Assistant Professor Named Kentucky Nurse Practitioner Advocate of the Year
College of Nursing Assistant Professor Kathy Wheeler, PhD, APRN, NP-C, FNAP, FAANP, was recognized as Kentucky Nurse Practitioner Advocate of the Year at the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) 2016 National Conference in San Antonio, Texas, June 20-25. The award recognizes substantial leadership in APRN education, service to patients and policy efforts.
Nurse practitioners (NPs) and NP advocates were also honored at the ceremony as recipients of the AANP 2016 State Award for Excellence, which was founded in 1991 and recognizes a nurse practitioner in a state who demonstrates excellence in practice. The State Award for Nurse Practitioner Advocates was added in 1993 to recognize the efforts of individuals who have made a significant contribution toward increasing awareness and acceptance of NPs. The AANP was founded in 2014 and is the largest full-service national professional membership organization for NPs of all specialties.
Dr. Wheeler is a family nurse practitioner at the Polk Dalton Clinic, a family practice clinic of the UK Department of Family and Community Medicine. She provides primary care to patients in this inner city clinic as well as specialty care to patients with diabetes via shared group visits, an innovative delivery model co-managed with a clinical pharmacist from the College of Pharmacy. She is researching this delivery model as well as quality improvement through lean health care and the application of Toyota Production System principals.
For more information on the AANP, visit www.aanp.org.
