Rowena Curva has been appointed director for the Linda Grunin Simulation Lab and Learning Center, an innovative partnership between Monmouth University and Monmouth Medical Center, the organizations announced.
The Simulation Lab and Learning Center, located at Monmouth Corporate Park in West Long Branch, provides state-of-the-art training to Monmouth Medical Center’s resident physicians and medical students, Monmouth University nursing, physician assistant, occupational therapy and students from other disciplines. It also is a valuable resource to the community for training first responders, including local EMT and firefighters.
Curva, who began this new role last month, joins the Simulation Lab and Learning Center from the School of Nursing at Rutgers University, where she has worked as a clinical learning facilitator in the Center for Clinical Learning since 2015.
Ann Marie Mauro, dean of the Marjorie K. Unterberg School of Nursing and Health Studies at Monmouth University, praised Curva.
“Over the past six years, Rowena has implemented and integrated simulation-based learning experiences in curricula for traditional and second-degree and graduate-level advanced practice nursing programs as well as interprofessional simulations for medical, dental, pharmacy, social work and physical therapy students,” she said.
“Her extensive experience includes working with all levels of simulators and equipment, standardized patients and objective structured clinical exams. During the shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, she delivered high quality, remote learning simulation experiences.”
Dr. Joseph Jaeger, chief academic officer for Monmouth Medical Center, noted that Curva also has expertise and a strong interest in global health.
“Rowena has collaborated with the University of Dodoma School of Nursing in Tanzania to build faculty capacity by creating and implementing a faculty training program in simulation-based learning for integration into their curriculum,” he said. “She has also delivered simulation-based disaster-preparedness training for the Japanese Tomodachi Johnson & Johnson Nurse Training Program.”
Curva earned her B.A. in television and media arts from Rutgers University, her B.S. in nursing and M.S. in nursing for family nurse practitioners from the former UMDNJ School of Nursing (now Rutgers). She is a Ph.D. in nursing candidate at Rutgers School of Nursing and is currently collecting data for her dissertation research examining simulation debriefing practices and facilitator perspectives in the New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania tri-state area.
