Dr. Jackie Rowles, an original member of Sharon's CRNA Fab Four, is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist and Board-Certified Adult Nurse Practitioner who is also board certified as a Non-Surgical Pain Management specialist. She is well-known leader and educator within the US and at the international level for her expertise in pain management and advocacy efforts to increase access to surgical care. Dr. Rowles is a sought-out speaker for nursing and interdisciplinary events.
Rowles is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice and Director of the Advanced Pain Management Fellowship in the Texas Christian University School of Nurse Anesthesia. Dr. Rowles was instrumental in starting, and strengthening, pain management specialty training for CRNAs, including founding the first CRNA interventional pain management cadaver course in 2005, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists advanced pain management seminar series (2008-2018), a post master’s certificate in advanced pain management (2012) which became an accredited Fellowship in Advanced Pain Management (2014), and an item writer for the board certification examination in Non-Surgical Pain Management (NSPM) instituted in 2015. Dr. Rowles serves as chair of the AANA’s Nonsurgical Pain Management Committee.
Serving as an AANA spokesperson for pain management, Dr. Rowles has been featured and quoted in pain management articles printed in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. She has provided expert testimony before the FDA, state boards of nursing, and state legislative, regulatory, and judicial pain management hearings. Rowles was chosen to serve the country as a member of the 2013-15 National Institute of Health/Health and Human Services National Pain Strategy Team.
Rowles has a passion for strengthening global nurse anesthesiology. In 2010, she was selected to serve as the AANA’s representative to the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists as the US Country Representative. She is well known on the global level for her advocacy efforts in increasing access to quality, timely surgical care. Currently serving in her sixth term as President of the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists, Dr. Rowles is a former president, and interim CEO, of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology. She is Vice-Chair of the United Nations SURGhub content committee, co-chair of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Advanced Practice Nursing Health Policy Subcommittee and a member of the World Federation of Societies Anaesthesiologist global manpower workforce committee which recently published an updated workforce article in Anesthesia and Analgesia in July 2024 and also received the A&A's Editors' Choice Award for best article published in 2024. She is an author and co-editor of the IFNA history book The Global Voice for Nurse Anesthesia: The International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists (2021), ICN’s APN Guidelines: Nurse Anesthetist (2021), ICN’s book Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Anesthetists: Evolution of the Global Roles (2023). Moreover, she is a contributing author to the soon to be published ICN APN Toolkit (and is currently co-editor of the upcoming ICN book Clinical Autonomy for Advanced Practice Nurses: A Global View.
Dr. Rowles serves as a member of the Ball State University College of Health Advisory Council and was honored to have been selected a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 2013. Dr. Rowles is the recipient of numerous leadership and service awards including the 1999 Ball State University Outstanding Nursing Alumni award, 2005 AANA Alice Magaw Outstanding Clinical Practitioner award, 2009 Outstanding Hoosier Gubernatorial award, 2012 AANA Agatha Hodgins award for Outstanding Accomplishment, the 2018 International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists Hermi Lohnert award for Outstanding Global Leadership and Education, the 2022 AANA Foundation’s Rita L. LeBlanc Philanthropist of the Year, and the 2024 inaugural Visionary in Medical Education Award from Concierge Health International. Rowles was inducted into the inaugural class of American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology Fellows (FAANA) in 2021.
Rowles completed her DNP degree at Barry University, MBA at Memphis State University, MA at University of Missouri Kansas City and Bachelor’s in Nursing at Ball State University as well as her post master's certificate as an Adult Nurse Practitioner. Her hobbies are golf, reading, and travel. She loves to spend time with her husband Kevin, daughters Jamie and Kelsey – and especially her two grandchildren Sydney (9) and Wyatt (6).