Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are advanced healthcare practitioners with similar responsibilities, such as diagnosing illnesses and prescribing medications. However, their training and paths toward certification differ in significant ways. This blog post unpacks the key differences between NPs and PAs to help you determine which career path best aligns with your goals. What Is a Nurse Practitioner? A nurse practitioner (NP) is a licensed clinician who provides comprehensive healthcare to patients of all ages. An NP can work in virtually any healthcare setting, diagnosing patient conditions and prescribing medications. As of October 2022, nurse practitioners have full practice authority in 27 states, meaning that they can practice Read more
Melanie Storms, PsyD
Dr. Storms is currently serving as the Vice President for Saint Leo WorldWide at Saint Leo University. In that role she is responsible for oversight of the University’s 40+ off-campus educational centers as well as their Center for Online Learning.
She has served in a leadership capacity in higher education for nearly 15 years. Prior to joining Saint Leo, she held a variety of roles including College Vice President, Campus President, Vice-President of Academic Affairs, Dean, and Program Chair. She has extensive experience with both programmatic and regional accreditation, having shepherded programs through APA, CACREP, CSWE and CCNE accreditation as well as participating in the HLC reaffirmation process.
As a university administrator, she has worked both with traditional graduate student populations, as well as adult learners at the graduate and undergraduate levels in both campus-based and online settings. Prior to joining the academe, she served in a variety of administrative roles within mental health organizations including Director of a partial hospitalization program and Manager of Clinical Services at a large community mental health center.
Dr. Storms earned her BS in Psychology from the University of Central Florida, and her master’s and doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology from the Florida Institute of Technology.
