10/12/2021

Educator Profile

Dr. Flo Weierbach, PhD, MSN, MPH, RN

Dr. Flo Weierbach has been a member of ACHNE for over 15 years and is currently the Chair of Members at Large. Flo is passionate about pulling in community resources to ensure people get what they need to be as healthy as possible. Flo’s dissertation, A Description of Community Resource Use by Rural Elders with Heart Failure, focused on caregivers in rural populations. Over the years, Flo has engaged in numerous grant and research activities, including a Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) grant-funded project to allow senior nursing students to have a practicum in a community-based setting and a study involving the use of electronic nicotine products among youth in Central Appalachia.

Raised in a small town in the Philadelphia area, Flo initially obtained her Associate of Applied Science in Nursing in the 80s. Although she started out working in an acute care setting, she went back to get a Bachelor of Science in Nursing to meet people in the community and never looked back. Flo went on to obtain a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Ph.D. in Nursing from the University of Virginia.

Flo is currently an associate professor at East Tennessee State University in the College of Nursing. She primarily teaches graduate nursing courses and developed a doctoral nursing course focused on vulnerable populations and rural communities. Recently, she was part of a cutting-edge project to create an Interprofessional Education (IPE) program, including Doctor of Nursing Practice and MPH students at her institution. This interactive online program demonstrates how the individual fits into population health. Although Flo has a long list of accomplishments, including being selected for the American Nurses Association (ANA) Scope and Standards Public Health Nursing revisions workgroup, she identifies seeing former students emerge as nursing and public health leaders as one of her most meaningful achievements.

Flo challenges the members of ACHNE to appreciate and recognize their influence on public health and the community. Members do not need to have assigned courses in these areas to make an impact. She urges members to be creative and look for opportunities in the community at the policy level, such as serving on a board or other capacities where members can use their expertise in public health.