Dr. Kristi Wick
UC Foundation Associate Professor Kristi Wick, the Vicky B. Gregg Chair of Gerontology in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga College of Nursing, has been selected as the 2026 recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Practice Award from the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF).
The Outstanding Faculty Practice Award recognizes nurse practitioner faculty members who demonstrate excellence in integrating active clinical practice into their academic roles while advancing innovative teaching models, practice standards and care delivery.
Wick will be honored during the organization’s annual conference, scheduled for April 15-19 in Dallas.
UTC College of Nursing Dean Chris Smith said Wick’s work has influenced how aging and rural health are addressed across the state.
“Dr. Wick has changed how this state thinks about caring for the aging adult. I say that because her efforts have substantially improved outreach efforts to those in rural areas who have not had routine access to services,” Smith said. “From the first day as the Vicky Gregg Chair in Gerontology, her focus was to find a way to improve the health of our most vital resource—the aging adult—and her interprofessional focus on the needs of adults in our rural areas has shown us the power of working together to improve health.
“This is a well-deserved award and I am so excited but not surprised that she will have national recognition for her work. She will say it is a team effort and she is right. However, someone had to have the vision, and she certainly does. We are so fortunate to have her not only in the College of Nursing but in our communities.”
UC Foundation Associate Professor Priscilla Simms-Roberson nominated Wick for the national award.
“This is a really big honor because NONPF is a huge national organization,” Simms-Roberson said. “It’s one of the most important organizations for nurse practitioner programs across the United States. The fact that Kristi was selected for the award shows that we are doing amazing things here at UTC that deserve to be recognized.”
Simms-Roberson pointed to Wick’s leadership of the MobileMOC mobile health unit as a defining example of the type of faculty practice the award was created to recognize.
MobileMOC, operated through UTC’s College of Nursing, delivers services such as primary care, chronic disease management, preventive screenings and health education in communities with limited access to health care. It also provides hands-on clinical learning opportunities for students across multiple disciplines.
Through the MobileMOC program, undergraduate nursing students, nurse practitioner students and learners from fields such as occupational therapy, social work and nutrition participate in patient care while working alongside faculty clinicians.
“It’s a great learning and practice opportunity for our students,” Simms-Roberson said, “and it’s not a common clinical experience.”
Kay K. Chitty Assistant Professor Kate McKinney said Wick’s approach illustrates how faculty practice can extend beyond the classroom while strengthening student learning and patient care in the community.
“As a newer faculty member, I’ve attended NONPF conferences to gain insight into nurse practitioner education and how to collaborate and be innovative, and Kristi really excels at that,” McKinney said.
“Kristi’s work has provided our students with an opportunity to do outreach with the geriatric population in these rural areas. I think her passion for that community is really seen in her work through the MobileMOC.”
Balancing the responsibilities of teaching, clinical care and community engagement can be challenging for nursing faculty, Simms-Roberson said, but Wick has consistently found ways to connect those roles.
“Since she started here at UTC, she’s done a great job of balancing teaching classes while also improving health care for older adults in the region,” Simms-Roberson said.
McKinney noted that Wick incorporates hands-on experiences and simulations that help students understand the challenges many older adults face.
“She’s doing exciting, important work,” McKinney said.
Wick earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from UTC in 2019 after completing both her Master of Science in Nursing and Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees.
Her leadership has also helped secure major grants to support programs addressing rural health access, aging and interprofessional care models.
“I think it will be inspiring to other faculty members to see what they can achieve as part of their faculty role and incorporate their own clinical practice into the job,” Simms-Roberson said. “Dr. Wick’s work shows how you can help students learn while also making a difference in the community.”
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