Cynthia M. LaFond serves as Senior Director for Nursing Research for Ascension Health, where she leads a team of nurse scientists who generate and translate evidence that informs the care of patients across 2,600 sites, including 139 hospitals and 40 post-acute facilities. As a practice-based researcher, Dr. LaFond has committed her career to promoting safe, effective, equitable, and patient-centered care across the lifespan. She has designed and led novel multi-site research and translated evidence into practice regionally, nationally, and internationally. She led the creation of Department of Public Health vaccine pain management education for parents and authored national pediatric pain curricula. To confront disparities, she directed adoption of skin tone measurement into the longest-standing international pressure injury prevalence study and implemented training at 93 facilities for nurses to identify early pressure injuries in individuals with dark skin tones and to collect skin tone data accurately and sensitively. Dr. LaFond currently leading research investigating whether individuals with dark skin tones are at risk for delayed pressure injury detection and is applying big-data analytics for patient fall prevention. Dr. LaFond completed her BSN from the University of Iowa, PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and postdoctoral research fellowship from the University of Iowa.