WOCNext 2026

Dr. Windy Cole is a highly experienced podiatrist and wound care specialist, having practiced in Northeast Ohio for over twenty-five years. She holds the position of adjunct professor and serves as the Director of Wound Care Research at Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine. Dr. Cole is double board certified by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery and the American Board of Wound Management. Furthermore, she is a board member of the American College of Clinical Wound Specialists and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. For over two decades, Dr. Cole has been a dedicated advocate for wound care, with her professional interests encompassing medical education, diabetic foot care, wound management, limb salvage, and clinical research.

Dr. Laura Swoboda is a translational scientist and family nurse practitioner in Milwaukee WI. Dr Swoboda chairs the Health Equity task force for the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care, the terminology group for the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel's Prophylactic Dressings Standards Initiatize task force, and co-chairs the patient and community education committee for the American Heart Association's PAD Collab. They represent North America as a delegate on the International Skintear Advisory Panel. Dr. Swoboda has achieved two professional lifetime achievement awards under the age of forty as a fellow of both the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the inaugural class of fellows for the Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society.

Michael Ryan Abern, M.D., is an American Board of Urology certified surgeon and Associate Professor and Division Chief of Urologic Oncology at Duke University, where he specializes in the surgical and multidisciplinary management of bladder and other genitourinary cancers. He also serves as Co-Lead of the Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers and Director of the Society of Urologic Oncology–accredited fellowship at Duke, training future leaders in complex oncologic care, including radical cystectomy and advanced management of high-risk bladder cancer. ​ Dr. Abern’s academic focus centers on improving outcomes in bladder cancer through better detection, risk stratification, and perioperative therapy. He has published extensively on intravesical chemotherapy, bladder cancer urinary biomarkers, and urine-based methylation assays, and serves as a bladder cancer panelist for the NCCN Guidelines, helping define national standards of care.

Cindy Miller Mikolajczyk has been a Registered Nurse since 1978. Clinically, Cindy worked in the O.R., PACU and ICUs for 14 years. In 1992, she joined KCI as a Clinical Consultant and has steadily held roles of increasing responsibility in Sales, Marketing, New Product Innovation, Research and Development and Customer Education. Cindy has been a leader in NPWT since V.A.C. ® Therapy’s launch in 1995 and was instrumental in launching V.A.C. ® Therapy in Japan and China, educating internal teams and lecturing at major universities across those countries. Known for taking complex subjects and breaking them down into simple to understand concepts, Cindy is now the Global Lead, Clinical Intelligence for Solventum. She leads and supports medical and clinical strategic insight for Advanced Wound Care as well as the Negative Pressure Wound Therapy portfolios from development to commercialization. Cindy’s passion for Solventum’s products, our solutions and our patients are evident to all who hear her speak.

Laurie McNichol is a Clinical Nurse Specialist and Wound Ostomy and Continence Advanced Practice Nurse in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her career as a WOC Nurse has focused on the prevention and treatment of pressure injuries, the care of the ostomy patient, incontinence-associated dermatitis, and medical adhesive related skin injuries (MARSI). She co-edited the first and second editions of the WOCN Society’s core curriculum textbook on wound care. Ms. McNichol has published widely and has lectured both nationally and internationally. Laurie is a past president of the WOCN and a past president of the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and was inducted into to the Inaugural Class of Fellows for the WOCN Society in 2023. In 2017, Laurie was the Magnet Nurse of the Year® for New Knowledge, Innovations and Improvements.

Emily Greenstein is a Certified Adult-Geriatric Nurse Practitioner and Certified Wound and Ostomy Nurse. She obtained her BSN for Jamestown University and MSN for Maryville University. She currently is employed by Essentia Health in Fargo, ND. She is the President for the North Central Region Wound, Ostomy, Continence Nursing Society. Emily is also on the Board of Directors for the American College of Clinical Wound Specialists.

Colleen Drolshagen, BSN, RN,APRN, CWOCN is a board-certified wound, ostomy, and continence (WOC) nurse with more than 35 years of experience caring for individuals with complex wound, ostomy and continence needs across both acute care and outpatient settings. Throughout her career, she has been passionate about advancing clinical practice, education, and patient outcomes. Colleen has had numerous opportunities to speak internationally and to serve in volunteer leadership roles within her professional organizations. She has held several key positions with the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Certification Board (WOCNCB), including serving on the exam committee, chairing that committee, and most recently contributing to the exam preparation committee. In addition, she has served the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses (WOCN) Society as Director-at-Large and Treasurer. She was also a long-standing member of the National Conference Planning Committee and served as its Chair for four years. Currently, Colleen is a Principal Clinical Scientist in the Global Clinical Affairs Research department at Hollister. In this role, she continues her commitment to supporting individuals with ostomy and continence needs, now on a global scale, by contributing science-driven evidence that supports positive clinical outcomes and enhances quality of life.

Amanda Eltz works as a nurse practitioner with the Duke Surgical Oncology Colorectal division. Prior to this, she served as a Wound, Ostomy, Continence nurse for 8 years. Her career has mainly focused on the care of ostomy patients, running an outpatient ostomy clinic before moving into her APP role. Her DNP quality improvement project focused on dehydration in the ileostomy patient and was instrumental in improving patient postoperative outcomes in her current role. She has authored and co-authored wound and ostomy related manuscripts. Her favorite pastime is spending time with her granddaughters.

Dr. Defante graduated with a Ph.D. in Polymer Science at the University of Akron in 2016. He has experience in academic roles, working at government agencies and is currently a Sr. Lead Scientist at Hollister Inc. At Hollister, Dr. Defante has enabled the development of a University Academic Ecosystem where he leverages his technical expertise to innovate new products concepts, scout for new technologies, and mentor students to solve real world problems.. In his spare time, he films episodes of Chemists in the Kitchen, an effort led by LabX of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Robert Hollis is a colorectal surgeon within the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He completed general surgery training at UAB and a colorectal surgery fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Hollis has clinical expertise in the management of colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, pelvic floor disorders, and anorectal disorders. He has particular interests in hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes and directs the UAB Hereditary Gastrointestinal Cancer Registry. The research that Dr. Hollis performs addresses health inequities by developing and implementing effective interventions. He has a specific focus on improving outcomes and transitions of care for patients with a new ostomy. Additional research interests include improving outcomes of patients with hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes.