Terry M. Foster, MSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, CCRN, TCRN, FAEN, is the immediate past president of the Emergency Nurses Association. He is in his sixth year on the board.

Foster currently works as a critical-care clinical nurse specialist in the emergency departments at St. Elizabeth Healthcare, a Magnet-designated hospital, in northern Kentucky. He is an ambassador for the St. Elizabeth Foundation, having been continuously employed in this six-hospital system since 1975. He has worked as a volunteer, ward clerk, LPN, staff nurse, charge nurse, critical-care instructor, clinical director and night supervisor at both the Mercy Hospitals of Cincinnati, Ohio, and at St. Elizabeth. 

Foster started out as a volunteer in the emergency room at the age of 14 and knew he had found his home. At 19, he began his emergency nursing experience as an LPN. He joined the Emergency Department Nurses Association, as ENA was previously known, in the early 1980s. Since that time, Foster twice served as president of the Greater Cincinnati Chapter and on multiple committees at the local, state and national level. He also served twice on the association’s Nominations and Elections Committee; is a previous recipient of the Judith C. Kelleher award; received the ENA Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to emergency nursing; and is a Fellow of the Academy of Emergency Nursing. 

Foster has lectured thousands of times on a wide variety of clinical topics at nursing seminars and conferences across the country, speaking in all 50 states before he turned 50 years old. Nationally, Foster is a well-known “nurse humorist” and sought-after speaker for his light-hearted, poignant and professional perspectives on clinical care topics and emergency nursing in general.

Foster has presented at 20 ENA annual conferences and served as an ENPC and TNCC faculty member each year since 2005. An active member of his community, he regularly volunteers for Covington’s Parish Soup Kitchen, Holy Cross Catholic Church, the Cincinnati Arts Association, “Chicks & Chucks” Breast Cancer Support group and the Salvation Army. He also oversees the operation of the Peggy Foster Memorial Fund.

Foster is an LPN graduate of Booth Memorial Hospital School of Practical Nursing in Covington, Kentucky. He received his diploma in nursing from The Christ Hospital School of Nursing, Cincinnati, and his master’s degree in critical care and trauma nursing from the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing and Health.

Term as Immediate Past President: January 2024-December 2024
Term as President: January 2023-December 2023
Term as President-Elect: January 2022-December 2022
Term as Secretary/Treasurer: January 2021-December 2021
Term as Director: January 2019-December 2020

To reach Terry, please contact him at terry.foster@board.ena.org.