Michelle Camicia, PhD RN CRRN CCM NEA-BC FARN FAHA FAAN

HeartMath® Trainer
WCSI Caritas Coach®
KP CCEP Faculty Volunteer


Michelle Camicia, PhD RN CRRN CCM NEA-BC FARN FAHA FAAN has an exceptional rehabilitation nursing career spanning over 30 years. Dr. Camicia is a Watson Caring Science Institute Caritas Coach®, Certified HearthMath® Trainer, and Healing Circles Healthcare facilitator. She actively mentors other nurse leaders in studying the impact of Caring Science and other approaches on nursing practice. Her leadership in practice and research developing and implementing innovative interventions has improved care coordination, and equitable care for individuals with disabilities (IWD) and their caregivers.

She has disseminated her work through numerous policy papers, peer reviewed manuscripts, and book chapters. As an advisory board member of the National Institutes of Health National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR), Dr. Camicia secured family caregiving as a focus in NCMRR’s Strategic Plan. She has served on numerous national boards/expert panels, and as an international accreditation surveyor for Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) International. Her leadership with the American Heart Association (AHA) and Association of Rehabilitation Nurses (ARN), including past president, provides venues to strengthen nursing and equitable care delivery for individuals with disabilities regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Dr. Camicia is a transformational leader and has been recognized by many awards, including the Kaiser Permanente Exemplary Nurse Leader of the Year award (2020). The ARN has recognized her with the President’s Award (2020), Distinguished Service Award (2012), and Doctoral-Prepared Nurse Researcher (2020) awards. The ARN White Paper on The Essential Role of the Rehabilitation Nurse in Facilitating Care Transition received the ARN Article of the Year (2014). Dr. Camicia’s work on the Preparedness Assessment for the Transition Home (PATH) has been recognized by the American Heart/Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Stroke in 2020 with the Stroke Article of the Year (Camicia, et al., 2020). The PATH has been translated into 6 languages and is used across the globe. Further, the PATH was deemed exemplary by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program and by CARF International.

Dr. Camicia has received numerous research grants, most recently a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a mobile health app using the PATH instrument to improve family caregivers’ transition home. She co-developed a global rehabilitation nursing certification program to advance nursing practice worldwide. Dr. Camicia earned a BSN from San Francisco State University, MSN from Sonoma State University, and PhD from the University of California-Davis.