Leanne Nantais-Smith, PhD RN NNP-BC FAANP
NANN-AP Council Chair
Happy New Year and best wishes for a healthy, peaceful, and productive 2026!
I invite you to read the 2025 By the Numbers report. You will learn about the wonderful accomplishments for 2025. These achievements are a testament to the professional commitment of our members and volunteers, who devote time and energy, in addition to their expertise, to addressing all issues related to the care of our neonatal population. Of note: we welcomed 137 new NANN-AP members, and we had 140 attendees at the Full-Day APRN Summit.
We continue to work on the NANN-AP white paper addressing NNP critical staffing issues. The author group is finalizing their work and its launch is expected by April for this important neonatal practice issue.
Work has started on the APRN Advocacy Toolkit. Many thanks to all the highly qualified and experienced professionals who applied. The two co-leads for this task force reviewed all applications, and three authors were added to the project task force. The group had its first meeting to discuss the structure and content of the Toolkit, and they meet regularly to move this project forward.
We will continue current programs, including our APRN and RN You Should Know. If you have a colleague you want to recognize, share their name, contact information, and a short descriptive paragraph, and send it to [email protected]. It provides an opportunity to officially recognize their hard work.
The NANN-AP Council liaisons are busy representing neonatal APRNs on committees, external task forces, and associations. They keep us informed on all issues related to neonatal healthcare, education, practice, and policy. As a leading neonatal advanced practice organization, we play an invaluable role in finding solutions for the many challenges in neonatal health care. To accomplish our goals, we need all our advanced practice colleagues on our team. Volunteering will allow you to share your experience, expertise, and viewpoints on committees, position papers, and publications aimed at providing safe, evidence-based care to our neonatal patients and families. Volunteering is easy to do. Stay informed on calls for nominations for open positions and author calls for projects. Join us in this challenging work. Be involved in the frontlines; join other talented neonatal professionals in this important work.
Mark your calendars for the NANN 42nd Annual Conference, taking place September 15-18, 2026, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Also, the NANN-AP APRN Summit Task Force is busy planning the all-day APRN-focused preconference. Do not miss this exciting day of discussion and hands-on activities. Although the main conference will also have APRN content, the task force is busy reviewing feedback from last year’s APRN Summit, discussing your ideas and requests, and planning another exciting day of amazing experiences for you.
Our 2025 accomplishments are possible thanks to the hard work of the NANN staff, Board of Directors, NANN-AP Council, and volunteers. My heartfelt and personal thank you to everyone who worked so hard in 2025. I look forward to working with continuing and new members and volunteers on our current projects and new priorities and goals for 2026!
