Deborah L. Hopla,
DNP, APRN-BC

Primary Nurse Planner

Deborah is an assistant professor and director at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina. She has been a Family Nurse Practitioner for 20+ years. She attended Georgia Baptist School of Nursing. Her ADN degree is from West Georgia College (now known as West Georgia State University). Her BSN was from the Medical University of South Carolina through the satellite program at Francis Marion University. She obtained her MS/FNP and DNP from the University of South Carolina.

Deborah has served on the South Carolina Advisory Committee for Nursing and held leadership positions on the APRN Chapter for South Carolina. She has served as a preceptor for Nurse Practitioner students for 18 years and serves as a role model for NPs. Deborah is Chair for the Nursing Graduate Committee as Francis Marion. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International.

Deborah received the Outstanding Community Health Nurse of the Year Award from the Pee Dee Nurses Association and the Community Health Nurse of the Year from the South Carolina Nurses Association. She was awarded the AJN Excellence In Writing Award for South Carolina. Deborah won a scholarship to Beth Israel Hospital to study "Pain Management". Her doctoral thesis "The Early Use of Insulin in Type II Diabetes: Achieving Glycemic Control to Reduce Adverse Complications" validates current practice for diabetic patients.

Deborah served as a team member on a Medical Mission Trip to Nicaragua and continues her outreach to vulnerable and underserved people by working part-time at Hope Health (a Community Health Care Center) in Florence, South Carolina.