Meet Pittsburgh Chapter Leadership
Stephanie Kress, BSN, RN, CMSRN
President
Stephanie’s nursing career has spanned 25 years after obtaining her BSN at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. She began in medical cardiology at a university-based medical center and after 7 years, transferred into a clinician position for the thoracic surgery department where she became medical/surgical certified. Since 2006, she has worked as a critical care float RN at a large community hospital. Stephanie has been in independent practice as an LNC since 2009, specializing in medical malpractice. She also serves as a member and volunteer for Western Pa Wounded Warriors and as a CPR instructor in the community. She has enjoyed planning our chapter’s special events and dinner and her time as editor of our newsletter, The LiNC. She is so grateful for the wonderful experience of serving on the board as Director at Large in 2016-17, President in 2018 & 2024 and Secretary/Treasurer 2021-24.
Audrey Lalli, RN, BSN, CRRN
Secretary/Treasurer
I graduated from WVU School of Nursing with a BSN and began my nursing career in May of 1978, working in Med-Surg. Enjoying the experiences nursing can expose one to, I then switched to Cardiac Care/Step-Down, Orthopedics, Substitute School Nursing, Home Care and finally Rehabilitation Nursing. I have remained in Rehabilitation 32 years, obtaining my CRRN. I presently am the Director of Quality and Risk Management after being a Nurse Manager there for over 12 years, on a unit specializing in Spinal Cord Injury. The unit did have patients with other diagnoses as well. I have had other management roles during my years at Harmarville (first named HealthSouth and now a name change to Encompass), such as being Interim Chief Nursing Officer for several months and being an active participant in helping to establish policies and procedures based on best practices. My consulting career began in 2011. I review both plaintiff and defense cases with almost a 50% case mix. I have been deposed approximately 25 times and to trial twice. I find expert work very interesting and rewarding. It actually makes my primary job more tolerable at times! I served on the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Chapter from 2014 to 2017, being a Past President in 2016. I was honored to be nominated for the Board and I will be honored to serve again.
Diane Mead, RN, BSN, ACC
Director at Large
Diane Mead, RN, BSN, ACC, started her healthcare career 35 years ago as a Registered Nurse and worked her way up the corporate ladder to become the NE Division Vice President for the nation’s largest hospice provider. Diane left corporate America in 2004 to fulfill her goal of caring for those in her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and founded Bethany Hospice and Palliative Care in 2005. Bethany Hospice has been voted “Best Places to Work” in Pennsylvania by its employees 13 times and maintains a 20 year stellar DOH record. She also founded the RN Leadership Academy and speaks nationally on the topic of leadership. Voted one of the Top 50 Business Women in Pennsylvania, Diane holds a BSN and a Professional Coaching Certification from Duquesne University. She is currently a member of LIFE Pittsburgh’s Professional Advisory Board, Duquesne University School of Nursing Professional Advisory Board, and the AALNC Pittsburgh Chapter Board as a Director at Large and has served as President in 2017.
Becki Kelton, RN, MSN
Director At Large
Becki Kelton has over 24 years of experience in nursing and healthcare. She received her nursing degree in 1998 and went on to obtain her master's in nursing education and leadership from Carlow University in 2019. Becki continued her education by completing a certificate course in legal nurse consulting at the University of South Carolina Aiken in 2022. Her clinical background includes adult trauma step down, pediatrics (intensive care, emergency room and same day surgery), skilled/long-term care, and hepatology. For the past 11+years, she has been working in transplant case management and contract negotiations for Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurance. Becki is the founder of Upstate Legal Nurse Consulting specializing in medical malpractice, personal injury, and healthcare fraud cases. Becki has written a chapter in Pay Iyer's second volume book on medical record analysis for attorneys, which is due out next month. She is passionate about legal nurse consulting and feels blessed to be a part of the AALNC Pittsburgh Chapter.
Pamela Borello, BSN, BS, RN, CNOR, CNAMB, CSSM(e)
Director at Large
My entire professional career has been in the perioperative area, first as a Surgical Technologist and then as an RN CNOR. I recently completed my BSN and consider myself a lifelong learner. My LNC work over the past 2 years is as an independent TE, and I am looking forward to obtaining work as a subcontractor. I continue to work full-time in the operating room as a travel RN and interim clinical manager, am active in my local AORN chapter in Michigan as a past president and current board of director member, and am progressing deliberately through the AALNC professional course. My interest in Legal Nurse Consulting has led me to join the national AALNC organization, as well as three chapters. I served AALNC as a volunteer on the 2023 Program Committee for Forum, and am currently on the AALNC Education Committee, reviewing new modules for the updated AALNC Professional Course due out soon, and am participating with the Pittsburgh Chapter as a new DAL. I look forward to working with and getting to know the entire Pittsburgh chapter membership!
Denise Harvey, BSN, RN, MedSurg-BC
Director At Large
Denise’s nursing career has spanned over 35 years, first as an LPN for Minneapolis Children’s Hospital in home care, while obtaining her RN degree. During that time frame, she also volunteered as a nurse for the American Red Cross in their Disaster Services Division. From there, she moved on as a dialysis nurse for DaVita Dialysis in free standing clinics, where initially she performed float charge nurse duties before settling in one permanent clinic and did dialysis nursing for a total of 9 years. Since then, and for the past 20 years, she has been at a rural community hospital in the medical-surgical department where she works also in ICU and charge nurse and helps the infusion services/chemotherapy department on occasion. She obtained her BSN in 2016 from Moorhead State University and has recently become board certified in medical-surgical nursing. Denise is now in independent practice as an LNC since 2024 as an expert witness, reviewing plaintiff and defense cases, with about a 50% case mix, and is looking forward to doing some behind-the-scenes work and sub-contracting as she is learning about other roles she can fulfill as an LNC. She is a member of both the national AALNC and the Pittsburgh chapter of AALNC and is excited to embrace a new opportunity as a Director at Large for the Pittsburgh chapter of AALNC.
Danielle Baker, MSN, RN, LCP-C
Director at Large
Danielle joins us from Columbiana, Ohio where she is a Care Manager for an insurance company. She brings over a decade of inpatient and telephonic experience. She specializes in nurse management, geriatrics, cardiac and pulmonary step-down, med-surg, orthopedic, Medicare and informatics. Danielle completed her MSN with a focus in Nursing Informatics in 2021. In addition to this, she completed AALNC'S LNC Professional Course in June 2023 and is excited to use her expertise to subcontract with other LNCs and serve future attorney clients. Danielle has been actively engaged with both our national organization's and Pittsburgh Chapter's events and education and is excited to join the Board of Directors in January 2025. She recently completed the Life Care Planning Course through FIG and became certified. Danielle currently does work with attorneys in New York and Ohio but is interested in growing her practice further.
Membership Benefits
Benefits of Pittsburgh Chapter Membership
Membership Requirements
Become A Member of the Pittsburgh Chapter
RN membership may be granted to any registered nurse who maintains active licensure in the U.S. or is recognized by the International Counsel of Nurses as a professional nurse, who practices in or is interested in the practice of legal nurse consulting. Membership of our national organization, American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants is a requirement before joining our local chapter. See aalnc.org for more information. All new applicants who join after June 1st will be granted an extended membership through December of the following year as an incentive for those who join late in the current membership year.
Non-RN membership may be granted to individuals with an interest in the goals and activities of the AALNC- Pittsburgh Chapter.
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