Nancy Ridenour, PhD,APRN,BC,FAAN, is Dean and Professor of the College of Nursing at the University of New Mexico where she also chairs the Health Policy Council for the UNM Health Sciences Center.  She was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow with the Committee on Ways and Means in the US House of Representatives.  Prior to the health policy fellowship, she served as Dean and Professor of the College of Nursing at Illinois State University, Associate Dean at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, and Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado.

Dr. Ridenour is a certified Family Nurse Practitioner and has held leadership positions in the American Nurses Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Public Health Association, the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, the Society of Primary Care Policy Fellows, and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties. She received Fulbright-Hays grants for study tours of China, Egypt and Jordan.  She has consulted extensively on primary care and public health issues in South America, Asia, India, the Middle East, and, Cuba. The author of numerous journal articles and contributions to books, she has focused her career on health policy and improving primary health care for underserved populations. 

Her awards include two National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships; a primary care policy fellowship from the U.S. Public Health Service, and induction into the American Academy of Nursing, the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellowship, and the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship.  She is currently on the Steering Committee for the NM Action Coalition for the Future of Nursing Campaign for Action.