Often part time NP faculty are not provided with financial support for activities that would expand their teaching such as trainings, conferences, professional memberships, and other resources. These activities can energize the faculty and enhance skills and knowledge, so the most current primary care education is delivered to the graduate students.

Some NP faculty choose to pay for these professional and enrichment resources with their own money which can be financially challenging. Ann directed the Family and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Programs for many years and saw firsthand the economic impact that NP faculty experienced.

As a result, she created the Ann L O'Sullivan Primary Care Faculty Development Fund. With your help, NP faculty will be given the financial support they need to access enrichment opportunities that allow them to provide the evidence-based care necessary for tomorrow's health care leaders.

Ann has taught and practiced for the past 49 years, mentoring faculty and students to find their professional paths thanks to her support and guidance. Ann is a loyal and enthusiastic Quaker with her Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral degrees all conferred from Penn. Her dedication to the School of Nursing (SON) includes serving two terms as the President of the Penn SON alumni association.

As a leader of the Family and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Programs, Ann combined clinical practice with teaching and research, to bring her insights with patients into the classroom for both students and faculty. A passionate promoter of the DNP degree, Ann has been a leader in developing the program and mentoring students. Her exemplary teaching was recognized with the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2000.

Ann was a funded researcher and innovative pediatric nurse practitioner at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She is nationally and internationally known for her work with teen mothers and her focus on helping teen parents delay a second pregnancy.

Ann served as chair of the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing's advanced practice registered nurses committee, which monitored full practice authority legislation in Pennsylvania. Ann worked to develop policies that expand full practice authority for advanced practice registered nurses. She is a leading advocate for NPs to practice to the full extent of their license. She has written and lectured extensively on the need to remove scope of practice restrictions and increase professional collaborations between physicians and advanced practice registered nurses.

Ann's national efforts with the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and as president of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculty was integral to the passage of the Consensus Model. This is a groundbreaking model of uniform regulation for the future of advanced practice nursing that is designed to align the interrelationships among licensure, accreditation, certification, and education. It required intense collaboration by more than 50 nursing organizations. With Ann's efforts this model has been adopted throughout the country.

Lastly, Ann has championed the Bridging the Gaps Community Health Internship Program, in which students provide health-related services in economically insecure communities. Ann has received numerous awards and recognitions for her teaching, research, practice and service to the School, the University, and the discipline of nursing.