Julie Koch Joins Prestigious Fellowship Program

When 88 nurse practitioner leaders are inducted into the Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (FAANP) program in June, the state of Indiana will have just one representative — Julie Koch, assistant dean of graduate nursing programs and assistant professor of nursing.

There are nearly 550 fellows nationwide that represent more than 60,000 nurse practitioners across the country, but only a handful are from the state of Indiana. The FAANP program recognizes nurse practitioner leaders who have made outstanding contributions to healthcare through clinical practice, education, research, and/or health policy.

“Dr. Koch’s induction as a Fellow into AANP is a significant recognition of her professional work,” said Janet M. Brown, Ph.D., dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions. “She is an excellent clinician and educator. This honor is definitely well deserved!”

Fellows of AANP are considered visionaries and, as such, hold an annual think tank each spring to strategize about the future of nurse practitioners and healthcare. FAANP members are expected to continue the tradition of impacting national and global health through their outstanding contributions.

Those selected to membership as a Fellow in AANP must demonstrate exceptional contributions and outcomes in two main focus areas of nurse practitioner clinical practice, education, policy or research and demonstrate a continued commitment to leadership within those two focus areas. Professor Koch chose to address nurse practitioner clinical practice and education.

Professor Koch has been a family nurse practitioner in Northwest Indiana for more than 25 years and was the first nurse practitioner to be granted prescriptive authority in Indiana. For the majority of her career, she has focused on promoting wellness in adults. She’s conducted evidence-based practice immunization projects, presented the topic of adult immunization practices at regional and national nurse practitioner conferences, and was recruited as the only nurse practitioner to serve on the Adult Immunizations Faculty Steering Committee for The France Foundation, the nationally recognized educational leader.

Her other main focus has been education. She’s taught within the family nurse practitioner program at Valpo for more than 15 years, playing an integral role in obtaining and maintaining accreditation for Valpo’s doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program, which was the first in the state of Indiana.

“I am very fortunate to work with colleagues who prepare our students to serve and lead in the healthcare community,” Professor Koch says. “I work to maintain relationships with our alumni as they practice in the clinical setting. Our alumni are often a major unofficial advertisement for our program and many serve to mentor our current students as preceptors within our FNP clinical courses.”

Professor Koch will be inducted into the FAANP program at its annual conference held in San Antonio.