Board of Directors

Michael is the Program Director for Advanced Practice Fellowships at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where he also practices clinically as a Nurse Practitioner in Traumatology & Surgical Critical Care.  He is a course director for Fundamentals of Critical Care Support offered by the Society of Critical Care Medicine.  He is active in the national curriculum committee for the Fundamentals of Critical Care Support and serves on the Fundamentals of Critical Care Support, Surgical Task Force.  In his role as a multidisciplinary educator he makes extensive use of high fidelity simulation.  He has presented locally and nationally on various topics surrounding the delivery of critical care, critical care education, and high fidelity simulation.  Michael completed his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from La Salle University in 2004.  He completed his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005 and his Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania in 2007. 

Alex earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing at the University of Arkansas in 2015. She started her career in the Intensive Care Unit in Dallas, working for the Baylor Scott and White Healthcare System. She continued to work in the ICU setting between Texas and Arkansas while working to obtain her Doctorate of Nursing Practice with Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner specialty. After graduating with her DNP in 2019, she moved to Kentucky to pursue a post-graduate fellowship in Critical Care at the University of Kentucky Medical Center.

Alex continues her work at UK with the Anesthesia Critical Care team, in various ICU settings, and is currently the Fellowship Director for UK’s Critical Care Advanced Practice Provider Fellowship. She also currently serves as the Co-Director of UK’s APP Fellowship/Residency Council. After her formative experience in a post-graduate fellowship, she has found a passion in post-graduate education and advocacy, along with program development.

Shannon Gaasch is a Senior Nurse Practitioner specializing in trauma and critical care at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland Medical Center. With over a decade of experience, she provides advanced clinical management for complex ICU patients and co-coordinates the Advanced Practice Provider Critical Care Fellowship, focusing on education, mentorship, and program development. Her professional interests include APP education, interdisciplinary collaboration, and quality improvement in critical care.