Region 9 Director
Bessie L. Burk, DNP, MSN, FNP-BC, FAANP
Dr. Bessie Burk is the American Association of Nurse Practitioners® (AANP) Region 9 Director. Burk has been a family nurse practitioner (NP) for 15 years serving the rural communities in Arizona where she lives. She is currently the Director of Medical Services for a rural health care system that provides high quality, evidence-based health care utilizing NPs in a full practice authority state. Additionally, she is a Medical Director with her county health district to ensure quality care for an even larger population. Recognizing not all communities have access to care related to the large number of uninsured members, she operates the only regularly occurring no cost care clinic in her county utilizing volunteer providers. Starting her educational journey at her local community college 1997 provided insight into the needs of her community and has led to obtaining her DNP in 2014. She has since advanced into leadership roles with several nonprofits and national organizations, receiving multiple awards for service to her community as well as being inducted as a Fellow with AANP in 2022.