Loretta Ford

Loretta C. Ford, EdD, RN, PNP, FAAN, FAANP (born December 28, 1920 ) is an American nurse and the co-founder of the first nurse practitioner program. Along with pediatrician Henry Silver, Ford started the pediatric nurse practitioner program at the University of Colorado in 1965. In 1972, Ford joined the University of Rochester as founding dean of the nursing school.

Biography
Loretta Ford was born in New York City. She attended nursing school though she had considered a career in teaching. She was a nurse in the US Army Air Force, and worked at several military bases during World War II before returning for bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Colorado. Ford worked as a public health nurse in rural Colorado in the 1940s and 1950s. Her experiences in this position led to an interest in advanced medical training for nurses. In 1965, Ford and pediatrician Henry Silver created the pediatric nurse practitioner program at the University of Colorado. This was the first nurse practitioner program in the United States. In 1971, she was elected to the Institute of Medicine. She became the founding dean of the nursing school at the University of Rochester in 1972.

Ford was named a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing in 1999. In 2003, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Nurse Practitioner. She was honored with the Elizabeth Blackwell Award from Hobart and William Smith Colleges that same year; the award honors "a woman whose life exemplifies outstanding service to humanity." She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2012, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.