Office for Community Partnerships

UM Nursing Practice Network

Faculty Practice Plan

Faculty Practice Plan Participants

Nurse Managed Centers

School-based Health Centers

Other Faculty Practices

Clinical Practice & Partnerships

Faculty Practice Plan Participants

Amy Becklenberg, MS, FNP is a Family Nurse Practitioner and provides primary care services at the Community Family Health Center and the Maple Meadows Outreach Clinic. She moved to Ann Arbor from Chicago in 2008. In Chicago, she worked in a large inner city family health center serving uninsured and underinsured pediatric and adult patients, most of whom spoke Spanish only.

Ms. Becklenberg has worked with vulnerable populations in the US and on international health projects in Mexico, Nicaragua, Haiti and Australia. She also worked with “Doctors Without Borders” in Zambia. Other areas of interest include providing group visits for obese pediatric and diabetic patients and Centering Pregnancy.

Lori Bennett, FNP, RN, is a family nurse practitioner. Her practice began at the Nurse Managed Centers in 1977. Her interest in providing community based health care led to the development of a weekly clinic at Ozone House, a community agency that provides help for teens in crisis and their families. Subsequently working with nursing faculty and community partners she obtained grant funding and in 2001 started a clinic in Safe House Center safehousecenter.org, serving women and children in Washtenaw County. Ms. Bennett now serves at Director of Health Services at SAFE House and coordinates a variety of health care programs that have been developed there.

She regularly lectures about the health care effects of domestic violence on women and children, and particularly the role of health providers in identifying survivors of domestic violence. Her other interests include homeopathic medicine, smoking cessation and she is also a SANE nurse.

In April 2008 she joined the NP practice at RAHS, the regional alliance for healthy schools, school based health clinic She is currently the nurse practitioner at the Willow Run Secondary School complex and also practices at Stone Alternative High School, school based health clinic.

Ray Blush, MSN, ACNP-BC
is an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner with nearly 10 years of experience in the Emergency Department working both as a Registered Nurse and then as a Nurse Practitioner. He received his undergraduate degree for the University of Rochester in New York and his masters from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He began in 2009 with the University of Michigan School of Nursing where he is working with the graduate Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist students as well as undergraduate nursing students. His clinical practice site is in the Emergency Department at the University of Michigan Medical center where his focus is patient care as well as contributing to the development of their observation unit.

Cindy Darling-Fisher, PhD, FNP-BC
is a Family Nurse Practitioner with clinical experience in pediatric, internal medicine, and family practice settings. Her current practice is at the Regional Alliance for Healthy Schools (RAHS) School-Based Centers at East Middle School and Scarlett Middle School. In this practice, she sees middle school-aged children (11-13) for their health promotion needs and management of common acute and chronic conditions. Dr. Darling-Fisher co-coordinates the Family Nurse Practitioner program at the UM School of Nursing, teaches in that program, and has supervised numerous masters students' scholarly projects. Several of these have come from the School-based Clinics and the Nurse Managed Centers. Dr. Darling-Fisher's current research focus includes strengths-based interventions for children, adolescents, and their families and adolescent risk reduction. She is also interested in issues related to working families, in particular, the relationship between maternal employment and paternal involvement in child care, as well as, child and adult developmental concerns and their impact on health and family functioning.

Megan Eagle, MSN, RN is a Family Nurse Practitioner and the principal provider at Community Family Health Center. Ms. Eagle also provides primary care services at the Maple Meadows Outreach Clinic. Ms. Eagle is a lecturer in the Community Health Nursing Program at the School of Nursing. Her research interests include health of Latino population in the United States, health needs of the uninsured and diabetes prevention. She is Principal Investigator for the Health Promotion and Wellness Program, a project funded by Pfizer Community Affairs that provides preventive services to low-income uninsured patients. Ms. Eagle is fluent in Spanish.

Emily K. Meuleman, MS, RN, GNP-C, FNP-C, Clinical Instructor. Emily received her BSN degree from Nazareth College in Kalamazoo, Michigan and her Master of Science degree in Community Health Nursing from the University of Michigan. She did post-master's course work toward nurse practitioner certification at the University of Michigan, and is dually certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as both a Family and a Gerontological Nurse Practitioner. She has practiced for over 15 years as a nurse practitioner in family practice and geriatrics. In 2008, she joined the staff of the School of Nursing Nurse Managed Centers as Director and has her primary care practice at the North Campus Family Health Service. She is a Clinical Instructor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing and has precepted many nurse practitioner students in Adult, Family and Gerontological NP programs. Clinical and research interests include chronic disease management, patients' perspectives on health and illness, patient-provider relationships, community-based care, care for the underserved, and care of the older adult. Personal interests include quilt-making, knitting and reading.

Iris Padilla, PhD, FNP-BC Iris Padilla is a Family Nurse Practitioner and a provider at Community Family Health Center and at the North campus family health services. In addition, Dr. Padilla is a faculty member at the University of Michigan School of Nursing where she teaches in the Health Promotion and Risk Reduction Programs. Dr. Padilla includes chronic illness, with a special interest in diabetes, comorbid depresssion, and self-care.

Michelle Pardee, MS, FNP - BC, is a Family Nurse Practitioner with thirteen years of experience as a Nurse Practitioner. Ms. Pardee is a lecturer in the School of Nursing and teaches in the clinical courses for first and second year FNP students. She is also the clinical coordinator for the ANP, FNP, and PNP programs. Her clinical specialty is adolescent health, with a special interest in runaway and homeless youth. Her current clinical practice is at Ozone House outreach clinic, a collaboration with Ozone House to provide health care for homeless and runaway adolescents who receive services from any of the programs run by Ozone.

Joanne M. Pohl, PhD, ANP-BC, FAAN, is an Adult Nurse Practitioner with more than 29 years experience with primary care practices and predominately nurse managed health centers. Her current practice is at Community Family Health Center, one of the two School of Nursing nurse managed centers. Dr. Pohl links her practice with the School of Nursing's missions of research, teaching and service. In this practice she sees clients ages 16 through older adult one evening a week, precepting at least one NP student as well. She has supervised more than 30 master's students’ scholarly projects out of the nurse managed centers. Her research focus includes examining outcomes of care and cost of care in Nurse Managed Health Centers. Dr. Pohl serves as principal investigator (PI) on the W.K. Kellogg Foundation funded Institute for Nursing Centers which has created a National Data Warehouse on nurse managed health centers. She is also funded by AHRQ (PI) on the Ambulatory Safety and Quality Program: Improving Quality Through Clinician Use of Health IT in Nurse Managed Health Centers and Federally Qualified Health Centers.

Laura Struble, PhD, GNP, BC, is a Gerontological Nurse Practitioner. Her area of expertise is in Neurology, Dementia Care, and managing disruptive behaviors. She has been a Nurse Practitioner for 12 years, and a Medical-Surgical Clinical Nurse Specialist for 13 years. Currently, she has an innovative collaborative practice with Dr. Mary Blazek who is a Geriatric Psychiatrist at Chelsea Community Hospital, Outpatient Behavioral Health. Dr. Struble evaluates and treats older adults with mental illnesses and dementia and educates professional and family caregivers. She also provides care for residents at Towsley Village, a dementia assisted living facility. Dr. Struble is a Clinical Assistant Professor and coordinator of the Gerontology Nurse Practitioner Program in the School of Nursing. She precepts gerontology nurse practitioner students in her practice and has 2nd career nursing students at Chelsea Hospital and Towsley Village for their gerontology medical-surgical experience. Her current pilot research involves evaluating the efficacy of acupuncture for middle stage dementia and agitation patients. Her research interests include environmental design for dementia special care units and interventions for disruptive behaviors.

BJ (Barbara-Jean) Sullivan, PhD, APRN, BC, is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry whose current clinical practice as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner is at the University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry Depression Center. While Dr. Sullivan has been board certified as an Advanced Practice Nurse for over 30 years, she is also a Fully Licensed Clinical Psychologist who approaches her work with clients from a multidisciplinary perspective. At the Depression Center, Dr. Sullivan’s clinical and research interests are in working with clients with mood disorders. In particular, she is interested in life adjustments (chronic illness, childbearing, marriage, divorce, college life, etc.) and the interface of psychosocial factors in the regulation of biologically managed affective disorders, most specifically bipolar disorder. Dr. Sullivan is a Clinical Assistant Professor, Co-Coordinator of the undergraduate psychiatric nursing program and Coordinator of the Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Program in the School of Nursing. Dr. Sullivan teaches both graduate and undergraduate students and advises graduate scholarly projects. Her own scholarly interests are in the area of developmental traumas and the prevention of physical and psychiatric sequelae through early intervention.

April Bigelow, PhD, ANP-BC, is an Adult Nurse Practitioner. She currently practices through the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County and sees patients four half days per week at the Delonis Health Clinic. In this practice, she sees a variety of vulnerable populations, including underinsured and homeless patients, for their health promotion, primary care, and acute care needs. In addition, Dr. Bigelow is a faculty member at the UM School of Nursing where she teaches in the Health Promotion and Risk Reduction Programs. Dr. Bigelow’s research focus includes a variety of health promotion issues within vulnerable populations.

Tsui-Sui Annie Kao, PhD, FNP-BC, is a Family Nurse Practitioner with three years of experience as a Nurse Practitioner. Her current practice is at Shelter Association of Washtenaw County (SAWC) at Delonis Health Clinic, where she provides primary care for clients who are homeless or without health insurance. Dr. Kao’s primary research interests include understanding family influences on adolescents’ sexual behavior and promoting health among the homeless population. She currently serves as a principal investigator (PI) on a project titled “Evaluation of a smoking cessation program in a free clinic located in a homeless shelter” to promote smoking cessation among the homeless.

Sue Anne Bell, MSN, FNP-BC, is a Family Nurse Practitioner with ten years of experience in emergency medicine, primary care and international health. She is currently practicing at the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County in the Delonis Health Clinic where she sees a variety of vulnerable populations, including the underinsured and the homeless, for their health promotion, primary care, and acute care needs. Sue Anne received a BS in Nursing from Florida State University and a MS in Nursing from Emory University. She is currently a clinical instructor in both the undergraduate and graduate programs at the University of Michigan, where precepting students in the clinic setting is a focus. Sue Anne’s research interests include health education among vulnerable populations and global health issues.

Dr. Tschannen, Clinical Assistant Professor, received her BSN degree from the University of Michigan, School of Nursing. Dr. Tschannen has worked in the Critical Care Medicine Unit at UMHS and returned to the University of Michigan as a post-baccalaureate Macy Scholar. Her research area has included work and environmental characteristics (as related to patient outcomes), informatics, interdisciplinary communication and collaboration, patient safety, and educational use of Simulation. Dr. Tschannen’s current clinical practice involves consultation services in relation to quality improvement, outcomes management, and research. Services offered include, but are not limited to, assistance in determining data needs and data usage at all levels of the organization; consultation on unit project design, implementation, and program evaluation; facilitation in the development of research products, including posters, manuscripts, and grants; identification of evidence based standards for measurement of effective nursing care; and consultation on system wide quality initiatives, including design, implementation, and evaluation.

Katie Moriarty, PhD, CNM, CAFCI is a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM). She received her BScN degree from the University of Windsor (Ontario, CANADA), a dual MS degree (perinatal nursing and nurse midwifery) and her PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). She is certified by the American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM). As well, she received acupuncture education and certification from the Acupuncture Foundation of Canada Institute (AFCI). She has practiced as a certified nurse midwife since 1993. Dr. Moriarty joined the University of Michigan-School of Nursing (Health Promotion Risk Reduction Division) in the summer of 2008 as a Clinical Assistant Professor. She is a Faculty Scholar in the Integrative Healthcare Program (2008-2009). She is actively involved with linking her clinical practice with teaching (undergraduate, 2nd career, and graduate nursing programs) and research (midwifery and acupuncture/ acupressure). She will see low risk women for prenatal care, post-partum care, and well woman gynecology combining her midwifery care with complementary and integrative therapies at the Nurse Managed Centers.