Heather Meissen is an Associate Professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University and the Interim Program Director for the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program. She maintains active clinical practice in the Surgical Transplant Intensive Care Unit at Emory University Hospital, where she has cared for critically ill and injured patients for 19 years. Before joining the School of Nursing, Dr. Meissen was the founding Program Director of the Critical Care Nurse Practitioner Fellowship Program at Emory Healthcare, which earned the nation’s first accreditation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center Practice Transition Program (ANCC PTAP). She now serves as a Commissioner of Accreditation for the ANCC, where she played a pivotal role in developing the advanced practice provider fellowship accreditation pathway (ANCC APPFA). Demonstrating her commitment to national leadership and collaboration, Dr. Meissen also founded the Association of Post Graduate APRN Programs, a national non-profit organization supporting fellowship program directors with program development and rigor. She served on its founding executive board and was elected its first president. Her research focuses on advancing the workforce development of advanced practice providers, with emphasis on burnout, resilience, fellowship training, and retention. She holds a MSN and DNP from Vanderbilt University, and a BSN from Birmingham – Southern College.