Deborah Hopla

Deborah is an Associate Professor and Director of the MSN& DNP Programs at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina. She has been a Family Nurse Practitioner for 28 years. She attended Georgia Baptist School of Nursing. Her ADN degree is from West Georgia College (now known as West Georgia State University). Her BSN was from the Medical University of South Carolina through the satellite program at Francis Marion University. She obtained her MS/FNP and DNP for the University of South Carolina.

Deborah has served on the South Carolina Advisory Committee for Nursing Education and held leadership positions on the APRN Chapter for South Carolina. She has served as a preceptor Nurse Practitioner students for 18 years and serves as a role model and mentor for NPs. She is the Director of the MSN/FNP and DNP programs at Francis Marion University. Deborah is President of the South Carolina Nursing Foundation Board who provides nursing scholarships for undergraduate and graduate nursing students.

Deborah received the Outstanding Community Health Nurse of the Year Award from the Pee Dee Nurses Association and the Community Health Nurse of the Year from the South Carolina Nurses Association. She was awarded the AJN Excellence in Writing Award for South Carolina. Deborah won a scholarship to Beth Israel Hospital to study “Pain Management”. Her doctoral thesis “The Early Use of Insulin in Type II Diabetes: Achieving Better Glycemic Control and Preventing Adverse Complications” validates current practice for diabetic patients.

Deborah is a Fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.