Nurse Expert & Educator

Rosemary Polomano,

PhD, RN, FAAN

is Professor of Pain Practice at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. She holds a secondary appointment as Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and is a Senior Nurse Scientist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on the impact of pain prevention and treatment strategies on short- and long-term pain outcomes with adult post-surgical patients, military service members and veterans, and cancer patients. Dr. Polomano has co-authored numerous interprofessional and nursing evidence-based guidelines and consensus reports to advance pain care and nursing practice. This includes membership on the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine expert committee on Framing Opioid Prescribing Guidelines for Acute Pain: Developing the Evidence that culminated in a 2020 national Report. She has published over 130 peer reviewed journal articles (including publications related to Mother/Baby practices) and over 35 book chapters in nursing and medical textbooks. She received her BSN and MSN from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD from the University of Maryland School of Nursing. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Hahnemann University in laboratory pain research. 

Physician Senior Project Leader

Lori Christ,

MD

is the Medical Director of the Intensive Care Nursery at HUP, an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and a member of the Division of Neonatology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and she completed a residency in General Pediatrics and a fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is also a graduate of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Improvement Advisor program. In addition to her current administrative role, Dr. Christ oversees quality and patient safety initiatives for well and critically ill newborns at HUP.  Current and past initiatives include: Supporting Premature Infant Nutrition, Reducing Intraventricular Hemorrhage in the Intensive Care Nursery, and implementation of an Early Onset Neonatal Sepsis Risk Calculator at HUP which have been recognized locally at Penn Medicine and disseminated through national presentations and peer-review publications.  Dr. Christ also mentors neonatal-perinatal medicine fellows with an interest in quality improvement, health care innovation, mixed methods research design, and implementation science. She is an active member of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

CEO of Maternity Care Coalition (MCC)

Marianne Fray, MBA, CAEW, CAPM, IOM

is the CEO of Maternity Care Coalition. Throughout her 30+ year career, Marianne has inspired diverse teams to do more together than they could alone. As the daughter of immigrant missionaries from Jamaica, Marianne grew up at a Rescue Mission in North Philadelphia. The Mission served the homeless in North Philadelphia, and it was here that Marianne’s commitment to service was born.  Marianne attended The Shipley School, Temple University, Bryn Mawr College and St. Joseph’s University. She held increasingly responsible positions in Sales, Marketing and Operations in the Publishing, Telecommunications, Consulting, Project Management and Healthcare industries. Marianne also earned multiple Sales Awards and professional credentials in Project Management and Association Executive Management.  Marianne established two successful cross-company industry communities that continue to drive business innovation in the project management and life sciences industries. Marianne also advised Fortune 100 companies on their Diversity and Inclusion practices. She is a Founding Member of a 501 c6 nonprofit organization called Women of Color in the Pharmaceutical Industry (WOCIP). Marianne is an active member of her local church, and serves on board committees for a summer camp program and her neighborhood association. Marianne has 3 adult sons and resides in South Jersey with her husband. She and her husband enjoy traveling the world.