Dr. Christy Torkildson is the Program Lead for the MSN – Public Health Nursing and the Health Care Quality and Patient Safety programs in the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions. She holds a Ph.D. in Family Nursing and Health Policy with a minor in Education from the University of California, San Francisco, an MSN in Administration and Education from the University of Phoenix, and her BSN from the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida. Dr. Torkildson is a certified Pet Therapist and holds two post-graduate certificates in Ethics, Healthcare Ethics from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio and Pediatric Bioethics from Children’s Mercy and the University of Missouri, Kansas City. She previously taught various undergraduate and graduate level classes (Fundamentals, Leadership, Community/Public Health, Pediatrics, Maternal-Child Health, Ethics, Palliative, and End-of-Life Care, Organizational Leadership and Quality Improvement) at the University of California San Francisco, California State University East Bay, Unitek College, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, and Capella University. She is a volunteer Ethics Consultant at Banner University Medical Center – Phoenix. Dr. Torkildson previously held positions as Dean of Nursing and Chief Academic Officer. She has over 20 years of experience leading national and state-level efforts to improve access to care for pediatric and adult patients for palliative and hospice care. She was instrumental in the development and implementation of the Pediatric Palliative Care Waiver for the state of California and is Chair and Editor of the Pediatric e-Journal, the longest continuous peer-reviewed publication focused on Pediatric Palliative and Hospice Care in the U. S. Christy was also the founding program director for George Mark Children’s House, the first pediatric palliative and end-of-life care facility in the United States offering transitional, perinatal, pain and symptom management, supportive, end-of-life care and respite for children not expected to live into adulthood. She is the Executive Director of the Children’s Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition of California and co-founder of the Pediatric Palliative Care Coalition of Arizona At GCU, Dr. Torkildson started as an adjunct before becoming an assistant professor in 2020; in 2022, she was promoted to Associate Professor an in 2024 she was promoted to full Professor. In her current role, she is the program lead for the MSN in Health Care Quality and Patient Safety and the MSN in Public Health Nursing programs, where she maintains the success and effectiveness of the program. Additionally, she is the subject matter expert for course development and reviews and serves various other college and university committees. Dr. Torkildson is the current president of Nu Upsilon, the GCU Chapter of the Nursing Honor Society Sigma Theta Tau International. Her research interests include integrating canine-assisted therapy for palliative care patients, the intersection of ethics and palliative care, access to care, interdisciplinary/interprofessional education, integrating palliative care into primary (direct) care, and building community in distance education.