Our Team
Drs. Kathy Casey and Regina Fink have collaborated for the last three decades to improve the role transition experiences of nurses. In 2019, Dr. Chia-Lin Tsai joined the team as Statistical Research Specialist to conduct the complex data analytic procedures.
Kathy Casey, PhD, RN, NPD-BC FAAN
Kathy Casey, PhD, RN, NPD-BC is certified in Nursing Professional Development. She has designed and coordinated Nurse Residency Programs which focus on supporting and retaining newly graduated nurses as they transition into professional nursing practice. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado, College of Nursing, and Affiliate Faculty at Colorado Christian University. Kathy is also an ANCC PTAP Residency Program lead appraiser.
Kathy has multiple publications and given national presentations on nurse residency program development. She authored an NLN book chapter on Evaluation of Education Programs in Practice Settings and has podcasts on the Use of Survey Data to Measure Program Outcomes.
In March 2023, she received the Marlene Kramer Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Nursing Professional Development, Board of Directors. In April 2023, she was selected to join the ANA Research Advisory Council.
She received her BSN from Pacific Lutheran University, her MSN from the University of Colorado, College of Nursing, and her PhD in Nursing Education from the University of Northern Colorado, School of Nursing.
Regina M. Fink, PhD, APRN, AOCN, CHPN, FAAN
Dr. Fink is an advanced practice nurse and Professor Emerita in the Department of Medicine and College of Nursing and faculty for the Interprofessional Graduate Palliative Care Certificate and Master of Science in Palliative Care Programs at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
Previously, she has worked as an oncology and pain clinical nurse specialist and a research nurse scientist at University of Colorado Hospital, where she mentored nurses and other professionals on evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and research projects. While employed at the University of Colorado Hospital Authority and in collaboration with Dr. Kathy Casey, her research endeavors include the development and testing of an instrument (Casey-Fink Graduate Nurse Experience) to measure graduate nurse transition into clinical practice. Dr. Fink also developed an instrument to measure readiness for practice (Casey-Fink Readiness for Practice Survey) and nurse retention (Revised Casey-Fink Nurse Retention Survey).
Other clinical innovations have included the development of a nationally distributed pain assessment guide (WILDA), equianalgesic reference card, and pain assessment DVD to hospitals, hospices, and home care agency staff. She has specific expertise in key research areas including quantitative and qualitative analysis, instrument development, survey research, focus groups, and secondary data analysis. A national and international lecturer on pain, oncology, palliative care, and EBP with multiple peer-reviewed publications and books, she has focused her 45+ year career on caring for persons with cancer and pain.
Research grants include: “Improving Pain Management in Nursing Homes,” “Improving Palliative Care Outcomes for Latinos with Advanced Cancer and Serious Life-Limiting Illness, including Dementia,” “Improving Advance Care Planning in Colorado.”
She conducted a palliative care needs assessment in rural Rocky Mountain hospitals, replicating this work in 15 Middle Eastern countries. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She received her BSN from Villanova University and earned a MS and PhD in Nursing from the University of Colorado, College of Nursing.
Chia-Lin Tsai, Ph.D
Chia-Lin Tsai, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Applied Statistics and Research Methods at the University of Northern Colorado. Her research areas include psychometric studies and applying latent variable modeling in education research. Originally from Taiwan, she has been at UNC since 2017. In her spare time, Chia-Lin enjoys gardening and spending time with family.
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