Your Chapter Board

President: Marlischa Hall

Dr. Hall is a former United States Air Force Nurse Corps commissioned officer with 13 years of active-duty service and more than 20 years of nursing experience. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her Doctorate in Nursing from the University of Incarnate Word Nursing School in San Antonio, Texas. She is a board-certified family nurse practitioner and the owner of Pediatric Heroes and Families Primary Care Clinic in San Antonio. Pediatric nurse practitioners play a major role in promoting wellness and ensuring that health goals are fairly and evenly distributed within society. Her mission is to continue promoting community involvement and building partnerships so children can receive optimal care at multiple levels.

President-elect: Kathy Parke, DNP-CPNP

Kathy has been a pediatric nurse practitioner since 2001. She was a founding member of the South Texas Alamo Chapter of NAPNAP and is delighted to serve on the board again, working alongside fellow PNPs to help the local chapter continue to grow. She spent 12 years in private practice caring for children with pulmonary diseases. Since 2013, she has been on faculty at UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, where she serves as the pediatric nurse practitioner track coordinator and co-director of the DNP program. She enjoys working with future PNP students and takes pride in seeing them grow into their new roles. She also practices in a school-based clinic one day a week, primarily caring for adolescent patients with a variety of conditions, including mental health concerns.

Immediate Past President: Sheri Sowa APRN, CPNP-PC

Sheri has been a nurse since 1999 and a pediatric nurse practitioner since 2017. She has served on the local NAPNAP board as legislative chair. Sheri works in an outpatient primary care clinic.

Treasurer: Leslie Dupont, MSN, BSN, FNP-C

Leslie has been a family nurse practitioner practicing in pediatrics for six years and a nurse for over 20 years. She is currently in the DNP program at Texas A&M and is expected to graduate December 2024. She served as a nurse in the US Navy for five years. She is the current legislative ambassador for TNP. She is passionate about healthcare legislation and will always be an advocate for nurses and nurse practitioners.

Membership Chair: Amanda B. Loquias, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC

Amanda has been a nurse practitioner for 20 years. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Texas at El Paso and began her nursing career in the Air Force, where she gained experience in pediatric nursing. She has long known she wanted to care for children and their families. She earned her master’s degree in nursing from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. She works with the Trauma and Emergency Surgery division at UT Health San Antonio in the Pediatric and Burn Program. Her work has fostered a strong commitment to pediatric injury prevention.

CE Chair: Stephania Galindo, APRN, CPNP-PC

Stephania has been a primary care pediatric nurse practitioner for more than four years and currently works in school-based health in San Antonio, Texas. She is a member of NAPNAP’s School-Based Health Special Interest Group and the Promoting Unity and Leading Toward Strategic Excellence Committee. She has also collaborated with NAPNAP to address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy by helping create resources for providers, patients and families on the NAPNAP website, including Spanish-language translations. She partnered with NAPNAP and Moderna to educate patients, families and providers about vaccine hesitancy and presented those findings at the 2025 NAPNAP National Conference in Chicago. Stephania is passionate about providing education not only to patients and their families but also to other health care providers. She aims to eliminate health disparities for all children, particularly those facing barriers to care due to language differences.

Legislative Chair: Julia Gaffney, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC

Julia earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of New Mexico in 2009 and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 2024. Since October 2024, she has worked as a pediatric nurse practitioner in a primary care clinic.

Communications & Social Media Chair: Mary E.Von Heiland, CPNP

Mary has been a pediatric nurse since 2007. She graduated summa cum laude from the pediatric nurse practitioner program at Texas Tech University in 2014. Shortly after, she joined the Division of Trauma and Emergency Surgery at UT Health San Antonio’s Pediatric Trauma and Burn Program, where she has worked for 10 years as of May. She is dedicated to caring for a diverse population of children and has devoted her career to promoting health and safety for young patients. A member of STACNAPNAP since 2015, she will soon take on her first board role as communications and social chair and hopes it will be the start of continued service.
Secretary Christina Rodriguez  
Communications Chair and Social Media Chair Mary E. von Heiland CPNP