Elke Jones Zschaebitz has over 20 years of experience as a family nurse practitioner, primarily in primary care settings. She has held faculty positions at several universities teaching nursing students. Currently, she practices as an NP at the University of Virginia Student Health Center while also serving as adjunct faculty at Georgetown University's nursing program. She is passionate about improving healthcare access, particularly for vulnerable populations.

1. Nursing@Georgetown Faculty Biography Template
Name: Elke Jones Zschaebitz
Credentials: DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
Biography:
Elke Jones Zschaebitz, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, has served as adjunct faculty in the FNP
program at Georgetown since 2013. She has been an NP since 1998, initially working in
Germany for nine years with the Department of Defense. During that time, she
discovered her love of teaching, working with programs such as Student2Student (S2S)
for which she received a national award for innovation and excellence in coordinating the
mentorship of high school students within the Department of Defense educational
network.
Elke returned to the states in 2007 and was appointed as an assistant professor at the
University of Virginia (UVA) School of Nursing. She continued her academic work in
2010 serving as faculty at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing to
help improve their preceptorship program. While at UVA, she received an innovative
teaching award in 2010 for her program promoting cultural competence and ensuring
preceptorship immersion in the coalfield region in Southern Appalachia. She also served
as faculty for the Healthy Appalachia Institute, a public health institute at UVA’s College
at Wise.
Elke’s past experience includes employment as a credentialed NP with the Wilkinson
Pediatric Clinic at Ft. Lee, Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge in Charlottesville, the
Minute Clinics of Richmond, the High Risk Breast and Ovarian Clinic at UVA and in an
integrated clinic called Thrive Health Care serving the LGBT community as well as those
with complex physical and mental health conditions.
She currently practices as a family nurse practitioner at the UVA Elson Student Health
Center in Charlottesville, VA. In addition she serves as a volunteer at the Charlottesville
Free Clinic precepting FNP and medical students in a community-based interdisciplinary
program.

2. Why Georgetown?
“I feel strongly about nursing education and believe in the importance of life-long
learning and service to others, particularly for vulnerable populations that lack access to
health care services. The mission of Georgetown is alignment with my core values
celebrating and supporting people of different faiths, cultures and beliefs as well as the
commitment to justice, well-being and the common good.”
.
Why Family Nurse Practitioner/Primary Care?
“To be successful and joyful in the role of family nurse practitioner, one must be
comfortable with a lifetime of learning, open to daily challenges, willing to engage a
constantly changing dialect of cultural experiences and be empathic with the bio-psycho-
social difficulties facing our patients. The fulfilled NP weaves all of these facets of care
into a meaningful practice based on relationships with individuals, families and whole
communities.”
Courses with Zschaebitz
Elke currently serves as a GU Clinical Faculty Advisor in the FNP program and has
taught in NURO 697, 691 and 714 courses. She has also served as the OCI/Weekend
Intensive coordinator.
“My style of teaching is similar to the way I taught foreign language classes to both
Americans and Germans in the past. As an adult learner of a foreign language in my
early 20’s, I internalized ways to memorize large quantities of information and have
found that practical applications and common sense use of knowledge are the most
helpful in information retention and in critical reasoning. Not only is it important for me
to teach my students the “mechanics” of a new concept , it is also very important for me
to instruct my students in the “use of the language” of applied primary health care. I
often use clinical “Pearls of Wisdom” drawn from my own clinical experiences when
teaching. I enjoy using real vignettes in the live sessions and encourage the students to
share their own clinical pearls from their weekly experiences in their preceptorships.
I believe in a continuous process of self-reflection in which my self-evaluation is
connected to learner engagement and feedback. By incorporating a system of consistent
reflection in my educational approach, I feel that I grow and adapt to the changing needs
of my students. I often strategize by journaling teaching points both during and after each
live session. I try to observe often other clinical instructors who I feel have an effective
communication style. I also continuously re-examine the effectiveness of my videotaped
class sessions.”
Education
Duquesne University, Doctor of Nursing Practice
Midwestern State University, Master of Science in Nursing

3. Villanova University, Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Hope for the Future
Place matters.
Nurse practitioners will continue to improve access to quality, primary health care
in their communities. With an increase in NP primary care providers, our nation
should note a positive turn in not only the cost of quality care, but an improvement
in health outcomes for their patients. As science and technology leap forward, our
push to educate primary care NPs in the use of tools such as telehealth will help
improve the access to specialty care, help improve outcomes for patients and help
save on the miles and dollars spent on travel and lodging for patients, particularly
those who live in rural areas.
Clinical Research Interests and Previous Grant Activities
Interests: NP role in telehealth technology, Professional mentorship, Health
care access for vulnerable populations, LGBTQ health, Autism
Elke has extensive knowledge in the role of the nurse practitioner using telehealth
technology to improve health outcomes including developing an NP-based tele-
colposcopy program in Southwest Virginia. She has spoken and presented posters at
several state and national nurse practitioner conferences on these topics. Elke’s interests
in women’s health provided her an opportunity in 2010 to join a research team in rural
Tanzania geno-typing Massai tribal women to determine if they were matches for the
types covered by the current HPV vaccines. Through this innovative study, they were
able to genotype 350 women across the region through a group and individual consent
process and determine HPV typing, the prevalence of STIs as well as contraceptive
practices of the women.
Publications
 Zschaebitz, E. (2016). Dysmenorrhea. In PrimaryCare: A CollaborativePractice.
Eds. Buttaro, Trybulskiand Polgar-Bailey, 5th edition. St. Louis: Elsevier.
 Zschaebitz, E. J., & Lancaster, J. (2016). Genomics in public health nursing. In M. Stanhope & J.
Lancaster (Eds.), Public health nursing: Population-centered health care in the community (9th ed.,
Chapter 11, pp. 242-255). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
 Zschaebitz, E., Delgado, S., & Friberg, E.“Professional Nursing Roles” In Conceptual
Foundations: TheBridgeto ProfessionalNursingPractice. 6th Edition
Edited by Friberg, E. St. Louis: Elsevier September 2015
 Zschaebitz, E. & Gordon, D. (2014). The Critical Roleof theNP in InterdisciplinaryCare
ManagementandPromotionofFamilyEngagementWho HaveChildrenwithAutism.
Poster Presentation: American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, June 17-22, 2014.
Nashville, TN

4.  Zschaebitz, E. & Gordon, D. (2012). Book Review:Appalachian Health and Well-Being.
Familyand CommunityHealth,Vol36 Issue 1 89-90
 Lancaster, J. & Zschaebitz, E. (2011) “Genomics in Public Health Nursing” In Public
HealthNursing: Population-CenteredHealthCareinthe Community. 8th Edition Edited
by Stanhope, M. and Lancaster, Jeanette St. Louis: Mosby
 Zschaebitz, E., Delgado, S., & Friberg, E.“Professional Nursing Roles” In Conceptual
Foundations: TheBridgeto ProfessionalNursingPractice. 5th Edition
Edited by Friberg, E.St. Louis: Elsevier September 2010
 Zschaebitz, E., Eastham, L., Cattell-Gordon, D., TheUse of TelehealthforCancer Controlin
the CoalfieldsofAppalachianSouthwestVirginia. PosterPresentation: American
Telemedicine Association International Conference April 2010 San Antonio, TX
Grant Participation
 IncreasingtheUse of Long-ActingReversibleContraception:NationalCampaign to
PreventTeen and Unplanned Pregnancy:Nurse Practitioner-Grant funded project at
Planned Parenthood. Current
 An AnalysisofContraceptivePractices amongTribalWomeninNorthernTanzania
International Rural Research Committee, University of Virginia School of Nursing Award
May 2009
 PreventingCervicalCancer in Rural, ImpoverishedWomenthroughNursePractitioner
ColposcopyServices: EnsuringPatientSafetyandEffectiveness.CTSAPilot PI: Beth
Merwin; Co-Investigators David Cattell-Gordon, PeytonTaylor,Elke Zschaebitz. January
2009 to 2012.
 SouthwestVirginiaAlliancefor TelemedicineCancerOutreachProgram,PI:Karen
Rheuban. US Department of Agriculture RDUP-07-01-DLT2009
 HealthyAppalachiaWorks,PI:Michael Weber, the Virginia TobaccoIndemnification and
Revitalization Commission Special ProjectsGrant 2008-2010
 SouthwestVirginiaTelemedicineCancerOutreachProject, Video-colposcopy Project.PI:
Karen Rheuban Health Resources and Services Administration HRSA-08-128
Presentations
 TransgenderHealth:HormoneTherapy,PrimaryCareandBeyond. Virginia Council of
Nurse Practitioners Annual Meeting and Conference, Homestead, VA, March 11, 2016
 GenderIdentity,SexualIdentity:AddressingNewNormals inSpecialPopulations. Virginia
Council of Nurse Practitioners Annual Meeting and Conference, Reston, VA March 27,
2015

5.  TheCritical Roleof the NP in EarlyDetection,InterdisciplinaryCareandApplied
BehavioralManagementofChildrenwithAutism. Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners
Annual Meeting and Conference, Reston, VA March 7, 2014
 TheApplicationImpactof Telehealth/TelemedicineTechnologyinAdvancedPractice
Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners Annual Meeting and Conference, The Homestead,
VA, March 11, 2012
 Global Women’s Health Lecture Series: An interdisciplinary translational research
project: MassaiTribalRegionofNorthernTanzania,VCU Schoolof Nursing, November
10, 2011
 Virginia Free Clinic Association: Annual Conference 2011
AssessingWomenatHigherRiskfor Breastor OvarianCancer, Staunton, VA
 PrimaryCare Shortages. NPRRadio interview included on a panel with Mark Watts,
Mark Greenwald and Ken Anderson moderated by Libby Fitzgerald on NPR, March 30,
2010
 MaturationandReproductiveHealth, Presented March 15, 2010 at the Overseas School
Health Nurse Association Conference, Kaiserslautern Germany
 SharedDecisionMakingusingLong-ActingContraception, Presented January 14, 2010 at
Planned Parenthood Health System Annual Conference, Charlotte, NC
 EvaluatingRiskfor BreastandOvarian Cancer, Presented October31,2009 Inspirations:
A Women’s Retreat, Wintergreen Resort Virginia
 Using Telehealth/TelenursingInitiatives to AddressGeographicalHealthDisparitiesinthe
CoalfieldsofAppalachianSouthwestVirginia,Zschaebitz,E. & Cattell-Gordon, D.
Presented September 2009. University of Virginia
 2009Shapersof the World: Women’s HealthForum March, 2009. UVA SON-Women’s
Center Student Faculty Roundtable. Event Planner and Coordinator.
 TheUse of MultipleTelemedicineModalities to Address GeographicalHealthDisparitiesin
the CoalfieldsofAppalachianSouthwestVirginia.Zschaebitz,E., Cattell-Gordon, D.,
Sullivan, E. Co-Presenters. American Telemedicine Association, April 27, 2009. Last
Vegas, Nevada
 Using Telehealth/TelenursingInitiatives to AddressGeographicalHealthDisparitiesinthe
CoalfieldsofAppalachianSouthwestVirginia. Cattell-Gordon,D. & Zschaebitz, E.Co-Guest
Lecturer. September 2008. University of Virginia
 Using Telehealth/TelenursingInitiatives to AddressGeographicalHealthDisparitiesinthe
CoalfieldsofAppalachianSouthwestVirginia. Cattell-Gordon,D. & Zschaebitz, E. Poster
Presentation VCNP Annual Conference March 2010

6.  Zschaebitz, E., Cattell-Gordon, D., Wilson,K. TheUse of NursePractitioners andTelehealth
Modalitiesto AddressGeographicalHealthDisparities intheCoalfields ofAppalachian
SouthwestVirginia. PosterPresentation. Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners 35th
Annual Conference March 2009 Williamsburg Virginia.
Awards
 Outstanding Civilian ServiceAward Medal: Kenner Army Health Clinic, 2014
 Academic-Community Engagement Fellow University of Virginia, 2010
 University of Virginia Schoolof Nursing, Innovative Teaching Award, 2009
 Outstanding S2S Program Coordinator National Award, Houston, TX,2006
 USAG Grafenwoehr, WolverineAward 94th Engineer Combat Battalion, 2006
 Outstanding Volunteer American Red Cross, DODGermany, 1999-2007
 52nd Fighter Wing, Outstanding Volunteer Program Tutor Mentor, 2003
 US Army Commendation Civilian Desert Storm Bremerhaven, Germany, 1992
 Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities, Villanova University, 1988
 Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society,Villanova University, 1988