Dr. Abby Hess (Winterberg), APRN, DNP, is a nurse practitioner and clinical researcher at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She began her career at Cincinnati Children’s as a research assistant in 2005. She has worked in the perioperative department since 2009, initially as an RN in the post-anesthesia care unit and subsequently as an APRN in the pre-anesthesia consultation clinic. Upon receiving the Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree from the University of Cincinnati in 2015, Dr. Hess worked with senior leadership to create a new dual-role combining patient care as a Nurse Practitioner with clinical research. Her research focuses on development and testing of evidence-based digital health solutions for reduction of pediatric preoperative anxiety.

Select achievements include:

• Principal investigator on 8 research/innovation grants
• 1st place in the research poster competition at the International Conference of Perianesthesia Nurses, Sydney, Australia, 2017
• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Young Professional of the Year, 2018 (runner-up)
• Inventor on a US Patent application
• Integration of the clinical tool developed during her doctoral program (Child Induction Behavioral Assessment tool) into the foundation system of the electronic medical record, Epic
• American Nurses Association/Beckton Dickinson Innovation Award, 2019 (honorable mention)
• Aspen Ideas: Health Festival, Global Voices Scholar & Speaker, 2019
• Johnson & Johnson Nurses Innovate QuickFire Challenge awardee, 2019
• Chair of the American Nurses Association’s Innovation Advisory Committee – technology & devices, 2021