Heather Kooiker
Global Medical Affairs
Caledonia,MI
Summary
Doctoral prepared (DNP) leader in Medical & Scientific Affairs with over 20 years of experience in acute care, perioperative services, and medical technology. Expertise in translating clinical workflows into claims-matrix-driven medical strategies and integrated evidence plans, enhancing compliant content operations to promote the appropriate use of medical device global markets. Proven ability to collaborate cross-functionally with R&D, Regulatory, Quality, Marketing, and Commercial teams to prioritize clinical research initiatives, support regulatory submissions, and deliver scalable education programs (CME/CEU/PMCF), facilitating impactful scientific exchange and vendor-managed execution. A commitment to advancing medical value through strategic insights and innovative solutions drives success in dynamic healthcare environments.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
Work History
Associate Professor of Nursing (Evidence-Based Practice and Research)
Davenport University, College of Professional Health
01.2020 - Current
- Teach evidence-based practice and research; mentor students in rigorous appraisal, translation of evidence into practice change, and outcome measurement.
- Develop curriculum and learning assets that operationalized clinical evidence, quality improvement methods, and patient safety priorities.
- Directed surgical immersion oversight to enhance training effectiveness and procedural accuracy.
- Designed and implemented curriculum to effectively instruct over 100 students on an annual basis.
Medical Director, Global Medical Affairs - Surgical & Acute Care
Baxter International
06.2018 - 12.2025
- Established global medical and scientific strategy for acute care and surgical portfolios.
- Spearheaded cross-functional efforts in research prioritization, establishing clinical workflow requirements and performance endpoints to support regulatory submissions and product development.
- Collaborated with Level I trauma center emergency department to develop a comprehensive clinical study strategy aimed at validating claims and strengthening market positioning.
- Analyzed insights from post-market evidence generation in collaboration with a 50-room ICU and a 100-bed med-surg unit, translating findings into actionable guidance for commercial and medical teams.
- Constructed a strategic framework for evidence generation and clinical launch excellence, focusing on perception studies and educational integration through advanced learning platforms.
- Assisted teams in developing payer-facing evidence narratives by providing clinical insights. Supported alignment with guidelines and addressed adoption barriers. Collaborated with cross-functional teams on regional policy and reimbursement matters.
- Achieved improved compliance in medical review processes through effective leadership of a global medical science team. Streamlined promotional content workflows to enhance operational efficiency. Expanded key opinion leader engagement and congress presence by managing vendor and agency collaborations.
Owner - Medical Affairs Clinical Consultant
Best Practice Clinical Consultants LLC
06.2018 - Current
- Achieved improved patient safety outcomes by refining policies and clinical workflows. Drove educational efforts and change management strategies for clinical teams.
- Guided evidence-based practice implementation and quality initiatives for healthcare technologies.
- Designed and optimized scalable medical educational content to facilitate effective knowledge transfer among healthcare professionals.
Registered Nurse First Assistant (Pre-op, OR, PACU)
Centre for Plastic Surgery
02.2020 - Current
- Serve as the surgeon’s first assistant intraoperatively: provide exposure, retraction, suctioning, and visualization; maintain field integrity; anticipate procedural needs.
- Perform surgical assisting functions including tissue handling, blunt and sharp dissection, hemostasis (manual and device-assisted), suturing, stapling, ligation, and wound closure consistent with privileges and competency validation.
- Apply and maintain sterile technique; verify counts, specimen handling, and surgical site verification; support time-out and critical safety checkpoints.
- Conduct perioperative patient assessment and support positioning, skin protection, and pressure injury prevention; collaborate on mitigation strategies for high-risk patients.
- Collaborate with anesthesia, circulating RN, scrub personnel, and the surgical team to optimize workflow, minimize delays, and ensure readiness of equipment, implants, and supplies.
- Identify and respond to changes in patient condition or surgical field concerns; escalate promptly and document per policy.
- Support infection prevention practices: skin prep, draping, maintenance of normothermia, appropriate antibiotic timing verification, and sterile field integrity.
- Document intraoperative interventions, assisting activities, and supplies/implants per facility standards, including EMR and implant logs as required.
- Participate in quality and safety initiatives (peer review, case debriefs, event reporting, root cause analysis participation) to drive continuous improvement.
- Maintain current licensure, RNFA credentialing requirements, BLS/ACLS (as required), competency validation, and continuing education.
Clinical Nurse Leader, Surgical Services / RN First Assistant
University of Michigan Health West (formerly Metro Health)
12.2013 - 11.2019
- Led perioperative quality and patient safety across a 26-OR surgical services program; coached staff to identify clinical risk and implement translational evidence-to-practice processes.
- Built a change-champion model and standardized transfer-of-care across OR, ICU, and PACU; eliminated reportable perioperative pressure injuries within one year and improved sustained compliance.
RN, Perioperative Services (OR/CRNFA/Surgical Prep/PACU)
Mercy Health Hospital
02.2009 - 01.2019
- Serve as the surgeon’s first assistant intraoperatively: provide exposure, retraction, suctioning, and visualization; maintain field integrity; anticipate procedural needs.
- Perform surgical assisting functions including tissue handling, blunt and sharp dissection, hemostasis (manual and device-assisted), suturing, stapling, ligation, and wound closure consistent with privileges and competency validation.
- Apply and maintain sterile technique; verify counts, specimen handling, and surgical site verification; support time-out and critical safety checkpoints.
- Conduct perioperative patient assessment and support positioning, skin protection, and pressure injury prevention; collaborate on mitigation strategies for high-risk patients.
- Collaborate with anesthesia, circulating RN, scrub personnel, and the surgical team to optimize workflow, minimize delays, and ensure readiness of equipment, implants, and supplies.
- Identify and respond to changes in patient condition or surgical field concerns; escalate promptly and document per policy.
- Support infection prevention practices: skin prep, draping, maintenance of normothermia, appropriate antibiotic timing verification, and sterile field integrity.
- Document intraoperative interventions, assisting activities, and supplies/implants per facility standards, including EMR and implant logs as required.
- Participate in quality and safety initiatives (peer review, case debriefs, event reporting, root cause analysis participation) to drive continuous improvement.
- Maintain current licensure, RNFA credentialing requirements, BLS/ACLS (as required), competency validation, and continuing education.
Education
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) - Evidence-Based Practice
Grand Canyon University
Arizona City, AZ01.2023
Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) - Clinical Nurse Leader
University of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA01.2016
Registered Nurse First Assistant (RNFA) -
National Institute of First Assisting
Denver, CO01.2013
Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) -
Grand Rapids Community College
Grand Rapids, MI01.2011
Skills
- Global Medical & Scientific Affairs strategy
- Clinical research prioritization
- Claims-matrix-driven evidence generation
- Scientific exchange
- Congress strategy
- Cross-functional leadership
- Clinical Marketing
- Competency-based education
- Project management
- Vendor management
- Budgets
- Executive stakeholder influence
Accomplishments
- Built and delivered a scalable continuing education program reaching 5,000 clinicians annually, strengthening adoption of evidence-based practice and safe use across clinical environments.
- Resolved 25 product issues through structured consumer testing, field feedback synthesis, and root cause analysis, translating real-world use conditions into corrective and preventive actions that improved safety, usability, and performance.
- Supported 100+ device risk analyses in partnership with Systems Engineering, Quality, and Regulatory, strengthening hazard identification, mitigation strategies, and risk-benefit rationale across the product lifecycle.
- Delivered clinical launch excellence for 5 major launches, creating clinician-facing guidance, adoption tools, and education content to enable safe implementation and consistent performance in the field.
- Collaborated within large cross-functional programs (50+ stakeholders) across a broad perioperative and acute care portfolio, including overhead surgical lighting, spine and general surgical tables, stretchers, smart ICU beds, and visualization software.
- Led and developed a high-performing team, aligning priorities to program milestones, driving accountability, and ensuring deliverables met quality, timeline, and stakeholder requirements.
- Revamped Nursing Capstone curriculum and syllabus to increase rigor and clarity in evidence-based practice, research appraisal, and applied quality improvement execution.
- Instructed and mentored 100+ students in 2025, achieving a 100% course pass rate, while strengthening learner competency in critical appraisal, scholarly writing, and practice-ready professional communication.
- Advanced specialty career readiness by linking evidence-based methods to real clinical workflow and patient-safety priorities, with emphasis on perioperative and surgical nursing pathways.
- Instructed over 100 students during 2025.
Affiliations
Association of Perioperative registered nurses (AORN) - Research committee board member.
National Assistant at Surgery Certification - Executive board member
Timeline
Registered Nurse First Assistant (Pre-op, OR, PACU)
Centre for Plastic Surgery
02.2020 - Current
Associate Professor of Nursing (Evidence-Based Practice and Research)
Davenport University, College of Professional Health
01.2020 - Current
Medical Director, Global Medical Affairs - Surgical & Acute Care
Baxter International
06.2018 - 12.2025
Owner - Medical Affairs Clinical Consultant
Best Practice Clinical Consultants LLC
06.2018 - Current
Clinical Nurse Leader, Surgical Services / RN First Assistant
University of Michigan Health West (formerly Metro Health)
12.2013 - 11.2019
RN, Perioperative Services (OR/CRNFA/Surgical Prep/PACU)
Mercy Health Hospital
02.2009 - 01.2019
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) - Evidence-Based Practice
Grand Canyon University
Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) - Clinical Nurse Leader
University of San Francisco
Registered Nurse First Assistant (RNFA) -
National Institute of First Assisting
Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) -
Grand Rapids Community College
Selected Leadership And Outcomes
- Named inventor on issued U.S. patent (Hill-Rom Services, Inc.): Proning frame for a patient bed (US 12,414,887; issued Sept 16, 2025), strengthening patient positioning safety and workflow reliability. (Google Patents)
- Named inventor on issued U.S. patent (Hill-Rom Services, Inc.): Proning frame headrest tilt indicators (US 11,801,184; issued Oct 31, 2023), enabling objective headrest positioning/tilt feedback to support safer prone care. (Justia Patents)
- Author, AORN Professional Tips and Tricks (The Stitch): Comprehensive Nurse-to-Nurse Hand Offs for Optimal Patient Outcomes (June 13, 2025), focused on standardizing perioperative handoffs and reducing communication failure risk. (Aorn.org)
- Author, AORN (The Stitch): The Time Out: Make it Meaningful (Nov 6, 2023), reinforcing time-out rigor as a practical patient-safety control in the OR. (Aorn.org)
- Featured perioperative SME, AORN Outpatient Surgery Magazine: Time-Out Tips From the Trenches (Feb 6, 2025), emphasizing evidence-based team communication and nurse-driven safety interventions. (Aorn.org)
- National webinar faculty (AORN): LED Safety in the Operating Room (continuing education offering), educating perioperative teams on overhead light risk factors and mitigation practices. (Aorn.org)
- Webinar faculty (Hillrom): LED Surgical Light Safety in the OR (July 3, 2024), translating device risk considerations into clinical best practices for surgical illumination. (Hillrom)
- Conference presenter (AORN 2023 Virtual Expo): Protecting your RN License; Are you prepared? (May 1, 2023), delivering professional practice and risk-reduction guidance for perioperative nurses. (AORN Expo)
- Conference presenter (AORN 2023): Normothermia: The New Norm (Apr 3, 2023), focused on evidence-based temperature management and perioperative outcomes. (AORN Expo)
- Continuing education faculty (Pfiedler Education/AORN): sessions on ICU skin safety and pulmonary outcomes, supporting prevention-focused practice adoption through clinician education. (Aorn.org)
Certifications And Professional Leadership
- DNP (Doctorate Nursing Evidence Based Practice)
- MSN ( Masters of Nursing)
- RN (Registered Nurse)
- CNL (Clinical Nurse Leader)
- CNOR (Perioperative Nursing Certification)
- CRNFA (Certified Registered Nurse First Assistant)
- CNMAP (Certified Nurse Medical Affairs Professional)
Additional Clinical Experience
- Centre for Plastic Surgery, Grand Rapids, MI, Registered Nurse First Assistant (Pre-op, OR, PACU) - Current
- Mercy Health Hospital, Grand Rapids, MI, RN, Perioperative Services (OR/CRNFA/Surgical Prep/PACU)
- Earlier career in orthopedic and perioperative services