Doreen C. Harper, PhD, RN, FAAN
Trustee
Dr. Doreen C. Harper’s career has been focused on the advanced practice nursing role in primary care through the development of community based partnerships in education and practice settings. She is nationally known for her expertise in nurse practitioner education and policy development, having led multiple studies on NP and interdisciplinary health professions’ education and practice. Dr. Harper taught all levels of nursing and medical education while at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, George Mason University College of Nursing and Health Science, the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and most recently at the University of Massachusetts Worcester Graduate School of Nursing. In Washington, D.C., Dr. Harper served as Director of Community Partnerships and Faculty Practice where she oversaw ten interdisciplinary faculty practice sites across the metropolitan area. She oversaw the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Community Partnerships in Graduate Medical/Nursing Education Initiative where she directed six interdisciplinary academic/community partnerships in inner city and rural areas throughout the country. She was the Principal Investigator of the Worcester Nursing Pipeline Consortium (WNPC) funded by the Fairlawn Foundation. This project is a community-driven initiative focused on the nursing shortage to increase enrollment, retention, graduation and academic advancement of nursing students and nurses in Central Massachusetts. Dr. Harper was part of the team that led a new partnership with the UMass Medical School, Commonwealth Medicine, the GSN, and the Massachusetts Department of Corrections to provide health service delivery for the 10,000 inmates in the state prison facilities. She has also co-founded the UMass Center for Nursing Excellence with UMass Memorial Medical Center with the primary goal of contributing to positive and direct patient outcomes through professional development and research-based clinical practice. Most recently, she acquired a strategic investment for 1.6 million dollars from Commonwealth Medicine, the state’s Medical School Public Sector Partnership and the UMass Memorial Medical Center to establish a Graduate Entry Pathway for individuals with a bachelor’s degree in a field other than nursing to complete the requirements for RN licensure and advanced practice nursing in an accelerated three year program. Dr. Harper has just accepted a new position as Dean of the University of Alabama School of Nursing. In recognition of her many contributions to the discipline, Dr. Harper is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.
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