Meet Pittsburgh Chapter Leadership
Stephanie Kress, BSN, RN, CMSRN
President
Stephanie’s nursing career has spanned 30 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, Inc. and as a CPR instructor in the community. She has enjoyed planning our chapter’s special events and her time as website manager. She is so grateful for the wonderful experience of serving on the board as Director at Large in 2016-17, Secretary/Treasurer 2021-24 and as President in 2018, 2024, & 2025.
Danielle Baker, MSN, RN, LCP-C
Secretary/Treasurer- President Elect
Danielle joins us from Medina, Ohio where she works as a Care Manager for an insurance company and as an independent contractor legal nurse consultant. She also serves as a Life Care Planner with LCP-Pro, providing comprehensive future care planning services. Danielle brings over a decade of inpatient and telephonic experience, specializing in nurse management, geriatrics, cardiac and pulmonary step-down, medical-surgical, orthopedic care, Medicare and informatics.
Danielle completed her Master of Science in Nursing with a focus in Nursing Informatics in 2021 and went on to complete the AALNC Legal Nurse Consultant Professional Course in June 2023. Danielle also completed the Life Care Planning Course through FIG and became certified. She has been actively engaged with both national and Pittsburgh Chapter events and educational offerings, has served on the Board of Directors since January 2025 and is President Elect for 2027.
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.
Dr. Beth Brant, APRN, CPNP-PC, NCSN-E, MCP-C, LNCC
Director At Large
Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Beth Brant obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1997. She continued her education by completing a School Nurse certification, a Master of Science in Nursing and a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner program, a post-master's certification in Nursing Education, a post-master's certification in Nursing Administration, and finally a Doctor of Nursing Practice in 2014. She is also a certified medical cost projection specialist and a certified Legal Nurse Consultant. Throughout her nursing career, Beth has worked in various positions, including pediatric primary care office, pediatric home health, and school nurse, as well as multiple units in an adult hospital, such as medical-surgical, colorectal, urology, surgical stepdown, cardiac progressive care, open-heart stepdown, and administration. She also worked as a clinical instructor for traditional bachelor's and second-degree accelerated programs. In addition to her LNC business, she currently works as a Forensic Nurse Examiner for an 8- facility hospital system in Columbus, Ohio. Beth is the founder of Brant Legal Nurse Consultants and works as both a testifying expert and behind the scenes. While she works on many types of cases, her LNC business has an emphasis on forensic and criminal cases. She has been married to her husband and fellow nurse, Jason, for 19 years and has two dogs, Archie and Eddie. She is an avid Ohio State Buckeyes and Green Bay Packers fan and travel fanatic.
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.
Karen Vacca, BSN, RN
Director at Large
Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Karen Vacca earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2012. While in nursing school, she began her career as a CNA on a medical-surgical oncology unit in Chicago. After obtaining her nursing license, she became an RN on the same unit. In 2014, she moved to Reno, Nevada, to start her career as an OR nurse at a level II trauma hospital. There, she gained experience in various specialties, including open-heart surgery, TAVR and TMVR procedures, neurosurgery, orthopedics, vascular surgery, robotic surgery, urology, plastic surgery, trauma surgery, and general surgery. She is part of the heart and neuro teams within the department. When new hires are trained in the OR, she precepts them during their neurosurgery rotation. In 2023, Karen completed her LNC course and founded Vacca Consulting, LLC. In 2024, she attended her first forum through AALNC and began working as an expert witness and subcontractor for other LNCs. Since then, she has actively participated in both the national organization and local chapters. Karen is currently a Director at Large for the Pittsburgh Chapter. Karen has been able to integrate her expert witness experience into her hospital practice. She actively participates in committees and presents within her department about how documentation impacts legal outcomes. Her biggest supporters are her husband and two children. They have 2 dogs and 2 cats and are passionate about the Chicago Bears and Notre Dame football.
Pam Cupec, MS, BSN, ONC, CRRN, ACM-RN
Education Director
Pam Cupec has a nursing career that began over 40 years ago after graduating with a BSN from the University of Pittsburgh, including a Masters in Human Resource Management from La Roche College, and certifications in Orthopaedic Nursing, Rehabilitation Nursing, and Case Management.
Her areas of practice included orthopaedic nursing in inpatient, outpatient, acute inpatient rehabilitation, and in roles as bedside, clinician, program director, unit director, and in case management. These Pittsburgh based facilities included Allegheny General Hospital, Harmarville Rehabilitation Center, UPMC Southside, and UPMC St. Margaret’s. She also was the orthopaedic nurse navigator and program coordinator in the Center of Excellence for Hip and Knee at UPMC Passavant. Currently, Pam is an Expert Discharge Plan Manager at UPMC Presbyterian on a neuro trauma unit.
Professionally, Pam is active in the National Association of Orthopaedic Nurses (NAON) and has held many roles in that organization, including local chapter president multiple times, several national committee positions including education and chapter advisory team, and was honored to serve on the NAON Board as Director and then as the 34th President of NAON. She has served on the Education Committee numerous years, and in the process of co-authoring an online orthopaedic nursing course. She has extensive experience in presenting locally and nationally, as well as authoring chapters in orthopaedic nursing educational materials.
Pam also is an active member of the local chapter of the ACMA, the American Case Management Association, where she is currently a member of the education committee. Roles with ACMA include education committee chair, and as a local and national speaker.
Her experience as a Legal Nurse Consultant has been as an independent expert witness since 2012, focusing on medical malpractice. She has been a member of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the AALNC for several years, and is honored to serve as the Education Director. Belonging to AALNC has provided much ongoing educational offerings and valuable mentoring, networking, and collegiality.
Dr. Linda Fowler, DrPH, RN, NHA
Member Outreach Director
Dr. Fowler is licensed as a Registered Nurse as well as a Nursing Home Administrator in Pennsylvania. She has a Diploma in Nursing, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), a Master’s in Public Health (MPH), and a Doctorate in Public Health (DrPH). Her RN diploma is from Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, Pittsburgh, PA. All three (3) degrees are from the University of Pittsburgh. By virtue of her education, experience and training, she is familiar with the rules, regulations, standards of care and practice for reasonable and prudent care of adult persons in health care facilities. She has over fifty (50) years of healthcare and nursing practice experience and more than forty (40) years of progressive healthcare management experience in acute care, personal care and long-term care.
She joined AALNC/Pittsburgh Chapter in 1991. This chapter has played a significant role in her LNC development through the interactions with seasoned LNCs, the educational opportunities, the volunteering to assist in various roles the chapter needed as well as the friendships she has made. The Business Directory has provided her “business” as she knows that attorneys looking for experts utilize our business directory and feels that your membership dues are paid back to you many times over.
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.
Online Payment
Pay By Check