Loretta Ford
Loretta C. Ford is an American nurse and the cofounder of the first nurse practitioner program. Along with pediatrician Henry Silver, Ford started the pediatric nurse practitioner program at the University of Colorado in 1965. In 1972, Ford joined the University of Rochester as founding dean of the nursing school.
Loretta Ford was born in New York City. She attended nursing school though she had considered a career in teaching. She was a nurse at several military bases during World War II before returning for bachelors and masters degrees at the University of Colorado. Ford worked as a public health nurse in rural Colorado in the 1940s and 1950s. Her experiences in this position led to an interest in advanced medical training for nurses. In 1965, Ford and pediatrician Henry Silver created the pediatric nurse practitioner program at the University of Colorado. This was the first nurse practitioner program in the United States. In 1971, she was elected to the Institute of Medicine. She became the founding dean of the nursing school at the University of Rochester in 1972.
Source: Wikipedia