The Department of Pediatrics Instructor Recognition Program aims to recognize instructor/senior instructor faculty who are making substantive contributions to the university above and beyond their primarily clinical roles. Currently in a pilot phase, the program has three specific aims:
- To recognize the depth of expertise and accomplishment across three different domains (Clinical Practice Development, Education and Research) and two levels of recognition (Expert and Senior Expert).
- To provide opportunities for professional growth and recognition throughout a faculty member’s career.
- To provide structure that facilitates mentorship pairing.
The department’s Instructor Recognition Committee has completed its review of applicants for recognition in 2026 and is pleased to announce its selection:
Senior Expert in Clinical Practice Development
Katie Ganser, PA
Instructor, Section of Critical Care Medicine
Katie’s work promoting inclusion and belonging, identifying barriers to equitable care, and advancing health equity in the PICU has had a tangible and lasting impact. Her leadership of the Spanish Interpreter quality improvement initiative fundamentally changed how the PICU partners with Spanish-speaking families and contributed to a broader culture shift toward more equitable, family-centered care. In parallel, she has demonstrated a deep commitment to improving the PICU work environment for all team members. Her work on the faculty experience team has been invaluable in addressing complex cultural challenges with the goals of improving retention, fostering resiliency and ultimately improving patient outcomes. She now serves in the PICU as Director of Health Opportunity and Professional Engagement (HOPE).
Stacey R. Gundry, PA-C
Senior Instructor, Section of Critical Care Medicine
Stacey is the co-lead of the APP Simulation Subcommittee within the Advanced Practice Council. She has played a pivotal role in advancing procedural education and credentialing development for APPs across departments. She has helped design and implement multidisciplinary procedural workshops in partnership with simulation lab staff, established standardized documentation for procedural competency, and collaborated with operational and educational leadership to align training with clinical needs. These initiatives have strengthened procedural competency, expanded scope-of-practice support, and enhanced patient safety across the institution.
Jenn Griffin, MS, RN, CPNP-PC, CPON
Senior Instructor, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders (CCBD)
Jenn is currently a co-lead on the CCBD’s initiative using atraumatic spinal needles, and is leading a project to convert more of our patients to doing their LPs unsedated. She is an active member of the PEG asparaginase committee which has done several PDSA cycles to optimize how we give PEG to decrease infusion and anaphylactic reactions. In addition, she has been actively involved in defining and optimizing SOC for blinatumomab infusions, including beacon order sets and infusion guidelines, which has improved the safety of ordering and infusing this medication. She was a key participant in a closed loop insulin pump project which contributed to data for Children’s Oncology Group and their initiation of a similar project at a national level.
Angelina Koehler, CPNP, MSN, MA
Senior Instructor, Section of Child Neurology
Angelina is highly regarded locally and nationally as a leader in pediatric headache management. She independently conceptualized and launched a specialized Biofeedback Clinic – the only such clinic in the country led by a neurology provider with expertise in headache management – which offers non-pharmacologic treatment options for children suffering from migraines. Additionally, she developed the Multidisciplinary Headache and Dysautonomia (HADA) Clinic, providing comprehensive care for complex headache disorders and autonomic dysregulation. She also streamlined procedures for treating chronic migraine and status migrainosus, such as Botox, nerve blocks, trigger point injections, and sphenopalatine ganglion blocks. She developed evidence-based pathways to treat status migrainosus which have been implemented across the entire hospital setting. Additionally, she collaborated with the Acute Pain Service to create the ketamine treatment protocol for CCBD and inpatient admissions.
Paige Kowalski, PA-C
Senior Instructor, Section of Cardiology
In addition to her clinical role in the Cardiology Cath Lab, Paige has demonstrated exceptional leadership as Pulmonary Vein Stenosis Program Coordinator. She leads multidisciplinary care conferences, advances clinical standardization and safety initiatives, and has authored and implemented protocols that improve patient care. She has also contributed to outcome tracking and shared her work nationally. Beyond her clinical and programmatic contributions, Paige has developed meaningful family-centered support initiatives, including parent support groups, an online community and an annual family event. Her sustained leadership, innovation and dedication to patients and families clearly exceed expectations and make her highly deserving of this recognition.
Bethany Diamond Primeaux, DNP, CPNP, MESS
Senior Instructor, Section of Cardiology
Bethany has contributed significantly to improving safety within the interventional cardiology program. She has shaped error prevention practices, strengthened pre procedure communication and developed clear pathways linking the ICU, cardiology teams, cardiac anesthesia and the cath lab. Bethany played a central role in building the procedural framework that supports the most complex congenital and structural interventions. She has led the development of detailed, procedure-specific pre catheterization checklists that have markedly improved readiness, reduced omissions and standardized communication across our multidisciplinary teams. In parallel, she has designed and implemented sedation risk stratification protocols that have strengthened decision making and mitigated peri procedural risk for our highest acuity patients.
Expert in Clinical Practice Development
Stacy Parmenter, PA-C
Senior Instructor, Section of Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation
Stacy has demonstrated excellence beyond her clinical responsibilities through significant contributions in teaching, training, leadership and quality improvement. Her efforts have been recognized through awards including Children's Hospital Colorado Provider of the Month and the Patient-Family Experience Inpatient Provider Excellence Award. She serves numerous leadership and committee roles, including documentation efficiency and consistency coordinator, and contributes to multiple institutional initiatives focused on clinical quality and patient care. Stacy has also participated in research activities that further advance the field. Her sustained contributions and commitment to excellence make her highly deserving of this recognition.
Senior Expert in Education
Gregg Kobak, MD
Senior Instructor, Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
Gregg developed and championed an educational program in the Digestive Health Institute called Core GI. He recognized a lack of attending level education in general pediatric gastroenterology and set out to design a program providing lectures, discussions and a forum to bring the section up to date on evidenced-based medicine. This program has been a huge success and has received "rave reviews" from GI providers. In addition to the extensive work he has done with the Core GI project, Gregg serves as a project lead for providing education to the DHI APPs.
Cameron McFarland, MSN, FNP-C
Senior Instructor, Section of Emergency Medicine
Cameron has demonstrated strong educational leadership through the development and ongoing improvement of APP onboarding, implementation of problem-based and simulation-based learning, and consistent mentorship of students, fellows and APP colleagues. Additional contributions include monthly case-based teaching, participation in the ED Case Review Committee, reflective practice initiatives and involvement in hiring and onboarding processes.
Senior Expert in Research
Brenna McGinn, MSN, CPNP-AC
Senior Instructor, Section of Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation
Brenna exceeds the domain criteria through her role as principal investigator on an IRB-approved study and by securing external research funding. In addition, she has contributed as a manuscript reviewer, achieved national recognition for her work, and disseminated her research through multiple presentations. Most notably, Brenna has demonstrated a strong commitment to advancing APP scholarship by actively engaging APPs in research initiatives both within our institution and at the national level. Her sustained contributions to research, mentorship and professional advancement make her highly deserving of this recognition.
Kami Wolfe Schneider, EdD, MS, CGC
Senior Instructor, Sections of Clinical Genetics and Metabolism & Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation
Kami has demonstrated meaningful contributions across all six domains of scholarship. Her record includes 45 peer-reviewed publications, with six first-author and 10 senior-author manuscripts, several of which were published within the past two years. She has served as PI or co-PI on multiple externally funded research projects, presented her work at regional, national and international meetings, and contributed significant professional service through her roles as a board member and section editor for the Journal of Genetic Counseling, as well as participation on multiple NSGC guideline committees. Kami was recently selected to receive a University of Colorado Systems President’s Inclusive Excellence Award Grant in support of her research.
