MCNP Leadership and Staff

Laura Black has been a long-term active member of the MCNP, previously serving as President-Elect, Co-Chair of the MCNP Legislative Committee and member of the Legislative Steering Committee, having helped advance FPA legislative efforts.

With 30 years of health care experience, Laura is an expert in the design, implementation, and leadership of care management and direct clinical care systems for Medicare-Medicaid and Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans having served as Senior Vice President and Care Management Solutions for Commonwealth Care Alliance and more recently as Vice President Population Health Management at Point32Health.

As MCNP President, Laura has provided visionary leadership as MCNP continues to grow and evolve following the passage of Full Practice Authority.

Tina Hughes is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and Certified Dementia Practitioner.

Tina currently owns her own practice where she provides holistic and medication management of behavioral disturbances in Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias to patients that live in assisted living communities. Through her practice, Tina has collaborated with countless providers and worked within an extensive network of health systems where she has promoted awareness and respect for the NP role.

Tina sees educating community members and healthcare partners on the value of Nurse Practitioners as both a challenge and opportunity and is excited to continue this work in her capacity as President-Elect of the MCNP.

Dorothy has been a registered nurse for more than 40 years, having worked as an inpatient acute care nurse and clinical educator in the management of complex critically ill cardiovascular patients. She transitioned into the NP role in 2020 and is now working as Nurse Practitioner in Transplant Heart Infectious Disease at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

Throughout her nursing career Dorothy has been engaged in professional service, having been an active member of the Greater Boston Chapter of AACN where served on the Board of Directors and in multiple officer positions. She has been the co- chair of many hospital-based committees and more recently on the Tufts Medical Center APRN Council.

Dorothy is excited to bring her professional experience to the MCNP Board of Directors where as a newer NP, she is eager to champion efforts to support novice practitioners. 

Tracy Markwell is a long-term MCNP member who is currently practicing as a nurse practitioner on the Complex Care Medicine Service at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Tracy is a clinical nurse practitioner instructor and term lecturer at MGH Institute of Health Professions and regularly precepts NP students, instilling in them the importance of professional involvement.

Tracy brings her experience from the acute care setting and as an educator to the MCNP leadership team and is eager to support organizational efforts to advance and support the role of the Nurse Practitioner in Massachusetts.

Paula is a DNP with a Masters in Business Administration with 25 years of experience as an Advanced Practice Nurse. Since 2016 she he has served in APP leadership roles - previously as Director of Advanced Practice at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and currently as Director of Advanced Practice Providers at Baystate Health in Springfield, MA where she provides strategic leadership for a team of 450+ employed advanced practice providers (APPs) and the 150+ credentialed community APPs across the Baystate integrated health care system.

Paula is a strong advocate for patient safety, quality care and the NP role. She serves on Baystate’s Executive Committee, Credentials Committee, Clinical Practice Committee, and Leadership Council. She also has seats on the Board of Directors for Baystate Medical Practices, for the Advanced Practice Providers Executives, and recently become a member of the Board for Baycare Health Partners PHO (one of the 1st PHOs in the country to welcome Advanced Practice Clinicians as members).

In addition to being an active member of the MCNP Legislative Committee, Paula was actively involved in legislative efforts while living in South Carolina, having testified before the House Medical Affairs Committee for the passage of APN scope of practice legislation. In her new role as MCNP State Legislative Policy Director, Paula is excited to bring her action-oriented leadership experience to advocate for APRN practice beyond the passage of Full Practice Authority and help lead efforts to advance the MCNP legislative agenda.

Colleen has been a Nurse Practitioner since 2019 and an active member of the MCNP since 2020, having served on the Legislative, Membership, Political Action Committee, and Research Committees.

Colleen is currently in practice at Massachusetts General Hospital where she works as a Family Nurse Practitioner in the Orthopedic Surgery Department where she focuses on pre and post operative care of pediatric and adult patients.  

In her role as Region I Director, and as a newer nurse practitioner, Colleen aspires to be a voice and advocate for other nurse practitioners particularly as they navigate the transition to full practice authority.

Chris Reeves has been a nurse since 2014, and an AGACNP-BC since 2016. Chris is a graduate of the MGH IHP and completed a NP residency in Trauma Surgery and Critical Care at George Washington University Hospital.

Chris currently works as a Nursing Professional Development Specialist at Boston Children’s Hospital in Boston, MA and maintains a clinical practice in the adult Neuro ICU at Mass General Hospital.

Chris is actively enrolled in a PhD program at UMass Boston where his research interests focus on generating nursing science around novice NP transition to practice, and considering how effective transition (yet to be defined) may influence outcomes measured at the level of the practitioner, the patient, and larger health care systems.

Chris has a strong interest in advocacy and health policy and in his role as Region II Director, hopes to advance the role of the NP in Massachusetts and engage and inspire NPs to realize that topics like leadership and advocacy, which may seen daunting, are truly accessible.

Sherri is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) at Tri River Health Center in Uxbridge, MA and an assistant professor of the practice at the Connell School of Nursing at Boston College.

Sherri has been a member of the MCNP since the mid 90s when still in graduate school and has remained actively involved - as a member of the MCNP Education Committee and as long-term Regional Representative in the Greater Worcester Marlboro region.

Sherri is passionate about her work as a PNP and educator and recognizes the importance of health policy advocacy in addressing barriers to care. In her role as Region IV Director, she is excited to get more involved in MCNP advocacy efforts and initiatives to support new NP graduates as they navigate the NP role.

Chris is a Family Nurse Practitioner and a leader in healthcare clinical and operations and the current Executive Director of Performance Management, Ambulatory Services at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA.  

Chris served 2-terms as MCNP President and under her dynamic and visionary leadership, helped transform the MCNP through a period of tremendous organizational growth and restructuring. 

Chris is finishing a DNP/MBA program at Johns Hopkins University and is excited to remain engaged as an MCNP volunteer and mentor our incoming Board members in her capacity as Director at Large.

Cyndi is a Family Nurse Practitioner at the VA Health System in Springfield, MA and has been a dedicated volunteer of the MCNP, having served 2 terms as Vice President and as long term Regional Representative of the Pioneer Valley Region, where she worked to promote what has become one of the most active regional groups in the state.

Cyndi is Adjunct Faculty in the FNP Program at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and has been a highly regarded preceptor for countless students, having been the recipient of the MCNP Exceptional Preceptor Award on an almost annual basis. 

Cyndi is excited to continue in her role as MCNP Director at Large to continue to advance the mission of the MCNP and mentor our incoming Directors. 

Stephanie has been an active member and tireless leader of the MCNP for more than 10 years, having served in diverse roles including President, Past-President, Legislative Co-Chair and State Legislative Policy Director. Stephanie was instrumental in the writing, filing and advancement of MCNPs Full Practice Legislation.

Stephanie is a Watson Scholar and Caritas Coach and an independent consultant for the ANCC acting in the capacity of Magnet Appraiser with key roles advancing practice, professional development and quality.

After returning in 2022 from Miami where she served for 2-years as Associate Chief Nurse Executive at the University of Miami Health System, Stephanie recently embarked on the next chapter of her executive nursing leadership career as President of Nightingale Solutions for Nightingale College in Utah.  

Catherine (Cathy) has been a Nurse Practitioner since 1992 and an active member of the Massachusetts Coalition of Nurse Practitioners (MCNP) for more than 25 years. She was a founding member of the Metro South Region of the MCNP and played an integral role in uniting the regions of the MCNP in its early years.

Cathy has held the elected offices of Treasurer and Corresponding Secretary and as a member of the Legislative Steering Committee and Co-Chair of the MCNP Legislative Committee helped lead legislative efforts to pass legislation for full practice authority for NPs in Massachusetts. 

Cathy is a board-certified Adult Nurse Practitioner and in 2020 became the first Executive Director of the MCNP after leaving her most recent clinical position at UMass Medical Center in Worcester where she provided specialty care in an outpatient Pulmonary and Sleep Clinic.

Stacy has been a member of the MCNP team since 2018, initially as Director of Operations and more recently as Director of Finance. In both of these roles Stacy has worked tirelessly to streamline MCNP business and financial operations and put systems in place to ensure the MCNP functions as efficiently as possible. With more than 25 years’ experience, Stacy possesses an innate knowledge of the specific needs of an organization and what is required for an organization to run smoothly and successfully.

Stacy is an ardent supporter of the NP profession and has been committed to increasing the visibility of the organization.  She has been instrumental in establishing important partnering relationships with other professional organizations. Stacy holds a B.S. in Business Management-Finance from the University of Massachusetts.

Elaina has been a member of the MCNP team since 2019 and in her role as Regional Program Coordinator has worked with our regional representatives to plan pharmaceutical sponsored MCNP education and networking programs throughout the state - including countless virtual programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elaina has also supported MCNP programming and conference appearances and in 2023 will be leading our conference sponsorship efforts as Conference Exhibitor Manager.