Jason Spees, APRN, FNP-C, L.Ac, ACT Chair
Jason is an alumnus from the University of Texas in Austin School of Nursing. He is a family nurse practitioner, assistant clinical instructor and PhD student whose research focus is on human trafficking. He additionally holds a license to practice acupuncture and volunteers monthly with Victims Advocate Network. Jason is an ACT Advocate and determined to get trafficking awareness and education into the field of nursing. His background includes family practice, emergency medicine, geriatric medicine, skilled nursing, hospice and palliative care, pain management and urology. Jason strives to combine science and holism in providing care for his patients.
Shenoa Rose Jamieson, CRNP, SANE-A, SANE-P, ACT Co-chair
Shenoa Rose Jamieson is employed as a nurse practitioner with the Child Advocacy Center at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She is a Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in Primary Care and nationally certified as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner - Pediatrics and Adult/Adolescent. In her position she splits her time between abuse evaluations and providing primary care for children with complex social situations. The Advocacy Resources for Children (ARCH) Clinic is a primary care practice under the umbrella of the Child Advocacy Center and available to children and families who are active with child protective services or living in transitional housing.
Brenda Cassidy, DNP, RN, MSN, CPNP-PC, ACT Chair
Associate Professor, Director Pediatric and Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Programs, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing
PNP at East Side Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
NAPNAP national leadership positions: USPSTF representative, Health Policy Committee Member, Executive Board Member-at-Large, Co-chair Alliance for Children in Trafficking (ACT); current member of Inaugural DEI Committee
Alliance for Children in Trafficking positions: As chair of the Training ACT Advocates workgroup in 2018, facilitated group effort to develop ACT Advocate job description, training manual, evaluation forms and PowerPoint presentation; presented ACT Advocate trainings nationally (2), regionally (1) and locally (4) and includes training in pediatric course for PNP/FNP/PMHNP students at the University of Pittsburgh. Mentoring DNP student with scholarly project, Identifying Barriers and Facilitators to Combating Human Trafficking in Children: A Policy Analysis.
Katelyn Brown, CRNP, ACT Champion
Geraldine Hirsch Fitzgerald, MSN, RN, CPNP, ACT Champion
A pediatric nurse practitioner, Geraldine Fitzgerald was educated at Johns Hopkins, the University of Pennsylvania and the Catholic University of America. She has 50 years of clinical experience in pediatrics and has taught at Catholic University of America and the University of Maryland. She has advocated for maternal-infant rights at the United Nations and the World Bank. She has served in refugee camps in Greece, and as the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) representative to the National Commission on Children and Disasters (NCCD) and the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC).
She is currently working with Catholic Charities, diocese of Venice anti-trafficking program. Ms. Fitzgerald lives in Bethany Beach, Delaware.