Dr. Courtney Pitts, DNP, MPH, FNP-BC, FAANP, Clinical Professor, has extensive experience in teaching, program leadership, and curriculum revision skills. Dr. Pitts has almost a decade of program leadership with those programs ranking in the top 10 best schools as reported by the U.S. News and World report. She is a nationally certified and actively practicing FNP with a clinical background in primary care and the management of patients living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Dr. Pitts currently serves as a member of the National League for Nursing’s public policy committee where she works with colleagues to update the organization’s public policy agenda. The committee also provides nurses and nurse educators tools and resources to help them learn and engage in the public policy process. In 2021, Dr. Pitts was appointed by the United States Secretary of Health to the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice. She is a former member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioner’s Awards Committee, former associate editor for the Journal for Nurse Practitioners, and served two elected terms on the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties’ (NONPF) Board of Directors. Dr. Pitts continues to serve as a member of the editorial board of the Journal for Nurse Practitioners.

Peer-Reviewed

Tapp, J., Ketel, C., Vick, R., Zsamboky, M., Pfieffer, M. L., Gardner, V., Cole, S., & Pitts, C. (2024). Closing the Provider Gap in Rural and Underserved Communities: Preparing Family Nurse Practitioner Students for Entry-to-Practice. Nurse educator, 10.1097/NNE.0000000000001723. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNE.0000000000001723.

Anthamatten, A. & Pitts, C. (2024). Integration of Entrustable Professional Activities in a Competency-based Clinical Assessment Tool in a Nurse Practitioner Program. The Nurse Educator, 49(5), September/October 2024.

Brooks, L., Medina, R., Pitts, C., Dahlem, G., Downes, L., and Beard, K. (2022). Building a Culturally Responsive Workforce: Strengthening the Existence of Faculty of Color in Nursing Education. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 18(5) 575-579.

Pitts, C. & Anthamatten, A. (2020). Pharmacologic management of Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Common Chronic Conditions. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 16 (3), 167- 171.

Pitts, C., Padden, D., Knestrick, J., and Bigley, M.B. (2019). A checklist for faculty and preceptor to enhance the nurse practitioner student clinical experience. The Journal for the Association of American Nurse Practitioners, 31(10):591-597.

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Book Chapters

Pitts, C. (2023). Human immunodeficiency virus and heart failure. K. M. Smith Hayes & N. R. Dellis (Eds). Managing heart failure in primary care: A case study approach( p.271-284). Springer Publishing.

National Organization Position Statements

National League for Nursing. (2023). National League for Nursing Public Policy Agenda 2023 - 2024. Retrieved from https://www.nln.org/public-policy.

National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF). (2018). NONPF Calls for Greater Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Nurse Practitioner Education. (Lead Author and Editor). Retrieved from: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.nonpf.org/resource/resmgr/docs/20180807_diversity_statement.pdf

National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF). (2018). NONPF Supports Telehealth in Nurse Practitioner Education. (Second author). Retrieved from: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nonpf.org/resource/resmgr/2018_Slate/Telehealth_Paper_2018.pdf

National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF). (2016). The Doctor of Nursing Practice Nurse Practitioner Clinical Scholar. (Lead Author and Editor). Retrieved from: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nonpf.org/resource/resmgr/docs/ClinicalScholarFINAL2016.pdf

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Federal Advisory Committee Reports

National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice (NACNEP). (2024) Mitigating Nursing Workforce Challenges By Optimizing Learning Environments - Nineteenth Annual Report 2023. National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice 19th Report.

National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice (NACNEP). (2023) Preparing the nursing workforce for future public health challenges. National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice 18th Report.

• April 2025 - NONPF Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nurse Leader of the Year
• November 2024 - 2024 Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Thomas L Christenbery Alumni Award for Diversity and Inclusion
• November 2024 - Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing
• May 2023 - American Association of Colleges of Nursing Elevating Leaders in Academic Nursing (AACN ELAN) fellow
• January 2023 - Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Award
• February 2021 - Tennessee 40 Under 40 Rising Star Nurse Leaders
• June 2020 - Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (FAANP)
• March 2019- Jackson State University’s Women’s History Month Honoree