Michelle Wade Michelle Wade MSN/Ed, APRN, AGNP-C, ACNPC-AG, FAANP is a dual-certified Adult Gerontological Nurse Practitioner in both Primary and Acute Care, who works to advocate for her patients on a daily basis.

Michelle is the President-Elect of the Vermont Nurse Practitioners Association; she is active on the Conference and Policy committees, as well as being Vermont’s state representative to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She has completed the AANP Leadership Program and is currently the co-chair of the organization’s awards committee. She is a Member of the ANA-Vermont.

During Michelle’s career as an educator, she initiated and served as a faculty advisor for the Vermont Technical College chapter of the Alpha Delta Nu honor society, where she also received the W. Robert Wonkka Advising Award. In addition, she was selected to receive Elsevier’s National Educator of the Year award. As a service to the profession, she continues to precept Nurse Practitioner students in her clinical role as a Hospitalist, encouraging them to practice in Vermont. Michelle is a founding member of Omega Mu Sigma Chapter while continuing with Omicron Delta through the University of Phoenix where she earned her BSN and MSN. Michelle continues to teach at Vermont Technical College across the curriculum from PN to BSN. She enjoys clinical teaching and guiding future nurses.

Michelle has contributed to the Textbook for the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner: Evidence-Based Standards of Practice and has been a reviewer for Clinical Guidelines books as well as presenting on various topics at Nurse and Nurse Practitioner conferences throughout the United States.

Michelle was inducted into the American Association of Nurse Practitioner Fellows in 2022 as a distinguished member of the association and leader in the profession

As a clinician, Michelle was awarded the 2018 AANP Nurse Practitioner State Award for Clinical Excellence in Vermont by leading a project to reduce the rate of re-admissions to hospitals from local nursing homes. Her efforts helped decrease the rate of readmission by about 60% in 1 year’s time.

Michelle is currently the Lead Hospitalist at Gifford Medical Center in Rural Randolph Vermont and is active on several committees at Gifford. She continues to teach at Vermont State University in various roles in the Nursing department. In her role as a hospitalist, she cares for a diverse population in a small town and works to teach patients about their illnesses as well as improve their health.

Overall, Michelle’s primary interests are working collaboratively within the nursing community, continuing to teach in the local colleges, and advocating for her patients by providing the right care at the right time. As a nurse practitioner, she has the ability to provide comprehensive patient care to both acute and primary care patients.

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I’m a native Vermonter who has been a nurse since graduating with my BSN from the University of Vermont in 1983. I’ve worked in acute care at at local hospital as a staff nurse, charge nurse and nurse educator prior to coming to higher education in 1989. I received a Master’s of Science in Nursing in 2001 from the University of Phoenix. I served on the Vermont Board of Nursing for 14 years.

I wish I could say that I always wanted to be a nurse. I was pregnant with twins when I was laid off from my job as a mortgage underwriter in the first housing crisis in 2003. Unable to find work, I went back to school. I had talked extensively to a nurse educator at the bedside when I was inpatient awaiting the birth. I knew that I loved to teach and was fascinated by her job. I started my nursing prerequisite courses when my twins were 6 months old. I completed my LPN certificate when they were 16 months old; my associate’s degree (ADN) when they were 3.

Once I started practicing in the Birth Center of a tertiary care center, I was hooked. I started precepting new hire RNs when I had been in my position just over a year. I completed my Bachelors (BSN) just 5 years after I had been originally laid off. In 2010, I started teaching clinically in the ADN program that I had completed. I completed my Masters (MSN) in nursing education in 2012 and accepted a position as the educator in the Birth Center. I discovered that not only was nursing a passion, but nursing education – all facets of it, is what drives me. I started working on my Doctorate (DNP) in May 2015 – the same month I accepted a position as an assistant professor of nursing at VTC. I teach exclusively in the VTSU online RN-to-BSN program. I graduated from my Duquesne University with my DNP in May 2017.

Working as a nurse manager, I had to learn many things “on the fly” about business and budgeting. I had some advantage due to my previous life in the finance world, but needed HR and business concepts. I completed my MBA with a concentration in Healthcare Administration at Castleton University in 2020. In addition to teaching in the BSN program, I am also a senior leader at a small hospital in Vermont since Jan 2021. My position is AVP-Operations and I oversee the procedure-based service lines – Birth Center, Emergency Department, Surgical Services. Additionally, the foundational services of the organization – Lab, Environmental Services, Facilities and Nutrition Services. In June 2023 I was asked to be the interim Chief Nursing Officer when the position was vacant – I am not sure how interim the interim is but will serve to the best of my ability.

When not working, I am home with my awesome husband, 3 teenagers (twins and a brother), 2 yellow labs Rosie and Ginger (affectionately called the Ding Dongs), 3 kitties, and 2 cows. I love to knit and read spy novels.

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Marie McDuff’s nursing career began at Castleton in 1982. After 30 years of working as a nurse, she decided to go into teaching. Marie McDuff’s passions include teaching in the Simulation Center and hands-on student-centered learning.