Board of Directors
Candidate For:
Savanna Eileen Suydam
BSN, RN, CEN, SANE-A, PA-SANE
Goal Statement
If selected to serve on the Academy of Forensic Nursing Board of Directors, I hope to support the Academy's mission by strengthening education, mentorship, and scholarship while increasing awareness of the important role forensic nurses play within healthcare systems. I am particularly interested in advancing research related to strangulation assessment, promoting sustainable forensic nursing program development, and helping healthcare administrators better understand the value forensic nurses bring to patient care. My long-term goal is to help ensure that every patient affected by violence has timely access to high-quality forensic nursing services, regardless of where they seek care.
Biography
Savanna Suydam is a forensic and emergency nurse leader whose work focuses on improving care for patients affected by violence through education, collaboration, research, and systems development. She currently serves as Trauma and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Coordinator for MacNeal Hospital, where she leads regional forensic nursing initiatives, trauma quality improvement, staff education, and multidisciplinary program development.
Throughout her career, Savanna has been driven by a simple belief: every patient deserves access to high-quality forensic nursing care, regardless of where they seek treatment. That belief has shaped her work creating Loyola Medicine's regional 24-hour Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program, developing evidence-based documentation resources, and founding the Western Cook County Sexual Assault Response Team, which brings together hospitals, law enforcement, advocacy organizations, EMS, and community partners to improve coordinated care for survivors of violence.
Although leadership has become a significant part of her career, Savanna remains committed to bedside practice and continues to provide direct patient care as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner. She believes staying clinically active strengthens her ability to lead, teach, and develop programs that remain practical for the nurses delivering care every day.
Education has become one of the most rewarding aspects of her professional life. She enjoys teaching because she values watching learners gain confidence and seeing difficult concepts finally click. She regularly provides education for nurses, resident physicians, law enforcement, advocates, and multidisciplinary teams through Grand Rounds, regional conferences, mock forensic examinations, and continuing education programs. She believes investing in people is one of the most meaningful ways to strengthen the profession.
Savanna is also committed to advancing forensic nursing through scholarship. She is currently pursuing her Doctor of Nursing Practice at Loyola University Chicago, where her research focuses on improving the assessment of strangulation injuries through thermography. She hopes her work will contribute to earlier recognition of injury and improve care for survivors while expanding the evidence supporting forensic nursing practice.
Professionally, Savanna has earned board certification in emergency nursing and adult/adolescent forensic nursing and holds numerous trauma and emergency certifications. She currently serves on the Academy of Forensic Nursing's Strangulation Course & Skills Development Subcommittee and has been selected to participate in the Human Trafficking Response Subcommittee. She is also an item writer for the International Association of Forensic Nurses certification examination and actively contributes to regional trauma and forensic initiatives. These roles reflect her commitment to lifelong learning and service to the profession.
As forensic nursing continues to evolve, Savanna hopes to help expand access to forensic nursing programs, strengthen multidisciplinary collaboration, support emerging forensic nurse leaders, and translate research into meaningful improvements in patient care. She believes the future of forensic nursing depends not only on caring for individual patients but also on building sustainable systems that allow every community to benefit from the expertise forensic nurses provide.