AIS Course Faculty
Kathy Cookman, BS, CSTR, CAISS, EMT-P, FMNP
International Technical Coordinator
Kathy has been involved in the trauma for over thirty-five years in various capacities from pre-hospital, emergency department patient care, trauma data management, performance improvement, and injury prevention. She has a Bachelor of Science in Health Management, is the founder and past-president of the Alliance of Ohio Trauma Registrars (AOTR), the founder and past chairman of the Trauma Registrar Council of the American Trauma Society (ATS), is the CEO of KJ Trauma Consulting, LLC an ICD-10-CM/PCS instructor, CEO of KJ & JC Enterprises, LLC, recently achieved Florida Master Naturalist through the University of Florida and holds membership in various organizations and associations including AAAM, AHIMA, AOTR, ATD, ATS, FWC, STSA, and STN. She has published articles and presented several papers on a variety of trauma-related topics.
Kathy has been AIS faculty since 2003 and is currently the International Technical Coordinator/AIS Course Director. She lives in Florida with her husband John and their two Labradoodles (Bella and Tiller).
Amy Brammer, MSN, RN, TSN, CEN, CSTR, CAISS
Amy earned her Master of Science in Nursing from Lindenwood University, St. Charles, MO, and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo. Amy is a member of the Society of Trauma Nurses, Emergency Nurses Association, and the American Trauma Society. She has over twenty-seven years of nursing experience, most of those spent caring for trauma patients throughout the care continuum. Amy is currently the Trauma Program Director at Kaiser Foundation Hospitals in Vacaville, California.
Amy has been AIS faculty since 2014 and is currently the Chair of the AIS Certification Board. She has two certifications in trauma and emergency care and two certifications in trauma registry.
Maureen Brennan, CHIM, PMP, CAISS
Maureen has been involved in the health information management field for over twenty years working across all general health information areas, specializing in trauma. She has a diploma in HIM as well as a Master Certificate in Project Management, Carleton University. She has been actively promoting the importance of high quality/accurate data through various means including the Trauma Association of Canada (TAC) where she helped to develop the National Trauma Registry Data Dictionary, co-founder and past Chair of the Trauma Registry Information Specialists of Canada (TRISC), co-chair of the National Trauma Registry Advisory Council (NTRAC), and member of the Ontario Trauma Advisory Committee (OTAC) and Performance Measurement subcommittee.
Maureen has been AIS faculty since 1998 and is currently responsible for the development and management of metadata, training, quality assurance, technical coding specialist and the development of the T6® discovery process.
Kathryn Loftis, Ph.D., MS, CAISS
Dr. Loftis earned her Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2007. She received her Master of Science degree (2009) and Doctorate of Philosophy (2013) in Biomedical Engineering from the joint Center for Injury Biomechanics at Wake Forest University and Virginia Tech, with a specialty in Injury Biomechanics. Her work has included motor vehicle crash injury research (previously working within the Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network ‘CIREN’ program), soldier survivability (with Army Research Laboratory and the Joint Trauma Analysis and Prevention of Injury in Combat ‘JTAPIC’ program), and injury causation.
Kathryn has been AIS faculty since 2014 and is currently an injury biomechanics researcher in Maryland.
Waqar Malik, MBBS, MPH, CAISS
Dr. Malik has a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree along with a Master of Public Health. His work has included motor vehicle crash injury research working within the Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network ‘CIREN’ program.
Waqar has been AIS faculty since 2014 and is currently a Research Scientist at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Donna Nayduch, RN, MSN, ACNP, TCRN, CAISS
Donna has a Master of Science in Nursing, is an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, Forensic Nurse Specialist, as well as a Trauma Certified nurse. She has a vast background of trauma care and consulting all across the United States as well as internationally with several presentations, publications of her own as well as having provided peer review for research publications.
Donna has been AIS faculty since 1998 and is currently the Assistant Vice President of Trauma, North Florida Division, HCA as well as faculty at the University South Florida School of Nursing.
Mary Rotert, RN, MS, CAISS
Mary has been involved in trauma care for several years in the role of Trauma Program Manager as well as Research Consultant for the Washington State Department of Health, EMS & Trauma Systems. Her goal has been to share her knowledge while elevating the recognition of trauma registrars through enhanced skill and education.
Mary has been AIS faculty since 2001 and currently enjoys her dogs, sewing, and gardening at her home in Washington State.
Sara Sochor, MS, CST, CTBS, CAISS
Sara holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Biology (concentration in human anatomy) a NBSTSA Certified Surgical Technologist (CST) which, paired with previous university-level laboratory and teaching experience, allows her to effectively manage all aspects of the cadaveric material handling for the Center for Applied Biomechanics at the University of Virginia. She is responsible for cadaveric specimen acquisition, storage, inventory maintenance, preparation, testing, autopsy and final disposition. Her specialized skills include instrumentation of Post Mortem Human Subjects for experimental testing and data capture, radiological imaging interpretation, post-test autopsy examinations/dissections to identify injury and documentation/coding of injuries and injury severity using AIS.
Sara has been AIS faculty since 2015 and is currently the Anatomical Donations Coordinator for the University of Virginia’s Center for Applied Biomechanics and a Medicolegal Death Investigator for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.ate.