Assistant Professor, Division of Women, Children & Family Health
Program Director for Continuing Education, Office of Lifelong Learning
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHCO)
Jennifer.Disabato@ucdenver.edu
Dr. Disabato began her role as an Assistant Professor in the Division of WCFH, Clinical Teaching Track in early 2013, after 5.5 years as a Senior Instructor and the lead program planner/administrator for Continuing Nursing Education in the Office of Lifelong Learning. From 2007 – 2010, Jennifer was the Program Director for the National Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Symposium, a long-standing annual conference sponsored by the CU College of Nursing for NPs from around the United States and international locations.
In 2012, Jennifer earned her Doctorate of Nursing Practice from the University of Colorado earning an exceptional pass on her capstone project focused on Improving Transition from Pediatric to Adult Specialty Care for Adolescents and Young Adults with Refractory Epilepsy. Her clinical background with both acute and chronic illness populations serves as a foundation for her interest in this vulnerable time for patients and families. She was the recipient of a doctoral student scholarship from the American Association of Nurse Practitioner Foundation in 2010.
In December of 2012, Jennifer and co-investigator, Paul Levisohn, MD were awarded a one-year Clinical and Operational Effectiveness and Patient Safety Grant from the CU SOM and The Children’s Hospital Colorado Quality Improvement Department to expand her capstone work on transition to adult care for epilepsy patients, to all neurology patients. Jennifer maintains a 20% clinical practice at CHCO, which effective March 1, 2013, will be in the department of neurology on the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. She is dually certified as a primary and acute care PNP.
Dr. Disabato obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana. Since obtaining her MS in Nursing at the University of Colorado in 1986, she has been an Advanced Practice Nurse at Children’s Hospital Colorado, initially as a Clinical Nurse Specialist and then beginning in 1990 as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. Her 25 years of advanced practice has been primarily in the neurosciences: pediatric neurosurgery, neurology /epilepsy, and chronic pain. She has been a preceptor for numerous graduate nursing students, and from 2005-2007, was a clinical scholar for baccalaureate nursing students from both the University of Colorado and Regis University in their pediatric rotations as Children’s.
She is an active member of the Innovations and Outcomes Council at Children’s Hospital Colorado, and has participated in activities with the Advanced Practice Council. She is a member of the Colorado Society of Advanced Practice Nurses, American Association of Neuroscience Nurses, the Society of Pediatric Nurses, the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, Sigma Theta Tau Alpha Kappa Chapter, and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Dr. Disabato has lectured extensively locally, regionally and nationally on clinical topics, and has published articles and chapters primarily in the area of pediatric neuroscience.