Nancy C O'Rourke PhD, ACNP, ANP, FAANP
Dr. O’Rourke received her first NP certification University of Pennsylvania and Planned Parenthood, her MSN from Simmons College, and her PhD from the University of Massachusetts Medical School Graduate School of Nursing. She currently is licensed as an Adult and Acute Care NP.
She has held faculty and clinical positions in the Boston University School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, as well as the University of Massachusetts Boston, and Massachusetts General Institute of Health Professionals. She currently teaches Health Policy at the George Washington University. Clinically, she is an adult and Acute care practitioner at Optum and Lahey Hospital and Medical Center.
Dr. O’Rourke is the Region One Director for AANP. Dr. O’Rourke leads the New England region in all political and policy activities. Previously, she was the AANP Massachusetts state rep for 8 years. During her tenure as President of the Massachusetts Coalition of Nurse Practitioners, Dr. O’Rourke championed legislation to statutorily recognize nurse practitioners as primary care providers, the first of its kind in the United States.
Dr. O’Rourke holds a seat on the Institute for Medicaid Innovation Board of Directors, has participated as a consultant for RAND Corporation and is a member of the Urgent Matters Advisory Board. Previously, she held a Gubernatorial appointment to the Health Care Cost and Quality Council Advisory Board, as well as the Mayor’s Workforce Capacity Task Force. Both committees addressed the primary care shortage and implementation of universal health care in Massachusetts. She has been active in health policy at the national and state level for over thirty years, working in behalf of nurse practitioners to facilitate appropriate regulation, utilization and support for nurse practitioner practice during that time. The author of numerous publications related to nurse practitioner practice and health policy, Dr O’Rourke is also a fellow of the AANP.