This webinar highlights some of Dr. Michelle Acorn’s major system-change initiatives, developed and demonstrated over the past fifteen years through her executive and clinical leadership roles. These four initiatives were originally articulated in her Leadership Impact Paper for the College’s Fellowship Program. Each project illustrates innovative approaches to addressing persistent gaps in primary and specialty care systems in Ontario, across Canada, and internationally. A central theme across her work is the full integration of Nurse Practitioners (NPs) as a vital, future-ready health workforce solution, advancing equitable access to care, strengthening evidence-informed clinician leadership, and improving recruitment, retention, and professional satisfaction.
The webinar examines the policy, cultural, investment, and governance reforms necessary to achieve sustainable system transformation. Evidence-informed advocacy, measurable outcomes, and diverse local-to-global partnerships are threaded throughout, offering a clear view of Dr. Acorn’s legacy of leadership and system impact. Her reflections on long-term influence, both for population health and for the advancement of the NP profession, and provide practical insight into what is required to drive meaningful, lasting change.
Speaker:
Dr. Michelle Acorn, CEO Nurse Practitioners Association of Ontario
Dr. NP Michelle Acorn DNP, NP PHC/Adult, MN/ACNP, BScN/PHCNP, FCAN, FAAN, FFNMRCSI, FQNI Dr. Acorn has over 35 years of nursing, health systems and leadership expertise. NP Acorn transitioned to her NPAO CEO role in 2024. She previously was the inaugural Chief Nurse with the International Council of Nurses, a former Provincial Chief Nursing Officer in Ontario, and has served as a NPAO President. Dr. Acorn was inducted as an inaugural Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Nursing (FCAN), Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), Fellow of the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (FFNMRCSI, Ad Eundem), and Fellow of the Queens Nursing Institute in the United Kingdom. NP Acorn has received prestigious recognitions including the Nurse Practitioner Association of Canada Award of Excellence and Premier’s Award Nominee for Outstanding Scholars and Leaders. She was named one of the top 20 visionary CEOs in Canada (2024), and top 25 women of influence in Canada (2025) and received a King Charles III Coronation Medal (2025). Michelle received the inaugural Canadian Nurses Association highest merit Sapphire Award in 2025. NP Acorn upholds all the NP advanced practice role domains. She is diploma to post-doctoral educationally prepared, is a Doctor of Nurse Practitioner/ Nursing Practice, dually registered as both a Primary Health Care and Adult Nurse Practitioner, and a certified Global Nurse Consultant.
Dr. Acorn’s diverse clinical expertise includes practicing in the Emergency, as a Hospitalist, innovating GAIN (Geriatric Assessment and Intervention Networks), and pioneering the most responsible provider (MRP) impacts of a NP–led model of inpatient hospital care as well as NP primary care models in corrections. NP Michelle continues to practice in the community enhancing access to care for health equity seeking populations. Michelle is recognized as a credible clinician, thought leader, mentor, teacher and scholar locally to globally.
FEES: FREE
