The Fellows of the AANP (FAANP) impact national and global health and enhance the mission of the AANP by engaging recognized nurse practitioner leaders who make outstanding contributions to clinical practice, research, education, or policy.

1. News From:
For Immediate Release October 7, 2014
Contact: Damian Becker, Manager of Media Relations
(516) 377-5370
Senior Nurse Practitioner Awarded Prestigious
Fellowship from the AANP
Oceanside, NY— The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) recently
announced that it has inducted Margaret (Peg) O’Donnell, DNPs, FNP, ANP, B-C, FAANP, as a
Fellow of the association. Just 485 of the more than 189,000 nurse practitioners in the US are
recognized Fellows of the AANP.
Established by the AANP in 2000, the Fellows of the AANP (FAANP) impact national
and global health and enhance the mission of the AANP by engaging recognized nurse
practitioner (NP) leaders who make outstanding contributions to clinical practice, research,
education, or policy. In addition to hosting invitational Think Tanks and an intensive
Mentorship Program, FAANP is dedicated to strategizing about the future of nurse practitioners
and health care outside the confines of traditional thinking.
Ms. O’Donnell is a primary care provider and preceptor, providing comprehensive health
care at South Nassau Communities Hospital (located in Oceanside, NY), where she became one
of the first NPs named to its medical staff. She serves as Senior NP at South Nassau and
organized its Advanced Practice Nurses Innovative Care Committee, which engages in peer
review, case presentations, strategic planning, and coordinating efforts between inpatient and
outpatient services.
The New York State representative of the AANP, Ms. O’Donnell has served in numerous
leadership roles for the AANP, Nurse Practitioners Association of New York (NPANY) and
Nurse Practitioners Association of Long Island (NPALI), most notably in grassroots efforts to
effect policy changes affecting NP practice. As a result of her steadfast leadership, she is a
recipient of the NPALI NP of the Year Award and AANP New York State NP Advocate Award.
Ms. O’Donnell has been a healthcare provider for more than 30 years. She started her
career as an RN in 1981, and has served at some of the Northeast’s most prestigious hospitals

2. including the Hospital for Joint Diseases in Manhattan; Long Island Jewish-North Shore
University Healthcare System; and University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Ms. O’Donnell
has extensive experience in many disciplines including emergency services, intensive care, stem
cell transplantation, and electrophysiology. She was also involved in clinical research trials at
South Nassau. She is currently a doctoral student at SUNY Stony Brook.
Nurse practitioners are registered nurses who are prepared, through advanced education
and clinical training, to provide a wide range of preventive and acute health care services to
individuals of all ages. NPs complete graduate-level education preparation that leads to a
master’s degree/and are often Doctoral-trained. NPs take health histories and provide complete
physical examinations; diagnose and treat most common acute and chronic problems; interpret
laboratory results and X-rays; prescribe and manage medications and other therapies; provide
health teaching and supportive counseling with an emphasis on prevention of illness and health
maintenance; and refer patients to other health professionals as needed.
The AANP is the largest professional membership organization for nurse practitioners
(NPs) of all specialties. It represents the interests of over 189,000 NPs, including more than
50,000 individual members and 203 organizations, providing a unified networking platform and
advocating for their role as providers of high-quality, cost-effective, comprehensive, patient-centered
and personalized health care. The organization provides legislative leadership at the
local, state and national levels, advancing health policy; promoting excellence in practice,
education and research; and establishing standards that best serve NP patients and other health
care consumers.
Designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC),
South Nassau® Communities Hospital is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 435 beds,
more than 900 physicians and 3,000 employees. Located in Oceanside, NY, the hospital is an
acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac,
oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health and emergency services. In
addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, South Nassau provides emergency and
elective angioplasty, and is the only hospital on Long Island with the Novalis Tx™ and Gamma
Knife® radiosurgery technologies. South Nassau is a designated Stroke Center by the New York
State Department of Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American
College of Surgeons and is an accredited center of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery
Association and Quality Improvement Program. In addition, the hospital has been awarded the
Joint Commission’s gold seal of approval as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures,

3. including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care; and disease-specific care for
hip and joint replacement, wound care and end-stage renal disease. For more information, visit
www.southnassau.org.
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