Stephen Ferrara Begins His Term as AANP President

Ferrara succeeds April Kapu to lead the American Association of Nurse Practitioners for two years.

Stephen A. Ferrara, DNP, FAAN, associate dean and associate professor at Columbia University School of Nursing, begins his presidency today of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), succeeding April Kapu, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FCCM, FAAN, who finished her two-year term on Sunday.

Ferrara is an actively practicing nurse practitioner (NP) with years of clinical and health policy development experience, from which he drew to help secure full and direct access to NP-delivered care for patients in the state of New York in April 2022. New York joined 24 other states and Washington, D.C., at the time in granting nurse practitioners full practice authority (FPA).

"Dr. Ferrara is widely known and respected," said AANP’s CEO Jon Fanning, MS, CAE, CNED. "As an AANP board of directors member over the past seven years, he has played an instrumental role in developing strategies to raise awareness of the high-quality, patient-centered care provided by NPs, while also advocating for full practice authority. We look forward to his leadership as more and more patients choose nurse practitioners as their healthcare provider."

In his role at Columbia, Ferrara is responsible for overseeing the NP primary care faculty practice located in New York City, where he teaches health policy in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program.

Ferrara is particularly interested in health information technology and the integration of evidence-based practice into daily practice. His doctoral work examined the impact of group health visits on the health of Type 2 diabetes patients and the extent that this intervention led to better health outcomes.

"I am proud to represent the voices of more than 355,000 licensed NPs nationwide and the lifesaving care we deliver in countless patient visits each year," Ferrara said. "As nurse practitioners, we play a vital role in healthcare delivery, and I am committed to fostering professional growth, advocating for our interests, and promoting our invaluable contributions to patient outcomes."

 Ferrara has been honored with the AANP New York NP State Award for Excellence and inducted as a Fellow of AANP, the American Academy of Nursing, and the New York Academy of Medicine.