Flourishing in the Fray: Courage, Connection, Culture Change

Highlights from the 2026 KNN Conference

How do we navigate continuous change and complexity with integrity while keeping humanity at the center? The recent 2026 KNN Conference hosted in Pasadena, California, from September 30 through October 2, 2026, gathered participants from leading academic health centers, medical and health professions schools, and other healthcare organizations to engage that question. 

With a theme of Flourishing in the Fray: Courage, Connection, Culture Change, the KNN’s fifth annual conference recognized the ongoing changes and challenges affecting healthcare and higher education while focusing on cultivating agency, hope, and collective action. More than 300 individuals registered, reflecting the growing interprofessional reach of the KNN movement and a shared commitment to advancing flourishing across the health ecosystem. Registrants represented medicine, nursing, advanced practice, mental health, healthcare administration and staff, allied health professions, basic science, graduate health programs, pharmacy, and biomedical engineering. 

United by a Shared Aspiration 

The aspiration of advancing flourishing in health by integrating the interconnected elements of character, caring, and practical wisdom resonates strongly, as underscored not only by overall attendance but also by strong representation from three Host City Partners:

• Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine (KPSOM);   

• The Keck School of Medicine of USC; and   

• The University of California, Riverside School of Medicine.

These KNN partner organizations contributed to the conference experience and brought the essence and uniqueness of the region to life. Throughout the conference, senior leaders from each organization shared why being a KNN Catalyst Organization partner has been meaningful and touched on the importance of enduring relationships, attending to and meeting needs, leading with character, and creating cultures of possibility where systems change can take root. Their presence and sentiments reflected the depth of support and influence that the movement is gaining.

The conference agenda also included a combination of learning experiences, opportunities for reflective practice, and arts and humanities engagements—with each day intentionally designed to support participants in shaping cultures and systems of flourishing. 

Building Relationships and Capacities 

Wednesday celebrated the power of bringing together varied voices and strengthened the capacities needed to shift norms and cultures. Facilitated by Joëlle Worm, MPA, the opening panel Breaking Down Silos: Transformative Interprofessional Approaches explored the unique ways that health organizations are meaningfully advancing interprofessional efforts, including insights from KNN partners and other national efforts to further interprofessional practice and education: 

• Christine Arenson, MD, FNAP, the Director of the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education and Professor, Family Medicine and Community Health, at the University of Minnesota.  

• Robin Mutz, MPPM, BSN, RNC, NEA-BC, the Executive Director of the Center for Interprofessional Engagement and Simulation and Professor of Practice for the Inman College of Nursing at Belmont University.  

• Jennifer Timm, DNP, RN, PHN, Director of the Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Questions from the audience demonstrated high interest in interprofessional approaches and strategies for building support and overcoming barriers, advocating for more meaningful approaches, engaging learners, and strengthening team dynamics in practice. From there, a choice of nine different capacity-building sessions supported development at multiple levels: self, team and environment, and systems and culture.

Those formally engaged with the KNN as members or partners then walked to a lively reception hosted at KPSOM, where the evening centered on deepening connections. Through an arts-based reflection, attendees were invited to closely observe a painting, share stories of care, and connect with someone they had not yet met.

The activity created space for participants to bring more of themselves into connection with one another, fostering empathy and inviting wholeness. Its impact extended beyond the evening, with several attendees sharing plans to adapt the experience with colleagues at their own institutions. (Read more about the reception and other engagements in the KPSOM Newsroom.) 

Leading and Influencing at All Levels 

Thursday focused on what systems change requires of us individually and collectively. KNN Founding Director Cheryl A. Maurana, PhD, reflected on the “moral maze” (Jackall, 1988; 2010) that leaders find themselves navigating in today’s climate and the ways in which flourishing-centered reflective inquiry and seeking intellectual joy can buoy us and support ethical discernment at multiple levels. 

A thought-provoking main stage session featured Elena Antonacopoulou, PhD, MA, Professor of Management, AUB Mediterraneo and Founder, GNOSIS Institute, and was facilitated by Scott Parsons, PhD, Founding Executive Director, Institute for Character and Leadership at Fairleigh Dickinson University. 

Drs. Antonacopoulou and Parsons first encouraged participants to consider the nature of what it means to be human. From there, the dialogue explored the role of emplacement and stance-taking in deepening our understanding of ourselves and others and in translating our convictions into purposeful action to make an impact in the systems we inhabit.

Both speakers also contributed chapters to Leadership for Flourishing. Interested in reading more about this work as part of the KNN Book Club launching January 5, 2027? Sign up to be notified when registration opens.

From there, the movement’s reach revealed itself, with a full day examining the work happening nationwide through a choice of: 

• 14 Oral Presentation slots that curated 40 peer-reviewed abstracts by thematic grouping.  

• Learner-led efforts highlighted in 4 Student Voices Panels reflecting 18 abstracts.  

• Research and innovations shared in a Poster Symposium with nearly 40 displays. 

Together, these sessions illuminated the rigor of undertakings and the ways in which the KNN Framework is inspiring new approaches and serving as a unifying lens for efforts within a variety of healthcare settings. 

From Insight to Action 

Friday focused on transforming insight into practical action, creating a structured experience to help participants process lessons from all the sessions attended, conversations held, and ideas generated throughout the three days together. The morning kicked off with a Spark Session with Brian Park, MD, MPH, Director of RELATE Lab, and Matthew Lewis, PhD, MTS, Director of Programs for RELATE Lab at the Oregon Health & Science University. The session explored how the meaning we make from our lived experiences can become transformational when shared with others through story. Attendees were invited to consider the power of stories to deepen connection, inspire renewal, and help positively shape the cultures and systems we create together. Following the Spark Session, attendees had the opportunity to participate in one of four Synthesis Sessions focused on meaning-making, systems thinking, and action planning to ensure the relationships and ideas formed during the conference would endure.

The closing session Collective Momentum: Moving Forward with Intention lifted up learner voices as a reminder of why we do this work: not only for ourselves but for patients, communities, colleagues, and the next generation of healthcare professionals. A musical performance from Andrea Yeung, a fourth-year medical student at KPSOM, set an energetic tone. Jenny Hegland of The Good Listening Project (TGLP) introduced two residents who have participated in Listener-Poet session via TGLP. These rising health professionals, Drs. Avi Singh and Yenifer Aponte, shared the poems inspired by their experiences and reflections as resident physicians inside and outside the clinical environment.  
 
During the closing, KNN National Director for Strategy and Partnerships, Kimara Ellefson, MBA, EdD, invited conference participants to inform future directions of the movement to advance human flourishing by sharing one idea for expanding the depth and breadth of collective action over the years to come.

Champions for Change 

While post-conference evaluation is ongoing, the responses so far affirm the power of relationships and community. When asked about their most important takeaways from the experience, participants emphasized connection, inspiration, and intention in responses such as: 

• Connection, shared ideas, seeing the advancement of scholarship in this space. 

• The combination of meaningful relationships, practical learning, and space for reflection. 

• Meeting inspiring people doing inspiring work. 

• How many opportunities there [were] to interact with others, and how everyone was so thoughtful with their work. 

The movement to advance flourishing in health continues to mature, with a strong base of participants championing and stewarding projects, programs, and practices that contribute to healthier culture and systems change.

Looking Ahead Together

Next year’s KNN Conference will celebrate 10 years of collective progress advancing human flourishing and envision what comes next. Save the date and plan to join us in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from September 15-17, 2027. 

Sign up here to be notified when the call for submissions and registration open.