Maria De Los Angeles Ortega Hernandez, APRN

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias; family caregiver well-being, preparedness, and resilience; Caring Science-guided and nurse coaching interventions; culturally responsive dementia education, screening, and care for Hispanic and Haitian communities; advance care planning and communicating a dementia diagnosis; nurse-led and interprofessional models of dementia care; increasing diverse participation in ADRD research; dementia care policy and workforce development.

Distinguished Educator in Gerontological Nursing, National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing Excellence (2023); Ronald and Elizabeth Blake Distinguished Professor Research Award, FAU (2023-2025); Edge Runner, American Academy of Nursing (2022); Nurse Practitioner Excellence, Florida Nurse Practitioner Network (2022); Chair, Clinical Care Subcommittee, HHS Advisory Council on Alzheimer's Research, Care, and Services (2021); Fellow, American Association of Nurse Practitioners (2019); Fellow, American Academy of Nursing (2018); Women of Distinction Award (2016, 2021); Nurse of the Year, Palm Healthcare Heart of Gold (2015); Excellence in Teaching Award, FAU Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing (2017).

María de los Ángeles Ortega Hernández, DNP, APRN, is a board-certified Gerontological Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and a Certified Dementia Practitioner. She is Professor of Clinical at the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Miller School of Medicine, and sees patients at the UM Memory Disorder Clinic. She earned her BSN, MS (Gerontological Nurse Practitioner/Clinical Nurse Specialist), and DNP from Florida Atlantic University and her post-master's PMHNP certificate from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. For more than a decade she directed the Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center, a state-designated Memory Disorder Clinic at Florida Atlantic University. She served on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Council on Alzheimer's Research, Care, and Services, chairing its Clinical Care Subcommittee, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Bilingual in English and Spanish, she is dedicated to compassionate, person- and family-centered care for older adults living with memory loss and the families who care for them.