Kimberly Garcia, DNP is the director of the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Track and assistant clinical professor at Drexel University. She is board-certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) as a family, gerontological and family psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. She is board-certified by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners as a family nurse practitioner. She is also a Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) and Certified Addictions Registered Nurse-Advanced Practice (CARN-AP).

Garcia received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Duquesne University (summa cum laude), where she also received her Master of Science in Nursing with a specialization in nursing education and post-master’s certificates in Transcultural/International Nursing and Family Nurse Practitioner studies. She received her post-master’s certificate as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Across the Lifespan from the University of Virginia. Garcia received her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Columbia University in the City of New York, where she was named a Faculty Scholar. She completed clinical residencies in the specialties of general psychiatry, addictions and palliative medicine during her DNP program.

Garcia maintains active clinical practice at a community mental health center and at an addiction treatment facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She has more than ten years of experience working in psychiatry. Her clinical interests include meeting the mental health needs of Spanish-speaking individuals, particularly those from the Dominican Republic. She is a DATA 2000 waived practitioner and prescribes buprenorphine at her outpatient practice.

Garcia’s research interest includes applying Merle Mishel’s theory of Uncertainty in Illness to the experience of mothers with sons with opiate use disorder. She also has an interest in the integration of emotional intelligence concepts into the curricula of advanced practice psychiatric nursing programs. She has presented on this topic both nationally and internationally.

Specialization

Acute and chronic mental health disorders, provision of co-occurring treatment for Spanish-speaking individuals and addiction medicine, including against pharmacotherapy and contigency management.