Teresa Devitt-Lynch received her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing (BSN) from Old Dominion University in 1998 and her Master’s Degree in Nursing (MSN) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2011. A military veteran, she retired in 2017 after a 20-year career in the US Navy Nurse Corps where she was stationed at multiple duty stations in the US and abroad. She functioned as a nurse in multiple specialty areas and roles such as medical-surgical, couplet care, education and training, and forensic nursing. Teresa attained the status of US Navy Master Training Specialist in 2003 while serving as an instructor for the Naval Hospital Corps School in Great Lakes, IL. She began forensic nursing in 2011 at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, VA where she quickly became the lead examiner and preceptor for new sexual assault forensic examiners (SAFE) and assistants.

She became board certified as an Adult/Adolescent Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE-A) through the American Nurses Credentialing Center in 2012 and in Advanced Forensic Nursing in 2017. She also became a Board Certified Advanced Forensic Nurse through the Forensic Nursing Certification Board in 2022.

While stationed at the Sigonella Medical Center in Sicily, Italy, she assumed the role of the Forensic Healthcare Manager for the hospital and its satellite clinics in Bahrain and Greece. While in this position, she developed the local Forensic Healthcare Protocol and Training Program. While overseas, Teresa taught the Tri-Service Sexual Assault Forensic Examination course to physicians and nurses throughout Europe and the Middle East. She was selected as a member of the Bureau of Navy Medicine’s SAFE Training Team that also provided didactic and practical training worldwide for active duty and reserve military members. It is also in the military where she began providing expert consulting and testimony for sexual assault and domestic violence Military Courts Martial trials for all services worldwide while continuing to manage the Sigonella Forensic Healthcare Program and providing forensic healthcare in the form of sexual assault and domestic violence forensic examinations to victims and suspects.

With her education and training expertise, Teresa was selected to participate in multiple educational development endeavors to include selection as a trainer and curriculum developer for the Bureau of Justice Assistance National Training and Assistance Center along with the Navy Medicine and Training Command taskforce, in which she was involved in the development of the Tri-Service SAFE training program and was faculty for this program at the Army Medical Department Center & School, Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX.

In addition to forensic nursing projects and practice, Teresa spent much of her time on additional projects and committees throughout her active duty career. Such duties included Chair of the Patient and Family Education Committee, Inspector General Inspection Team Lead, Executive Council of Nurses member, Nurse Corps Strategic Working Group member, Nursing Staff Training and Development member, Chair of the Command Assessment Team, and Periodic Performance Group Nurse Advisor, just to name a few. Upon retirement, Teresa was employed as faculty for the Western Governors University online BSN program. She also was a SANE-A at the Methodist Specialty Transplant Hospital in San Antonio, TX.

Throughout her forensic nursing career, Teresa has engaged in various national organizational taskforces and initiatives aimed at further developing the forensic nursing discipline and enhancing care for forensic patients. For instance, she was a member and Vice-Chair of the International Association of Forensic Nurses’ (IAFN) Commission on Forensic Nursing Credentialing and a member and educational co-planner of the Education Committee.

As a member of the Academy of Forensic Nurses (AFN), she served as the Chair of the Domestic Violence Special Interest Group, Educational Council member and education co-planner, test writer and curriculum developer for the Forensic Nursing Certification administered by the Forensic Nursing Board Certification Board and member of the AFN Board of Directors. Currently, she is the chair of the Rural Forensic Healthcare Special Interest Group, a member of the Suspect Forensic Examination Taskforce, and a Section Editor for the Journal of the Academy of Forensic Nursing.

She has also participated in other organizational endeavors. She was a member of the Education Council, Organization of Scientific Area Crime Scene Investigation Subcommittee and is currently a member of the Training Institute on Strangulation Medical Advisory Board.

As an educator, in addition to multiple training program development and deliveries while in the military, Teresa has continued such activities post-military. She has worked with the Elite Learning Company to develop and deliver multiple forensic nursing continuing education offerings to include a 40-hour required initial SANE-A training. She is also currently working with Symptom Media to develop and deliver web-based general forensic healthcare and examination educational offerings for physicians and nurses. She has provided and continues to provide multiple continuing education and continuing legal education webinars and in-person training for healthcare providers, forensic scientists, law enforcement and legal professionals in the US and internationally.

Her publication activities include reviewer for the STM Learning Domestic Violence and Non-Fatal Strangulation Assessment textbook and Legal Aspects of Nursing Professional Development Practice published by the Association for Nursing Professional Development. She has also contributed to the IAFN’s Non-Fatal Strangulation Documentation Toolkit and the Evaluation and Treatment of Non-Fatal Strangulation in the Health Care Setting position paper. She co-authored the Military Sexual Assault & Violence chapter in the Introduction to Forensic Nursing: Principles and Practice published by STM Learning along with an article, Criminal Case Consultation: Entering the Lion’s Den, published in the Journal of Legal Nurse Consulting.

Teresa formed the INTREPID Forensic Healthcare Consulting firm in 2016 through which she continues to provide expert consulting, testimony and educational services worldwide.