Lolita Melhado, Ph.D., APRN, FNP-BC, ACHPN is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing, DNP program at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). Dr. Melhado has developed a palliative care curriculum and taught a variety of courses. Dr. Melhado serves as the Project Manager on the HRSA Advanced Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW) grant totaling $2.8 million. The focus of the grant is to increase the distribution of primary care nurse practitioners entering the workforce in rural and underserved populations with an emphasis on value-based care delivery. Dr. Melhado served on the national telehealth toolkit consortium and chaired the Technology Workgroup. Dr. Melhado is also Vice President of Clinical Programs at One Accord Health and maintains an active clinical practice in palliative care. Prior to joining FGCU, Dr. Melhado has served in leadership roles and authored articles to advance the field of palliative care. She served as faculty on the E-learning curriculum development committee at the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) and authored a chapter in Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association Core Curriculum for the Advanced Practice Hospice and Palliative Registered Nurse (3rd ed). Dr. Melhado is a pioneer of Palliative Care startups in acute care and community settings. She is the previous national director of Palliative Care Education at Compassus. Dr. Melhado is passionate about improving health equity in underserved populations and educating nurses to achieve the best outcomes in evidence-based practice and innovative strategies.