Heather Clark, PhD
Patrick Cornelius, PT, DPT, CCS
Ben Dobson, PT, DPT, MBA
Andrea (Annie) Johnson, APRN, CNP
Brad King, PT, DScPT, MSEd
Richard Oeckler, MD, PhD
Caitlin Polley, PT, DPT, CCS

Emily is a Speech Language Pathologist and acute Speech Pathology lead at Mayo Clinic. She has worked as an SLP for 13 years and has worked at Mayo Clinic for 8 years. She has a special interest in evaluation and treatment of medically complex patients including those with neurologic injury, tracheostomy, and/or ventilator dependence to address communication, cognition, and swallow.  She has worked with teams on a Quality Improvement Project that improved processes for managing patients with tracheostomy and speaking valve in the respiratory care unit. She is currently working with PM&R to apply best practice guidelines for patients with disordered consciousness.

Emily Bodensteiner Schmitt has worked at Mayo Clinic Rochester as an occupational therapist since September 2016, and her career to date has been dedicated to ICU rehab.  She currently serves at the ICU clinical lead OT, and she is a Mayo Clinic Gold Quality fellow. She is actively involved in research, projects, committees, and presentations related to the ICU embedded therapy model, delirium management, and Post-Intensive Care Syndrome. Emily completed her Master of Occupational Therapy degree at the University of Minnesota Rochester in 2016 and her Occupational Therapy Doctorate at University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in 2022.

Ellen Butterfass, OTR/L - Ellen Butterfass is a pediatric Occupational Therapist at Mayo Clinic Hospital - Rochester, Saint Marys Campus. She received her undergraduate degree from the College of St. Catherine. She has more than 19 years of clinical experience working with patients in the PICU, NICU and CVICU and specializes in fragile infant feeding and behavioral feeding. Ellen is also certified in neonatal touch and massage.

Emily Hosfield, MS, CCC-SLP - Emily graduated from the University of the District of Columbia with a M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology in 2013.  She has worked for Mayo Clinic for 9 years. Her clinical work specializes in pediatric aerodigestive and adult swallowing disorders and she currently acts as the clinical coordinator of the pediatric aerodigestive and outpatient adult dysphagia practices. In 2020, she was recognized as an Instructor in Neurology in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.

Darcie Simpson, PT, DPT, PCS - Darcie Simpson, PT, DPT is a pediatric physical therapist with more than 16 years of clinical experience in pediatric acute care at Mayo Clinic.  She earned her master’s in physical therapy from Mayo School of Health Sciences in 2003 and her doctorate in physical therapy from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions in 2015.   She has been a Board-Certified Clinical Specialist in Pediatrics since 2016.  Her areas of specialty include PICU, NICU, and pediatric cardiac ICU.  Since 2016, she has been working collaboratively with an interdisciplinary team of ICU champions to develop and implement PICU Liberation and Early Mobility in our PICU.  She is also involved in clinical education and is a guest lecturer for pediatric acute care at the Mayo School of Health Sciences Program in Physical Therapy.

Mary McCoy, CCLS - Mary McCoy, CCLS, MA is the child life specialist supporting children and families in the pediatric intensive care unit at Mayo Clinic - Rochester. She completed a bachelor’s degree at the University of Minnesota- Rochester in Health Sciences in 2013.  In 2017, she began working as a Certified Child Life Specialist at Mayo Clinic.  Mary completed her Master’s in Applied Child and Adolescent Development with an emphasis on Child Life and a minor in Integrative Therapies from the University of Minnesota in 2021.  She has experience as a CCLS supporting families throughout inpatient and outpatient settings. Most recently she has supported families on General Pediatrics, inpatient physical rehab, and currently the PICU. Mary is passionate about providing family-centered care that emphasizes family-child attachment and play based therapeutic opportunities. 

Maureen Howell, MT-BC - Maureen Howell is a board-certified music therapist (MT-BC) serving inpatient pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic Children’s Center in Rochester, MN. She has a diverse background as a performer, educator and researcher, with master’s degrees in music performance, music psychology and music therapy. Maureen strives to help patients reach their goals through music and connection, as well as coordinate psychosocial and rehabilitative support as a member of the interdisciplinary care team.

Macaila Eick APRN, CNP, ACHPN - Macaila graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, NE and then worked for seven years as a Med/Surg and ICU nurse in Des Moines, IA.  Macaila completed her Master of Science degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner from Drake University in Des Moines and then moved to Rochester to start her NP career at Mayo Clinic.  She spent 15 years with Cardiovascular Surgery, both inpatient and outpatient care, prior to transferring to her current role with Palliative Care.  Macaila has obtained her advanced nurse certificate in hospice and palliative care and is dual certified as a family nurse practitioner. She is a member of their education committee, assists with 2nd and 3rd Mayo Medical School Palliative Care education and enjoys teaching others about Palliative Care. In 2019, she was honored to receive Mayo's Karis award.

Missy Smith, ARPN, CNP - Melissa (Missy) received her BSN from the University of Iowa and completed her Pediatric Nurse Practitioner master’s program at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has been at Mayo Clinic for over 20 years, with 4 years in Pediatric Palliative care. She also has a background in nursing administration, pediatric primary care, emergency medicine, and pediatric intensive care.  Missy’s clinical interests are symptom management and interdisciplinary collaboration with local and regional hospices to support end end-of-life care.  Her research interests are advanced symptom management, Integrative medicine, and pediatric to adult transition of patients with medical complexities.

Lydia Geiszler, MOT, OTR/L - Lydia Geiszler has been an acute care occupational therapist at Mayo Clinic since February of 2017. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Biology from University of Minnesota and her Master of Occupational Therapy from Midwestern University. She has worked in the imbedded therapy models in both the Medical and Cardiovascular Surgical ICUs. Her practice interests include addressing mental health in the ICU, ECMO patients, and delirium management. She also works with the interdisciplinary team of the Mayo Clinic ICU Recovery Program to follow up with ICU patients post-hospitalization.

Casey Schneider, MSOT, OTR/L - Casey Schneider has been an acute care occupational therapist at Mayo Clinic since June of 2019. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitative Medicine and her Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan. She has worked as part of the imbedded therapy team in the Medical Intensive Care Unit since 2020. Her practice interests include addressing respiratory conditions, delirium management, and navigating the challenges of long term patients in the critical care setting.

Jamie Heyliger, Pharm.D. - Jamie graduated Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in 2013 and did a PGY-1 General Practice Residency at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA. Subsequently, she went to the University of Kentucky Children's Hospital to do a PGY-2 Pediatric Residency and graduated in 2015. From there, she began her career as a Pediatric clinical pharmacist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. In 2016, she joined the PICU Operations Committee as the pharmacy liaison and participated in the PICU Liberation initiative, creating a sedation protocol for the ABCDEF bundle. Practice interests include pediatric critical care, sedation, and medication safety.

Shannon Piche, Pharm.D. - Dr. Shannon Piche received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy and completed her general practice and critical care residency training at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She holds board certification in Pharmacotherapy from the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties. She is currently working as a Critical Care Clinical Pharmacist in the Immunocompromised ICU and Post-ICU Recovery Clinic at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Piche’s clinical interests include pulmonary complications of bone marrow transplant, transitions of care following critical illness and management of post intensive care syndrome.

Andrea (Annie) Johnson, APRN, CNP - Annie Johnson joined the staff of Mayo Clinic, Rochester in 2003 and is currently a nurse practitioner in Critical Care. Ms. Johnson developed and is the Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic ICU Recovery Program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. This multidisciplinary program consists of a face-to-face peer support group, an online support group, as well as an outpatient ICU recovery clinic. In addition to her clinical activities, Ms. Johnson is an executive and founding member of the Critical and Acute Illness Recovery Organization (CAIRO). She previously served as the co-chair of SCCMs THRIVE peer support collaborative and brings that experience to her current role as the co-chair of the CAIRO peer support collaborative.  In her off time, Annie enjoys time with her family and exploring a new passion as an amateur watercolorist. She is also anxiously counting down the days until the start of her PhD program later this summer.

Brenda Schiltz, MD, MS, MA, FAAP - Dr. Brenda Schiltz is a pediatric intensivist at Mayo Clinic.   She joined the staff in 2011 after previously working at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, where she also completed residency and fellowship training.  She has a strong interest in post-ICU care of children and families who suffer serious illness.  In addition to her work in the ICU, she is also board certified in hospice and palliative medicine.

Andrea Lehnertz, APRN, CNS, MSN - Andrea has worked at Mayo Clinic for 22 years with 17 of those years in critical care.  During this time, Andrea has been a charge nurse, preceptor, member of the Rapid Response and Code Blue teams, served on unit and institutional committees and participated in numerous quality initiatives.  Andrea’s passion is nursing practice. She enjoys working alongside her phenomenal colleagues, caring for critically ill patients while improving patient outcomes.

Ashley Bailey, RN - Ashley received her BSN from the University of Wisconsin Madison.  She has 14 years of nursing experience with 10 of those as a nurse on the Mayo Clinic Medical/Surgical/Transplant ICU.  Ashley is a preceptor, charge and rapid response nurse on her unit.  She has been involved with her units Coordinating Council and also chaired the Intensive Care Specialty Nursing Practice Committee. 

Tiffany Volk, RN - Tiffany has been a Pediatric ICU nurse for 9yrs, 6yrs at Mayo Clinic.  She is a unit Charge nurse, RRT/Code RN, preceptor for both PICU and Peds Hem/Onc.  Tiffany has special interests in quality improvement and Early Mobility especially in the Pediatric population.

Nanette Matzke, RRT, LRT - Nanette has been a respiratory therapist for 23 years , 19 of those years in peds/ neonatal and also for Mayo One transport speciality teams. She is also part of the peds ICU liberation committee, developmental committee for the NICU.

Melinda Dallavalle, RRT - Melinda has been at Mayo Clinic for 7 years. She graduated from Respiratory school in Maine and moved to Rochester after graduation. At Mayo clinic, Melinda spends a lot of time in the Respiratory Care Unit at Mayo Clinic weaning patients from mechanical ventilation. She is passionate about tracheostomy cares and education to the patient and their families in regard to the trach.

Emily McTate, PhD. LP - Dr. McTate received her PhD from Saint Louis University and completed her post-doctoral fellowship at the Mayo Clinic . She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology, Department of Psychiatry & Psychology at the Mayo Clinic. She also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Pediatrics and serves as the Director of Psychosocial Services for Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. Clinically, she provides psychological evaluations and interventions for patients and families being treated within various pediatric medical specialities both inpatient and outpatient. To-date her research has focused on patient self-management and communications (shared decision-making) with providers specifically for patients who have Sickle Cell Disease. She is also active in DEI efforts across the institution and was accepted as a health equity scholar for the American Psychosocial Oncology Society’s class of 2022 scholars.

Eli Grace, RN - Eli is a psychiatric registered nurse working primarily on Generose 2 East, Acute Psych. Eli completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology from St. John’s University (MN) in 2015. While working on this degree, Eli had the opportunity to intern at The Passage, a homeless shelter in London, U.K. in 2014. He began working as a psychiatric tech on the inpatient adult mental health unit at St. Cloud Hospital shortly after graduation. In this role, Eli ran groups and provided psychiatric education to patients. While working in St. Cloud, Eli completed a bachelor degree in nursing from the College of Saint Scholastic (MN) in 2019. He began working in his current role in Generose in February 2020. Eli also works as a Clinical Liaison RN, which is a new program that began in January 2021. In this role, Eli provides psychiatric education and coping skills for patients with a psychiatric consult on the medical units at Mayo Rochester. This position has given Eli the opportunity to explore mental health care for many different types of people, as opposed to working solely with patients with acute psychiatric disorders. Eli has a passion for increasing mental health awareness and its impact on holistic care of patients.

Paula Hampel, CCLS - Paula Hampel, CCLS is the child life specialist supporting children of adult patients at Mayo Clinic - Rochester. After completing her bachelor’s degree at the University of Missouri in Human Development and Family Studies, with an emphasis in Child Life in 2011, she began working as a Certified Child Life Specialist at the University of Missouri. In this role is where she first experienced supporting children in the adult ICU environments through consults services in various adult ICUs throughout the University. In 2015, she became a child life specialist at Mayo Clinic having experience in the Emergency Department, General Pediatrics, and Pediatric Cardiovascular ICU. She transitioned to solely supporting children of adult patients across both campuses of Mayo Clinic - Rochester in June of 2021. Paula is passionate about supporting children in these environments knowing the direct impact a parent or caregiver’s healthcare experiences can have on a child.

Laurie Mellon, PT, DPT - Laurie earned her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of North Florida in 2013. She has been practicing at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville since 2016, where she holds Instructor level through Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and Science and serves as Team Lead on the Critical Care Rehab Team. Laurie is recognized by the APTA as a Credentialed Clinical Instructor and has hosted several students in the ICU setting.  Her practice interests include Clinical Education, Neuro and Acute Stroke, Transplant Rehabilitation, and Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy in the critical care setting.

Richard Oeckler, MD - Dr. Richard Oeckler is Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Physiology, and Consultant in the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.   Dr. Oeckler’s clinical practice entails critical care medicine. He was a Parker B. Francis fellow in Pulmonary Research, and continues to conduct clinical and translational research in advanced mechanical ventilation including the prevention and treatment of acute lung injury, the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), refractory hypoxemia, and ventilator weaning.

Yu Kawai, MD - Dr. Yu Kawai is an assistant professor at the Mayo Clinic and the Quality Director and an intensivist in the PICU. He completed his residency/fellowship training at the University of Michigan. Nationally, he is a member of the SCCM ICU Liberation Committee. Locally, He is the site-PI for the SCCM Pediatric ICU Liberation Collaborative, is on the Pediatric Delirium Team and the Early Mobility Team, and led the efforts in developing a pediatric delirium bundle and the early mobility program in the PICU.

Jason Rathbun, DPT - Jason was born and raised in the Rochester, MN area. He attended the University of Minnesota where he completed his bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology. Jason completed his Doctorate in Physical Therapy at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO. He has been a physical therapist at Mayo Clinic for 7 years. The past 5 years he has worked in the Work Rehabilitation Center. Jason is a clinical instructor for student physical therapists. He is a certified WorkWell provider. Jason assisted in the research, development, and implementation of the COVID-19 Activity Rehabilitation Program and has been treating post-COVID syndrome patients since the summer of 2020.  

Stephanie Ritter, OTR/ - Stephanie attended the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and received her Bachelors in Occupational Therapy in December of 2000.  She has been at Mayo Clinic since 2001.   She has worked in the areas of general acute care, dysphagia, Pain Rehabilitation Center, acute brain and outpatient cognitive rehab in the brain clinic.  She has been working in the outpatient brain clinic since 2003.  She has presented on the topic of cognitive rehabilitation at several local, state and international conferences.  Since the beginning of the pandemic, she has worked with many patients who are experiencing long term affects from COVID including cognitive difficulties.

Devin Roloff, MBA - Devin Roloff is a Principal Health Systems Engineer in Strategy Consulting Services in Phoenix, Arizona.  He partners with clients to bring an objective consultative perspective to projects by aligning operations with the needs of the patient and organizational priorities.  Devin served in a strategic partnership with the Critical Care Independent Multidisciplinary Program (IMP), working on projects that increased the value of care provided by improving quality and reducing cost through efficiency and standardization of the Critical Care practice. A few highlights are Embedded Early Mobility and Activity in a Mixed Medical/Surgical ICU, Critical Care IMP Master Plan, Automated External Defibrillator Data Extraction, and Physiologic Surveillance Monitoring in General Care.  He served as a member of the Critical Care Clinical Practice Committee, Medical Emergency Response Subcommittee, and Critical Care Quality Subcommittee.

Jessi Strikwerda, PT, DPT - Jessi has been an acute care physical therapist at Mayo Clinic since July of 2017 and has been an acute care supervisor for the Saint Marys practice since March of 2022. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Biology at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, MI and her Doctorate of Physical Therapy at Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences in Rochester, MN. When in patient care, her primary practice area is in the intensive care units. She was a member of the embedded therapy team in the Oncology and Transplant ICU from 2017 to 2022 and the Medical ICU from 2019 to 2022. She greatly values the importance of early mobility in the ICU setting and especially has a passion for patients with oncologic diagnoses. She has been awarded Gold Quality certification by the Mayo Clinic Quality Fellows Program and recently published a case report describing the benefits of collaborative physical and occupational therapy utilized for a patient who experienced a prolonged hospitalization including time in the ICU.

Jillene Chitulangoma, PT, DPT - Jillene Chitulangoma has been a physical therapist at Mayo Clinic Rochester since May 2010 working across all areas of the adult acute care practice. She graduated from the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences with a Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree in 2007. Jillene’s special interest lies with the medically complex/critically ill patients. She has been integrally involved with the development of the embedded ICU therapy model at Mayo Clinic Rochester and has been a member of the embedded therapy team since its origination in 2016. Jillene has presented locally, nationally, and internationally on topics of early mobility, activity, and rehab in the ICU.

Cristina Sisneros OTD, OTR/L - Cristina graduated from Creighton University in 2020 with a doctorate in occupational therapy. She briefly worked at an outpatient pediatric clinic in Nebraska prior to moving to Minnesota for the AOTA Dysphagia Fellowship. She was the Mayo Clinic Rochester AOTA Dysphagia Fellow from 2021-2022. During the fellowship she was immersed in the adult dysphagia practice covering all adult units within the hospital including the ICU. Her interest topics during the fellowship included advocacy, and evidence-based practice for cardiac and transplant populations. Her interest in feeding, eating, and swallowing lead to her new position as a pediatric occupational therapist at Mayo Clinic Rochester where she will continue to address dysphagia in the pediatric population.

Catherine Shonley, M.A., CCC-SLP - Catherine earned her BA in communication sciences and disorders from Northwestern University in 2008, followed by her MA in speech-language-hearing sciences from The University of Minnesota in 2010. She completed her clinical fellowship at Mayo Clinic and has enjoyed the variety of patients and invaluable mentorship of her colleagues ever since. She works with adults primarily focusing on dysphagia arising from neurologic injury and illness, head and neck cancer, and many other etiologies.