SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

Mark Whelchel, DNP, ACNP-BC, CCRN began his career as a Registered Nurse in the Intensive Care Unit and trauma center in Washington DC. After several years, he worked on a medivac helicopter and a fixed wing aircraft for over ten years in Florida. Ultimately, Mark served as the Chief Flight Nurse and Clinical Nurse Educator, combining practice and instruction to boost program revenue and leading the organization to become the regionally preferred provider. Mark simultaneously became licensed as a paramedic and began teaching for the local EMT and Paramedic programs.

Ever passionate about education, Mark continued his schooling and obtained his master’s degree in Nursing as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP). As an ACNP Mark worked in the areas of bone marrow transplant, heart transplant, critical care as an intensivist and, most recently, at the University Maryland Medical System’s, Baltimore Shock Trauma Center. In addition to providing comprehensive care from injury to outpatient follow-up for Trauma patients, he ensured Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospital Organizations (JCAHO) compliance by establishing an orientation and competency program for the Advanced Practice Trauma Group.

While working as an ACNP, Mark advanced his education once again and completed his doctorate in nursing practice (DNP). He was the recipient of a Jonas Foundation Veteran’s Healthcare Scholarship. Mark’s doctoral work focused on improving veteran access to heart failure specialty care.