By Laura Gasque
The American Association of Nurse Practitioners is recognizing University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing faculty members, alumni and a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing student for their contributions to education, policy, clinical practice and research.
Professor and Coordinator of the Advanced Forensic Nurse Subspeciality Patricia Speck, DNSc, CRNP, FNP-BC, AFN-C, DF-IAFN, DF-AFN, FAAFS, FAAN, and PhD student Maria Lanzi, ANP-BC, MPH, COHN-S, will be inducted as AANP Fellows. Lanzi also is the recipient of the Nurse Practitioner State Award for Excellence for Pennsylvania.
Professor, Co-Director of the School’s Leadership and Health Policy Initiative and Director of Health Policy Partnerships Joy Deupree, PhD, MSN, CRNP, WHNP-BC, FAAN (BSN 1994, MSN 1997), is the recipient of the Advocate State Award for Excellence for Alabama and alumna Diana Dedmon, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC (DNP 2018), is the recipient of the Nurse Practitioner State Award for Excellence in Tennessee.
Speck is an internationally recognized family nurse practitioner and researcher in public health-forensic nursing practice globally, is experienced in policy and curriculum development and program evaluation and is a consultant to programs nationally and internationally responding to violence and subsequent health disparities in Africa, Eurasia, Caribbean and the Americas. She also maintains active faculty practices globally and locally, consulting nationally and internationally.
Lanzi is the Deputy Section Chief, Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia. A speaker, educator and preceptor for advance practice nurses and physicians, Lanzi has held leadership roles in key professional organizations including the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Adult Immunization Working Group for the CDC; American Association of Nurse Practitioners; the American College of Physicians (ACP) “I Raise the Rates” Immunization Quality Improvement Initiatives, and, was the first NP Chair of the OEM NP section at the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and currently serves as a Board Observer. Her most recent achievement is as a Lead Organizer, Content Developer, and Inaugural Faculty for: “OEM Fundamentals for Advanced Practice Providers.” Launched in 2023, this yearlong program of seven sequential modules of rigorous, fundamental OEM knowledge is presented in a virtual platform with the joint clinical expertise of AANP and ACOEM subject matter experts.
Deupree has 29 years of experience as a nurse and has been a board-certified women’s health nurse practitioner for 26 years. Throughout her career, she has been engaged in health policy advocacy, research and educational efforts at the state, national and international levels for health literacy and women’s health, and she is widely recognized for her advocacy for populations that face challenges with understanding health care information. Deupree, who was on faculty in the School from 1999 until her retirement in 2019, returned full-time to the School in 2023 to co-lead the Health Policy arm of the new Leadership and Health Policy Initiative.
Dedmon is Assistant Professor, Director of Clinical Affairs and holder of the Michael Carter Endowed Professorship at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Nursing. She has been a family nurse practitioner since 1999 and is passionate about hypertension education, diabetes control and diabetes management. Dedmon’s research focuses on developing nurse-led clinics to address health disparities and meet the wellness needs of rural populations. She is the Principal Investigator on a $3.9 million, four-year grant to provide health care to two rural counties using a mobile health unit and to integrate rural health education into undergraduate and graduate programs.
Awardees from each state will be honored at the 2024 AANP National Conference in June 2024.
