PhD, RN, NEA-BC, CPN
Dr. Valerie Lapp is a Nurse Scientist with more than 26 years of experience in acute care nursing and 12 years in nursing education, both within the hospital setting and as a clinical adjunct instructor. She earned her PhD in Nursing Research, a Master’s in Nursing Education, and a BSN from the University of Central Florida.
Dr. Lapp is board-certified as an Advanced Nurse Executive (NEA-BC), a Certified Pediatric Nurse (CPN), and holds a Certificate in the Fundamentals of Magnet®. She serves as a peer reviewer for multiple nursing journals and sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Pediatric Nursing. Her professional affiliations include the American Nurses Association (ANA), Florida Nurses Association (FNA), Sigma Theta Tau International, the National Pediatric Nurse Scientist Collaborative (NPNSC), and the Society of Pediatric Nurses (SPN).
An expert in nursing excellence, Dr. Lapp has extensive experience authoring Magnet® documentation and preparing organizations for successful site visits. She co-authored her organization’s Magnet® documents, which were accepted on initial submission, and currently advises on its journey toward a fourth designation in 2027. She also played a key role in building the research infrastructure at her specialty hospitals.
Dr. Lapp has presented more than 40 posters at local, national, and international conferences. She frequently lectures on performance improvement, evidence-based practice, and nursing research—striving to make nursing scholarship meaningful and accessible to clinical nurses.