Dr. Kverno has extensive clinical practice experience providing mental healthcare to adult populations with complex comorbidities and significant socioenvironmental and trauma-related perpetuating factors. She has long been an advocate for integrating healthcare services to improve access to mental healthcare. As the inaugural Director of Behavioral Health Curriculum Development at Georgetown University School of Nursing (GUSON), she implemented a collaborative advisory partnership between the GUSON and the Medstar Health Systems behavioral health services to plan and implement a streamlined post-graduate psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) certificate program for primary care nurse practitioners.
Dr. Kverno led the development of the two Maryland PMHNP programs. The first, established in 2004 at the University of Maryland School of Nursing was one of the early PMHNP programs, and a shift in educational focus from the PMHCNS to the PMHNP. The second, funded by the Maryland Higher Education Commission, was built as an online program with the express purpose of providing PMHNP competencies to primary care NPs who were serving populations with limited access to mental healthcare. She has additionally provided national and international consultation to help other schools of nursing develop advanced practice psychiatric nursing programs.
Dr. Kverno’s specific areas of academic expertise include program, curriculum, and course development, and teaching. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (FAANP) and the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN). In psychiatric nursing, she serves as the President of the Foundation Board of the International Society of Psychiatric Nurses (ISPN) and is a member of several working taskforces, including the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) taskforce that is updating the PMHNP competencies and curricular recommendations for 2024. She serves as the Psychopharmacology Section Editor (new window) for the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services; and as a Section Editor for the international Journal of Psychiatric Nursing. She was acknowledged as a top 10 peer reviewer for the JPN in 2019 and 2020, and honored with the Excellence in Education award from the ISPN in 2021.