On the St. Vincent Indianapolis campus, the new 45,000 square foot William K. Nasser, MD Healthcare Education and Simulation Center is one of the largest, state-of-the-art, medical simulation centers of its kind in the country. The Ruth Lilly Conference Center, a site for healthcare education and research meetings, is part of the new professional education center.
We welcome physicians, residents and healthcare professionals from St. Vincent Ascension and other U.S. and global health organizations seeking interactive, high-fidelity patient simulation (HPS) training using computer-enhanced mannequins, cadaver labs, task trainers, and the latest techniques in patient care. The simulation suites, anatomic labs and multi-purpose classrooms support a variety of educational programs for large and small groups.
Simulation suites, skills labs, and classrooms are highly adaptable for large and small groups. The simulation suites convert to a variety of patient care settings:
This Education Center also supports the needs of:
Dr. Joe Feldman, Dr. Tony Nasser, and Wanda Nasser explain the vision for the William K. Nasser, MD, Healthcare Education and Simulation Center at St. Vincent Indianapolis. The professional education center (45,000 square feet) is the largest, medical, simulation-based training center of its kind in the Midwest. The Ruth Lilly Conference Center is part of the facility and will continue to host local and regional medical meetings. Using high-fidelity patient simulation (HPS), computer software, and responsive mannequins, physicians, medical residents, and healthcare professionals can perfect their technical expertise while learning new skills and procedures. Studies show, a HPS learning environment can improve overall patient safety and outcomes following any type of hospitalization or surgical procedure.
The Simulation and Education Center is guided by the Simulation Executive Board and our experienced simulation team. The advisory group represents multispecialty disciplines and many years of clinical and educational experience.
The mission of the William K. Nasser, MD, Healthcare Education and Simulation Center is to improve the quality and safety of patient care and to advance healthcare education by providing a learner-centered environment with deliberate hands-on, multidisciplinary training using multimodal simulation technologies. Our programs are designed to challenge healthcare providers to improve clinical competence, enhance teamwork, and multidisciplinary collaboration in a realistic, safe environment.
The vision of the William K. Nasser, MD, Healthcare Education and Simulation Center is to operate a system-wide multidisciplinary, accredited center to meet the needs for simulation training.
St. Vincent is a member of Ascension, the largest Catholic, mission-driven, not-for-profit healthcare system in the United States.
Rooted in the loving ministry of Jesus as healer, we commit ourselves to serving all persons with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable. Our Catholic health ministry is dedicated to spiritually centered, holistic care, which sustains and improves the health of individuals and communities. We are advocates for a compassionate and just society through our actions and our words.
These values, though they appear here as merely words on a page, translate into a continuous flow of actions that bring the Spirit of Caring to life for our patients and their families.
Service of the Poor
Reverence
Integrity
Wisdom
Creativity
Dedication
Simulation is an essential component of continuing professional education. Simulation-based education allows healthcare providers to master basic technical skills, complex interprofessional communication and teamwork skills, and challenging new procedures without risk to patients. Our directive is to improve patient safety, improve quality outcomes and advance healthcare education by providing a learner-centered environment with deliberate hands-on practice. We challenge learners to employ critical and creative thinking skills. Life-long-learners benefit with more hands-on opportunities for learning. Flexible learning environments can be modified to simulate many types of medical settings: an operating room, emergency department, intensive care unit, labor and delivery room, hospital bedside, home environments and ambulance transport settings.
To inquire about how to reserve a space or coordinate an event at a simulation location, contact us at simulation@stvincent.org.
The William K. Nasser, MD, Education and Simulation Center provides many opportunities for customized simulation training experiences. Although our main simulation labs are at the Nasser Center, St. Vincent has labs at several Indianapolis locations. We also provide support for in situ experiences. Please contact us for assistance is choosing the right location for your needs.
To learn more about our education & simulation training locations and facilities, email simulation@ascension.org or call 317-338-3937.
William K Nasser, MD, Education and Simulation Center and Ruth Lilly Conference Center
In preparation for every activity, our dedicated simulation professionals will assist in planning and designing scenarios, training facilitators, executing valuable learning opportunities, and assisting with your event planning needs. We are also committed to evaluating the effectiveness of all programs.
The William K. Nasser, MD, Education and Simulation Center and Ruth Lilly Conference Center offers a variety of learning environments in one location. Ample free parking is available with at the Simulation and Education Center and a shuttle service is available to other medical facilities on the 86th St. campus. For multi-day events, hotels are close-by (within 3-5 miles of the Education Center).
If CME and/or CEU certificate approval is requested, please contact us as soon as possible and allow at least six-weeks advanced notice. St. Vincent has annually been the host site for single- and multi-day local, regional and national healthcare and research meetings. If interested in learning more, contact us by email, simulation@stvincent.org.
The Ruth Lilly Auditorium is connected to the Simulation Center which has additional meeting rooms.
The auditorium and breakout meeting rooms are ideal for healthcare and research symposia. Desk-style seating is available. Recent renovations include updated multi-media capabilities, teleconferencing technology, and additional restroom facilities. Beverage service is available and off-site catering is permitted.
To schedule the auditorium and/or meeting rooms, email simulation@stvincent.org
The skill labs support the ongoing medical education and healthcare education of licensed independent practitioners (MD, DO, NP, PA), residents, nurses, patient care technicians, respiratory therapists, physical and occupational therapies, pharmacists, chaplains, critical care transport teams, and other EMTs and Paramedics. Specialized educational programming and simulation lab experiences are available. For more information, email simulation@stvincent.org.
We support all health professionals and ancillary services with interprofessional education and simulation environments that match many environments within the hospital and clinic.
For example:
Department or unit specific training is available. Each training event is designed for specific educational objectives. The simulation staff has extensive experience preparing simulations for many types of patient care and healthcare environments.
We can adapt resuscitation education to your environment. Contact us at simulation@stvincent.org.
Our simulation education program supports the RN, LPN, and PCAT new-hires as part of our Ascension regional onboarding program. This two-week, immersive, simulation-based orientation experience is thoughtfully designed to get our new associates off to a well-rounded start. Note: St. Vincent Evansville is the Regional Onboarding Center for the St. Vincent Southwest Region.
The Simulation Center works closely with all St. Vincent Medical Residency Programs to increase knowledge, skills and safety practices in the medical resident. For more information about a specific residency program click here.
William (Bill) K. Nasser, M.D., is highly regarded by colleagues as Indiana’s “Father of Cardiology,” and his legacy continues today at St. Vincent as part of every bedside care experience. Our high-standards of care for patients of any age or socio-economic situation reflect Dr. Nasser’s dynamic spirit and embody his holistic approach to healing mind, body and spirit with great skill and compassion.
Bill’s parents, Toufaike Kaleel “T.K.” and Mahmoudy “Maude” Nasser, were Syrian Christian immigrants who settled in Terre Haute, IN, in the early 1900’s and overcame many obstacles. In 1933, Bill was the firstborn of three children and had two sisters, Beverly and Dolores. As a family of five, they developed a thriving neighborhood grocery business on the northside of Terre Haute which was their livelihood. This is where Bill learned his valuable lifelong entrepreneurial skills that would shape his future career, as well as several enduring personal friendships. It was expected that Bill would follow in his father’s footsteps, but Bill had other ideas “to justify his existence.”
After graduating from Gerstmeyer Technical High School in 1951 and attending two years of college at Indiana State University (ISU), he honorably served in the United States Army in Korea for two years. Upon his return from Korea, he continued his undergraduate studies with a newfound focus and maturity at ISU earning straight A’s in every class and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1957. Years later in 1975, Dr. Nasser was honored as the Distinguished ISU Alumnus of the Year, and served as a member of the ISU Board of Trustees.
By the grace of God, Bill was accepted to the Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine in 1957 and excelled to top of his medical school class. Unfortunately, in 1960 he developed a bacterial infection of his aortic valve. He found himself becoming one of the world's first "open heart" surgical patients in March of 1961 and made a miraculous recovery. He subsequently needed to have the aortic valve replaced in 1967 and 1979 for a total of three heart surgeries. Despite this adversity, he graduated from the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1961 and completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at IU Medical Center, followed by a fellowship in cardiovascular diseases at Krannert Institute of Cardiology. He served on the faculty at the IU School of Medicine Cardiovascular Division from 1966 until 1972, pioneering and mastering the technical skills in coronary angiography and valvular heart disease.
In 1972, St. Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis, asked Dr. Nasser to help create a state-of-the-art center for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Nasser, Smith & Pinkerton (NSP) Cardiology soon formed. In 1999, NSP merged with Northside Cardiology and Storer, Schmidt & Associates to form The Care Group, LLC. Today, the St. Vincent Medical Group is product of the experience, expertise and leadership of these collective physician led groups. Now in two large tertiary hospital locations, St. Vincent Heart Center and St. Vincent Hospital are one of the largest, non-university cardiovascular centers in the United States. These heart and vascular specialists diagnose and treat patients with all types of cardiovascular diseases, including performing more cardiac catheterization, percutaneous coronary interventional, electrophysiological, bypass surgery, minimally invasive heart valve, heart transplant and ventricular assist device procedures than any other institution in the Midwest. These physicians are also involved in more than 50 ongoing clinical research investigational studies through the St. Vincent Cardiovascular Research Institute.
Dr. Nasser was also known as a “fun dad.” He was more focused on quality rather than quantity of time spent with family. Bill and his wife Wanda are blessed with three children; two sons, Thomas K. Nasser, DDS and Tony K. Nasser, MD; and a daughter; Teresa Tanoos-Carlock, six grandchildren and one great grandchild. He encouraged each member in his family to achieve greatness in their own individual way.
Dr. Nasser is the co-author of many medical peer-reviewed articles and he also chronicled his life's adventures in his autobiography, "Near to My Heart - An American Dream" (published 2003). Currently available from Amazon. This book covers his own amazing life and medical history: three heart valve replacements, a liver transplant and two episodes of passing out (syncope) that nearly resulted in sudden cardiac death. He also survived for 16 hours (with the help of his son Tony K.) in the ocean off the Florida Keys when their boat sank in 1981. Additionally, his book highlights the golden age of cardiology.
In his legendary lifetime, Dr. Nasser was the recipient of the Sagamore of the Wabash, the Otis R. Bowen Distinguished Leadership Award from the Dean's Council of the Indiana University School of Medicine, the St. Vincent Foundation's Physician Servant-Leader Award, the Distinguished Physician of the Year Award from St. Vincent Hospital, the American Heart Association's Lifetime Achievement Award and Cor Vitae Award for Outstanding Service, The Indianapolis Senior Center's Community Leadership Award, and the 1997 Indiana Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He was also a civic and professional leader in many organizations, including the Board of Associates of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the Indiana Public Health Foundation Board of Directors, Indiana State University Foundation Board of Directors, Central Indiana Council on Aging Foundation Board of Directors, Indiana University Medical Center Dean's Council Board of Directors, Chairman of the St. Vincent Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, and Indiana University Medical Center Alumni Council.
The William K. Nasser, MD, Healthcare Education and Simulation Center would like to give sincere thanks to the St. Vincent Foundation for raising the funds to make this amazing resource a reality.
To support the William K. Nasser, MD, Health Education and Simulation Center at St. Vincent with a gift or pledge, contact St. Vincent Foundation. Your gift directly benefits the continuing education and training of physicians and healthcare professionals, and these efforts directly help our patients heal better, faster and more completely.
St. Vincent Foundation has also created a wide variety of naming opportunities for each of the 15 simulation labs. We appreciate the generosity of our donors.
To learn more, go to the St. Vincent Foundation donation page for the Simulation Center.
