Dr. Kathy Wheeler is Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing in the NP and DNP Program, additionally practicing as a Family Nurse Practitioner in an inner city clinic.  Clinical focus has been on providing family care though she and a PharmD from the College of Pharmacy also provide care to diabetes patients through an innovative shared group practice model.  She has participated in multiple medical brigades to Ecuador and Peru.
 
She earned her BSN and MSN from the University of Kentucky, later earning a PhD in Education from Capella University in Minneapolis.  Doctoral work concentrated on distance education of APRNs, and she has since assisted multiple programs as they transitioned from the traditional classroom to distance and blended format.  Current work involves improving health literacy understanding for both patients and providers.  Here in the US she has done research on education and delivery of diabetes care; outside of the US she has done research on access to health care.
 
Dr. Wheeler is Region 4 Director of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). During her term she has worked diligently to increase student participation at regional and national meetings, created the State Representative Orientation website and secured representation to the AANP Board of Directors of several US territories.  As a Fellow of AANP, she has been an active member of the Leadership Committee, working now to create a Leadership Institute for AANP members.
 
She is a founding member of the Multi-State Reimbursement Alliance and has recently worked to expand the same program to Region 4.  The group now is in the process of identifying third party payers of the region as well as problems of reimbursement for APRNs.
 
In Kentucky she is involved in the creation of an Action Coalition as recommended by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in pursuit of implementation of the Institute of Medicine’s Future of Nursing recommendations.  She has served as Executive Director of the Kentucky Coalition of Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Midwives, working on policy issues for the state of Kentucky then, before and since.  
 
She has taught over 200 continuing education workshops and coordinated several continuing education programs, presenting most recently at annual meetings of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioners, the International Nurse Practitioner/Advanced Practice Nursing Network and the AANP.  She has been a peer reviewer for the Journal of the AANP as well as for poster and research presentations.