Meet The Instructors

Brenda Pun, DNP, RN is an advanced practice nurse with a special interest in critical care, who serves as the Director of Data Quality at the Vanderbilt Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS) Center.  Brenda received a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Wheeling Jesuit University, a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. She is involved in a variety of research projects that focus on improving the care and outcomes of critically ill patients and their families. In addition, she is dedicated to helping advance the understanding on how to best translate and implement new evidence into bedside care practices.

Heidi Engel has been a physical therapist for 33 years, working at University of California San Francisco Medical Center for the past 31 years, while also working in private practice and home health settings. She earned her doctorate in Physical Therapy in 2007 from Boston University, with an emphasis in Oncology and Integrative Medicine. Dr Engel started her focus on patients in the ICU at UCSF in October 2008, with formation of the ICU Early Mobility Inter-Professional Group, and initiated full time physical therapy in the Medical Surgical ICU there in March 2010. She received the UCSF Colleague of Nursing Award in 2012, a Presidential Citation from the Society of Critical Care Medicine in 2013, and the American Physical Therapy Association Jack Walker Award for Research Excellence in 2014.

Currently, she works full time in the intensive care units, teaches at the SFSU/UCSF Graduate School of Physical Therapy, and engages in academic programs for the Society of Critical Care Medicine and for the American Delirium Society. Dr Engel is a core member of the APTA sponsored, clinical practice guidelines (CPG) for PT in the ICU group, and she is an appointed member of the steering committee for the Society of Critical Care Medicine ICU Liberation Campaign.

Laura Maples MSN, RN, CCRN-K, the SCCM Northern California Chapter Membership Coordinator, has worked over 30 years in critical care and quality oversight and over a decade in Tele-critical Care. She passionately volunteers on SCCM’s ICU Liberation Committee and its Communications Sub-committee. Inspired by evidence-based practice and research, she works with Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California Regional Quality and Data Analytics Department in Oakland CA.

Dr. Jennifer Walker is a critical care and emergency medicine physician with St Joseph Health Medical Group in Sonoma County.  She is also an adjunct professor at Touro University and a clinical instructor for the Dominican University PA program.  Dr. Walker’s interests include education, ICU liberation, PICS prevention, and sepsis care.  She spends free time volunteering at a community free clinic, coaching a local high school mountain bike team, and finding outdoor adventures.

J. Michael Guthrie, MD was born and raised in Nashville, TN. He completed his undergraduate training at the College of Charleston in, then medical training at the Medical University of South Carolina in 2011. He completed his emergency medicine residency at Mount Sinai in New York City then a critical care fellowship at Ronald Reagan UCLA medical center in Los Angeles. He works as an Intensivist at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach California.