Practice Professor of Nursing
Director, Streamlined Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Post Graduate APRN Certificate Program
Adult Oncology Specialty Minor/Certificate,
Transformative Nursing Education Minor/Certificate

When patients are sedated, on a ventilator, or unconscious, they cannot speak for themselves. Acute care nurse practitioners play an important part in learning the patient’s and family’s wishes, advocating for the patient, and directing care appropriately. Training nurse practitioners who care for acutely or critically ill patients to assess, develop differential diagnoses, interpret diagnostic studies, diagnose the problem, and develop and implement an individualized plan of care and evaluate that plan to determine if the goals of care are being reached, is my passion as Penn Nursing’s, Streamlined Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Post-Graduate APRN Certificate Program.


The Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program was one of the first in the U.S. to train nurses in critical care and prepare them for board certification. As a certified critical care nurse practitioner herself, Dr. Becker understands the challenges and demands of the specialty. She works with nurse practitioners at all levels, from novices to providers with decades of clinical experience.
Outside of Penn, Dr. Becker has led the way in establishing the role of acute care nurse practitioners in countries including England, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, and Taiwan. Dr. Becker and her colleagues frequently consult on nurse practitioners’ potential, offering training and leadership.

“When I was in nursing school, I never expected that one day I would help nurses around the globe prepare students for specialty careers.” 

Education

  • PhD, Drexel University, 2007
  • MSN, University of Pennsylvania, 1991
  • BSN, Thomas Jefferson University, 1984
  • BSG, Villanova University, 1982