Donna L. Torrisi graduated from Villanova University with a B.S.N. in 1972. She received her M.S.N. in 1976 from the University of Pennsylvania as a Family Nurse Practitioner. In 1991 she co-wrote and then received a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant to provide health care to residents of public housing. Today that program has grown to five sites serving over 18,000 patients with a budget of over 16 million dollars. The sites have been recipients of multiple awards including the HRSA National Models that Work Award and the Smith Kline Beecham Community Impact Award. Ms. Torrisi received the Villanova University Leadership in Nursing award, the University of Pennsylvania Lillian Brunner Sholstis award for Excellence in Nursing Practice, the Pennsylvania Nurses Association Leadership award for Innovative Practice, and the National Alliance for Resident Services in Affordable and Assisted Housing, Practitioner of the Year Award. Donna was a key leader in the state of Pennsylvania in an effort that culminated in legislative change redefining primary care provider to include nurse practitioners. She has published and lectured on the nurse- managed model and on integrating behavioral health into primary care. She is a founding member and the first chairperson of the National Nursing Centers Consortium. She also co-wrote the book “Community and Nurse Managed Health Centers, Getting them Started and Keeping them Going,” published in May 2005. Donna is a 2005 graduate of the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellowship Program. She was recently designated an Edge Runner with the American Academy of Nursing and in 2012 was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing. Donna continues her clinical practice, regularly seeing patients at the Family Practice and Counseling Network.

Awards

– Awarded Fellowship in the American Academy of Nursing, October 2012.

– Edge Runner recognition, American Academy of Nursing, March 2011.

– Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Pennsylvania/Penn Nursing Science, May 2010.

– National Alliance for Resident Services in Affordable and Assisted Housing,

– Practitioner of the Year Award, November 2003.

– Monroe E. Trout – Certificate of Merit, 1998.

– Smith Klein Beecham Community Impact Award, 1997.

– Models That Work, US Bureau of Primary Health Care, HRSA, 1996.

– Primary Care Achievement Award, Honorable Mention, Pew Charitable Trust, 1995.

– Villanova University Leadership in Nursing Practice and Health Care Delivery, 1995.

– Lillian Brunner Alumnae Award, The University of Pennsylvania, May 1993.

– Search for Excellence, Pennsylvania Nurses Association, March 1993.

– Health Strategy Network, Outstanding Clinical Practice, March 1993.