The impact of Ms. Dorothy Fraser’s dedication to learning and to her students is captured by their comments: “Dorothy’s ability to convey to students the knowledge she possesses is stellar. She uses multiple means to do this: lecture, clinical examples, diagrams, and case studies to make sure we all understand the concepts she is trying to get across.” Other students echo that sentiment saying that “Dorothy is the most exceptional, gifted, and effective pathophysiology instructor we have ever encountered.”
Dorothy’s nursing education began at St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing in Omaha, Nebraska. She continued to pursue her education at Sonoma State University where she received her BSN, and the University of California, San Francisco where she received her MSN. She has completed 60 units of post graduate work in gerontology at the University of Southern California. She is a California licensed Registered Nurse and holds her ANA certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner.
Dorothy has more than 30 years of healthcare experience and 20 years of collegiate teaching experience . She has worked as a consultant in the areas of long term care, geriatric assessment and education, nursing interventions and discharge planning. She has presented at national scientific and professional meetings and workshops and has received numerous teaching awards. For the past 5 years she has held concurrent faculty appointments at the University of California, Davis and the University of California, San Francisco.
At UC Davis Dorothy teaches in the Family Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant Program and is the Teaching Center Director at the UC Davis FNP/PA program’s Fresno Satellite. The UC Davis FNP/PA program is one of only two in the United States that teaches nurse practitioners and physician assistant students together. To help meet the needs of a diverse group of learners, Ms. Fraser developed the first Web-based course within the program, a pathophysiology class that has since won national recognition. She also teaches medicine coursework in the first and second year of the program. She has been a mentor to faculty in the development of distance education and online course development.
As an associate clinical professor for the University of California, San Francisco, Dorothy teaches in the rural health nurse practitioner program located in Fresno. In addition to teaching pathophysiology and medicine , she also teaches family theory. She has also held faculty appointments at San Diego State University, California State University, Dominguez Hills, and the University of Southern California.
Ms. Fraser’s clinical practice in California’s central valley provides much needed healthcare to a rural underserved ethnically diverse population . Her clinical practice provides an opportunity to act as a role model for students in meeting the mission of the FNP/PA program, which is to provide culturally relevant healthcare to underserved populations.