The Academy of Forensic Nursing has named Dr. Angelia Trujillo as the organization’s first Education Director. In this role, Trujillo will work to grow AFN’s already expansive educational offerings, including conferences, webinars, bootcamps, and workshops.

Trujillo has chaired the AFN Education Committee since the organization’s inception in 2018. In 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she helped AFN chart new territory in virtual education. “AFN realized that we had a responsibility to support forensic care during the pandemic,” said Trujillo. “So we held our first webinar in March 2020 — which morphed into weekly webinars through 2021. We have been so excited to offer virtual education since that time.”

AFN’s educational offerings focus on forensic nursing practice and contemporary issues, but they also aim to support all members of the interdisciplinary teams that serve those affected by trauma. This can include law enforcement professionals, attorneys, court and judiciary staff, and victim advocates.

“The Academy of Forensic Nursing has provided five years of phenomenal educational offerings and webinars, both live and through our learning management system,” said AFN President Dr. Jennifer Johnson. “Dr. Angelia Trujillo has been an integral part of the growth of the Academy, its imprint of interdisciplinary education, and the development and management of the LMS.”

From the beginning of offering the LMS in 2021, Trujillo said, the demand for flexible online learning options was clear. “Our pilot project was a bootcamp aimed at promoting forensic nursing principles for school nurses,” she recalled. “This was highly successful! We had over 2,500 people sign up for this course in the first year.”

In 2021, AFN was accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) Commission on Accreditation. As of January 2023, all webinars offered on the LMS earn continuing education credits.

Future strategic plans include increasing interdisciplinary training, adding virtual competency-based training opportunities, a 2023 national conference, three regional conferences in 2023, and plans for three regional conferences in 2024.

Outside of AFN, Trujillo is a full professor with the University of Alaska Anchorage School of Nursing, and has worked in the field of interpersonal violence, sexual assault, and public health for approximately 20 years. She currently practices as a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner and has worked with adult, adolescent, and child sexual assault victims as a forensic nurse examiner.

“Dr. Trujillo’s dedication is indispensable in advancing forensic nursing practice,” said Johnson.

To learn more about the Academy of Forensic Nursing’s virtual educational offerings, visit: https://goafn.thinkific.com/

For details about AFN’s lineup of virtual and in-person conferences, go to: https://www.goafn.org/conferences