President
Mary Ellen Killion, MSN, RN, PNP-BC

Past President
Laura  White,  PhD, MS, RN, CPNP, PMHNP-BC

President Elect
Elise Buckley, DNP, RN, CPNP-AC/PC

Treasurer
Jennifer Durning, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC

Legislation/Health Policy Chair
Chris Reeves, MSN, CNP, NPD-BC

Legislation/Health Policy Committee Member
Meghan Cusick

Chris Reeves, MSN, CNP, NPD-BC, is a Nurse Practitioner and Nursing Professional Development Specialist at Boston Children’s Hospital. He brings extensive neurocritical care experience from Massachusetts General Hospital and now leads initiatives as a Senior Nursing Professional Development Specialist at Boston Children's Hospital to strengthen advanced practice provider education, including the development of an accredited Transition to Practice Fellowship and APRN Grand Rounds. His scholarly work focuses on professional role identity and post-graduate training for nurse practitioners, and he has published and presented nationally on these topics. He is also deeply interested in legislative engagement and health policy, with a commitment to advancing nurse practitioner practice and equitable access to care. In his spare time he enjoys spending time in his garden

Scholarship, Research, Mentorship Co-Chair
Marketa Rejtar, DNP, RN, CPNP-AC/PC

Scholarship, Research, Mentorship Co-Chair
Katie Penny, DNP, RN, CPNP

Marketa Rejtar is the Director of the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) Program and Associate Clinical Professor in the School of Nursing at Northeastern University. She has been the Lead Acute Care PNP Faculty at Northeastern University since 2010 and an acute care PNP at Boston Children’s Hospital since 2007, where she practices as a seasoned Pediatric Nurse Practitioner with the Inpatient General Surgery team. Marketa is a PNP certified in both acute and primary care. 

Her primary scholarship interests include pediatric surgical care, simulation experience for PNP students, and quality and efficiency of patient care provided by PNPs. Marketa presented at a variety of national, regional, and local conferences and events using both the oral and poster forums and is a published author in peer-reviewed publications.

Marketa has undertaken many professional leadership endeavors and service commitments. She was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Pediatric Surgical Nurses Association as Treasurer and Executive Committee Member for 2023 - 2025 and 2025-2027. She has been active in the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, including being its President 2020 – 2022, as well as former Communications Chair and Treasurer, and currently a Co-Chair of the SRM Committee.

Katie Penny, DNP, APRN, WOCN, CPNP, is a seasoned Pediatric Nurse Practitioner with over two decades of dedicated experience in pediatric cardiology. She currently holds the position of Advanced Practice Registered Nursing (APRN) Director at the Heart Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, where she also provides clinical care as an APRN III specializing in inpatient cardiology and serves as an APP Educator. As an active leader within the nursing and pediatric cardiology communities, Katie contributes to the boards of the Massachusetts chapter of NAPNAP, the Northeast Pediatric Cardiology Nurses Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Society of Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery. Her doctoral research focused on the transition to practice for APRNs in specialty care, with particular attention to how fellowships and structured onboarding programs support novice healthcare providers.

PR/Communications Chair
Heather Grossklaus, MS, RN, CPNP, CPN, CNRN

PR/Communications Member
Breanne Palmer, MSN, APRN, CPNP

Heather has been a pediatric advanced practice registered nurse for 13 years and registered nurse for 20 years. She is practicing in a perioperative care coordination clinic at Boston Children's Hospital.  She has been the program chair for the MA chapter for the past 6 years and is looking forward to continuing to be on the board as the communications chair.  She always aims to bring joy and positivity to her daily practice and promotes a healthy work environment.  She has passion for education and health promotion while remaining engaged in professional organizations and scholarly education programs.  Outside of work, she enjoys playing ultimate frisbee, hiking, and being outdoors with her husband and two children (11 and 8). 

Breanne Palmer, MSN, APRN, CPNP, is a pediatric nurse practitioner at Boston Children’s Hospital, where she cares for children with a variety of complex medical needs on the inpatient medicine service. She has been a PNP for three years and previously worked in a busy outpatient pediatric primary care clinic. Before becoming an NP, Breanne spent four years as a registered nurse in pediatric cardiology and a special care nursery, where she discovered her love for working with neonates and supporting families during their earliest days together. She is excited to share her passion for neonatal and pediatric health and her enthusiasm for connecting with colleagues through her work on the communications committee.

Program/Education Co-Chair
Kelly Cavan, DNP, RN, CPNP-PC, CPN

Program/Education Co-Chair

Hilana Bernheimer

Kelly is a pediatric nurse practitioner in inpatient neurology and epilepsy at Boston Children’s Hospital and in inpatient pediatric rehabilitation at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. She graduated from Boston College’s nurse practitioner program in 2023, during which she worked as a nurse in complex acute care pediatrics. Her professional interests include caring for children with complex medical needs and improving access to equitable health care.

Membership Co-Chair
Val Bailey, MSN, RN, FNP

Membership Co-Chair
Kaylee Woods, MSN, RN, CPNP

Val is a family certified nurse practitioner (University of Massachusetts, Lowell, ’11), with a focus on caring for children and teenagers for over 25 years. Val has spent most of her career in pediatric cardiac intensive care at Boston Children’s Hospital, first as a bedside nurse, and currently as a nurse practitioner, with a 2 year hiatus between roles as a primary care nurse practitioner in school-based health at Greater Lawrence Family
Health Center in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Her areas of interest and research in the pediatric CICU include promotion of infant neurodevelopment, post-operative clinical practice guidelines, and communication and promotion of bereavement and primary
pediatric palliative care in the CICU.