Nursing’s Lisa Kiser is national nurse practitioner Fellow
Lisa Kiser, DNP, CNM, WHNP, an associate clinical professor at the University of Arizona College of Nursing, was named a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. The fellowship program is dedicated to the global advancement of nurse practitioners and the high-quality health care they deliver.
Lisa Kiser, DNP, CNM, WHNP
“Nursing has made tremendous advancements in improving the health and well-being of our communities and nation,” said Kiser, who teaches in the nurse midwifery program, a Doctor of Nursing Practice program at the College of Nursing. “With over 385,000 nurse practitioners now providing care in the United States, it is deeply moving to be a part of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and to be named a Fellow of AANP. This is not a personal achievement but rather a reflection of our collective commitment to transforming health care in our country and the world.”
“Dr. Kiser is well deserving of this fellowship,” said Brian Ahn, PhD, dean of the College of Nursing. “Her commitment to advancing the role of nurse practitioners as well as her commitment to her students and her community exemplify what this fellowship stands for.”
Kiser has helped advance the profession as a preceptor at a rural Federally Qualified Health Center. In 2023, she precepted six family nurse practitioner and midwifery students.
“That work is one of the reasons I was honored as a Fellow,” said Kiser, who joined the AANP in 2020.
“I am fortunate to be able to teach, practice and participate in our College of Nursing Health Resources and Services Administration grant. I am in a clinic working as a women's health nurse practitioner. I teach women’s health, midwifery, and health equity courses, and I am a lead trainer for our HRSA Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner grant, where we educate nurses to become sexual assault nurse examiners. I also serve on the College of Nursing's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and on the U of A Mexico Initiatives Committee, and I am a volunteer provider with Clínica Amistad, a local free clinic in Tucson.”
Kiser joined the U of A faculty in 2011. She is a faculty leader of the MILAGRO Collaborative, a course for students across the Health Sciences that focuses on the root causes of migration and how to support people who are migrating through Tucson.
Kiser said she is very thankful to clinical professor Lorraine M. Martin Plank, PhD, and retired clinical professor emerita Judith Berg, PhD, both from the College of Nursing, for nominating her and helping her through the fellowship process.
“Dr. Lisa Kiser’s leadership in women’s health education and practice is sustained and highly significant,” Berg wrote in her nomination letter. “She is a foremost expert nurse practitioner on the health consequences of racism, migration and health inequity, and she is internationally known for her knowledge dissemination in these areas. Her education and practice contributions intertwine to reflect the creative ways she has expanded care to underserved women and utilized the sites to teach nurse practitioner students.”
Kiser teaches the joint nursing and Health Sciences Design course JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) Health Equity: Connection, Community & Healing in Urgent Times, which explores the intersectionality of health care, community engagement and the role of a JEDI framework in achieving health equity.
“In this course, we ask, ‘What are you concerned about in this world, and what gives you hope?’” she said. “I am concerned about the real inequities in our society and health care system, but our Health Sciences students give me great hope. They are thoughtful, caring, powerful and eager to change the world, and from what we see, they truly will.”