APANP 2026 Conference - Shaping the Future of Healthcare: Empowering Excellence Collaboratively

Kelly Freeman is a board-certified adult/geriatric primary care nurse practitioner and the Director of Workforce Development at the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Previous roles include lieutenant in the United States Navy Nurse Corps, case manager, wound consultant, legal nurse consultant, adult/geriatric primary care NP, and university faculty. She attended the University of Nebraska as an undergraduate and received a Master’s degree as a primary care geriatric nurse practitioner at Indiana University. She holds two post-graduate certificates from Indiana University in public health and nursing education and is a Ph.D. candidate in Health Policy. She has co-authored four book chapters and has co-written publications on lifestyle medicine reimbursement, shared medical appointments, provider burnout, well-being, and cost savings. She is both a Diplomate and Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

Jennifer Carlquist PA-C ER CAQ is a PA of over 17 years. She works full time in Inpatient Cardiology and has previously worked in the ER and outpatient cardiology. SHe also served as a 911 paramedic for 13 years. She speaks nationally on cardiology related topics and ekgs. She is the co-founder of the Cardiology Fundamentals Mentorship for new providers and she also has heart themed art showing internationally.

Bre Garbas, DHSc, PA-C is an associate professor in the Doctor of Medical Science Bridge Program. She became a full-time member of the program in June 2025 after serving as an adjunct faculty in the capstone course for two years. In her current role, she chairs the curriculum committee and has teaching responsibilities in DMS Bridge courses as well as mentorship of capstone students. She maintains a role in program committees for assessment and admissions. Dr. Garbas has been a PA since 2005 and initially practiced in private OB-GYN before transitioning to a federally qualified healthcare center family medical group. She maintained a GYN service within this practice. She currently practices in family medicine and gynecology via direct primary care and free clinic service and continues to precept students. She began her PA educational career in 2016 with the University of Florida's PA program and continued there until becoming Director of Academic Education with West Coast University before joining the DMS Bridge Program in 2025. Dr. Garbas has a Master of Physician Assistant Studies from the Medical University of South Carolina and a Doctorate of Health Science from Nova Southeastern University. Her research interests include factors impacting student success in PA education, remediation, and rural/underserved health areas. She is an experienced presenter with the American Academy of Physician Associates as well as many state organizations and delivers workshops impacting reproductive health annually. When not at work, Bre can be found outside as she lives in northern Florida in a town where the cows outnumber the people. She prefers running over other forms of transportation and any activity involving water.

Polina Makedonsky, MSN, APRN, FNP-C is a board-certified Nurse Practitioner with 15 years of experience in Family and Emergency Medicine. She relocated to Dallas from San Diego, California two years ago to work for UT Southwestern and currently practices at Parkland Emergency Department. Polina is passionate about lifelong learning, teaching, and advancing clinical excellence among advanced practice providers, as well as increasing medical literacy within the local community. She has served as a guest lecturer, clinical faculty member, and preceptor at University of San Diego DNP program, reflecting her strong commitment to medical education. Polina lives in North Dallas with her husband, four children, and a very content cat, and enjoys her most recent hobby of baking sourdough bread in her free time.

John Manna, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, DipACLM, is a board-certified family nurse practitioner with advanced training and certification in lifestyle medicine. He provides comprehensive, evidence-based care that focuses on treating the root causes of chronic disease rather than simply managing symptoms. As a Diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), Dr. Manna has specialized expertise in helping patients prevent, treat and in many cases reverse lifestyle-related conditions such as obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and more. He has helped to start multiple lifestyle medicine programs and implementing shared medical appointments. He helped to found the AANP lifestyle medicine specialty practice group and continues to publish and present on the field of lifestyle medicine.

Continue to promote Advanced Practice Nursing both on a local and national level. Continue to improve the care of patients with Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators/Pacemakers and patients with Heart Failure Identify factors that impact on nurse practitioner's transtion to practice

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