see gaps and believe nurses belong at the tables where decisions are made. For three University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing alumni, service has been the throughline of careers that now span local, national and international influence. Jennifer Adamski (MSN ’02), Taryn Edwards (BSN ’04) and John O’Donnell (MSN ’91) each followed different paths, but all were shaped by Pitt’s emphasis on critical thinking, professional responsibility and the belief that leadership is a natural extension of nursing practice.

Championing Critical Care Nursing

Jennifer Adamski’s career began where many nurses find their professional identity—at the bedside. A Pittsburgh native, she stepped directly into critical care after earning her credentials.

“I walked out of nursing school into an ICU and have never left,” she says. “Critical care is where I learned how important teamwork, communication and trust really are.”

From ICUs across Western Pennsylvania to nationally recognized trauma centers, Adamski built a career grounded in high- acuity clinical practice before advancing her education through Carlow University and the University of Pittsburgh’s Acute and Critical Care Nurse Practitioner program. That strong clinical foundation, she believes, has been essential to her effectiveness as a leader.

Adamski’s leadership journey was not carefully mapped. Instead, it grew organically from practice. Early mentors—whom she prefers to call “champions”—encouraged her to speak up, join committees and step into roles that initially felt uncomfortable.

“You’re going to be uncomfortable until you’re comfortable—and then it’s time to get uncomfortable again,” she says. “That’s where growth happens.”

Through service, Adamski gained insight into how health care systems function and how nurses often identify safety gaps and opportunities for improvement long before others do. That mindset ultimately carried her to national leadership. Adamski recently completed her term as president of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), representing more than 135,000 members, and now serves as immediate past president.

“Leadership is not about the title,” Adamski says. “It’s about stewardship— about being responsible for something bigger than yourself and leaving it better than you found it.”

Her tenure emphasized advocacy, professional value and what she calls “the courage to soar”—a message that nurses can lead from anywhere, including the bedside. In addition to her AACN roles, Adamski has served on numerous national committees across nursing and critical care organizations, contributed to trauma and critical care education, and represented advanced practice registered nurses on the Georgia Board of Nursing.

Throughout it all, Adamski has remained deeply committed to mentoring students and early-career nurses, urging them to connect with professional organizations early.

“Getting a job is who you know; keeping a job is what you know,” she recalls being told as a Pitt student. “Professional organizations are where you learn, grow and find your people.”

For Adamski, Pitt played a pivotal role in shaping her leadership philosophy. The School of Nursing instilled clinical excellence, critical thinking and a sense of professional accountability that normalized leadership as part of nursing identity. Today, she sees her national and international work as both an extension of that foundation and a responsibility to pay forward what she learned.

A National Voice for Neonatal Nurses

Taryn Edwards knew early that nursing—and leadership—would be part of her future. She applied to one nursing school, fell in love with Pitt almost immediately and by her sophomore year had set her sights on neonatal nursing.

“I knew I wanted to take care of the most vulnerable patients,” Edwards says. “Neonatal nurses are a rare breed—we care for the smallest, sickest babies, and that stays with you forever.”

Inspired by faculty who emphasized that nurses must “lead the charge,” Edwards joined the National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN) while still a student—an early decision that would shape her career.

After graduating in 2004, Edwards began her career at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she found her passion caring for critically ill newborns, specifically infants in their first 28 days of life.

She later earned a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and transitioned into neonatal nurse practitioner practice, focusing on surgical and high-risk infants. In 2021, she joined Nemours Children’s Health, Delaware, continuing her clinical work alongside an increasingly significant leadership role.

Edwards’ service trajectory followed a steady, intentional path from local chapter involvement to national governance. She served as newsletter editor and president for NANN’s Delaware Valley chapter before being elected to its national board of directors in 2015. After additional service on NANN’s Advanced Practice Council, she was elected president, becoming the youngest president in the organization’s history.

“Balancing this role alongside full-time clinical work is demanding,” Edwards says, “but it is a true honor to have a seat at the table and to represent neonatal nurses across the country."

As president, Edwards has prioritized advocacy and legislative engagement, emphasizing that bedside care is only one piece of nursing’s broader impact. Under her leadership, NANN has signed on to dozens of federal advocacy letters addressing toxic environmental exposures, maternal and infant health data collection and nursing education funding.

“If nurses don’t speak up, someone else will speak for us,” she says. “And they won’t always get it right.”

Leading a national organization that represents neonatal nurses across diverse settings and generations comes with challenges. Edwards has focused on workforce shortages, recruitment into neonatal nursing and ensuring educational resources meet the needs of four generations of nurses. She believes technology will play a key role, with nurses leading innovation and shaping how it is integrated into care.

For Edwards, service leadership fulfills a deeply personal goal: “I wanted to be able to say that I contributed to something larger than myself,” she says.

Her advice to Pitt students and alumni is simple: Get involved, find mentors and don’t wait until you feel ready. Leadership, she insists, is both achievable and necessary—and Pitt nurses are prepared for it.

Behind-the-Scenes Leadership

John O’Donnell’s influence on nursing may be less visible to the public, but it is foundational to the profession’s infrastructure. Recently appointed Pitt Nursing’s first senior associate dean for teaching and learning, O’Donnell has spent decades leading through education, accreditation and governance.

“I’ve always been more comfortable behind the scenes,” O’Donnell says. “But leadership doesn’t always mean being out front—it means making sure the systems that support nurses actually work.”

Over the course of his career, O’Donnell has shaped nurse anesthesia education nationally and internationally. As a longtime program director and department chair, he guided Pitt’s Nurse Anesthesia program to national prominence, earning top rankings and recognition for innovation in simulation and curriculum design.

Service has been a constant throughout his career. O’Donnell served on the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing, helping shape policy, disciplinary processes and public protection efforts. Nationally, he held multiple leadership roles within the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, including treasurer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Those were hard decisions but necessary ones,” he says. “We had to protect the organization so it could continue serving educators and learners long after the crisis passed.”

Perhaps most influential has been his work in accreditation. O’Donnell rose through the ranks of the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA), ultimately serving as president. During his tenure, he helped modernize accreditation standards to better reflect contemporary clinical practice.

“As president, I opened up the COA practice doctorate education standards for review and revision—earlier in the process than normal—so we could keep pace with evolving clinical practice,” he notes, adding that revisions to standards went into effect Jan. 1, 2026.

His impact extends to simulation education. He is senior associate director and cochair of the research committee at the Winter Institute for Simulation Education (WISER) in Pittsburgh and helped develop the iSIM (Improving Simulation Instructional Methods) course—widely regarded as the most- taught faculty development course in simulation worldwide—as well as the GAS Debriefing model.

The GAS model (Gather, Analyze, Summarize) is a structured approach used after simulation exercises to guide discussion, reflection and learning. It was adopted into the American Heart Association Core Curriculum for Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support. O’Donnell explains that effective debriefing is essential for translating simulation training into real-world improvements in patient safety.

His international work includes helping establish or elevate simulation centers worldwide—from Vietnam to Taiwan to China—because, he believes, “collaboration and friendship grow when people share a common goal: improving the quality of education and patient safety.”

O’Donnell initially did not envision himself as a leader. That shift came later, influenced by military service as a U.S. Army officer and by recognizing his strengths in facilitation and education. His advice to students and alumni mirrors that realization.

“If you want to lead, you have to say yes,” he advises, describing leadership as a practice of stepping into opportunities even when they feel daunting.

He also encourages younger leaders to define themselves.

“There are no limits to that. You decide what you want to do,” he says. “Say yes when the opportunity comes, even when it’s scary.”

Continuing a Commitment to Service

Though their paths differ, Adamski, Edwards and O’Donnell embody a shared Pitt Nursing legacy: leadership rooted in service, mentorship and a commitment to advancing the profession. Their stories illustrate that leadership is not confined to executive offices or national stages—it emerges wherever nurses choose to engage, advocate and serve.

For current students and alumni considering their own next steps, their message is clear. Leadership is not reserved for a select few. It is a responsibility—and an opportunity— that begins with saying yes.

This article originally appeared in the summer 2026 edition of Pitt Nurse magazine. Read more stories of alumni accomplishments in "The Leadership Issue."