Elias Provencio-Vasquez

PhD, RN, FAAN, FAANP (Vice Chair)

Dean and Professor
University of Colorado at Denver 

Over the past 35 years Dr. Provencio-Vasquez has been a clinician, educator, administrator, and researcher.  Dr. Provencio-Vasquez is well known nationally and internationally for his work with “at risk women” and their families.  He is an experienced neonatal and pediatric nurse practitioner.  His background and expertise is primary care and developmental assessments of HIV and drug exposed infants, children and adolescents.  Dr. Provencio-Vasquez is a pioneer in creating innovative nursing approaches (home intervention) for mothers with substance use disorders and their children.  He has published and presented in numerous nursing, community and interdisciplinary forums, nationally and internationally. He was the principal investigator on several funded research projects; Packaging Project SEPA: A Proven HIV Behavioral Intervention for Use with Latinas at Highest Risk of Acquiring HIV (CDC); Project VIDA (Miami): Violence, Intimate Relationships, and Drugs among Latinos (NIH) and Project VIDA II (El Paso): Violence, Intimate Relationships, and Drugs among Latinas/os (NIH). Dr. Provencio-Vasquez was principal investigator of the Hispanic Health Disparities Research Center funded by at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIH) and for the STaR Program funded by the US Department of Labor.

As former principal investigator of the Hispanic Health Disparities Research Center (HHDRC) and former Dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Texas at El Paso, he was uniquely qualified to oversee the activities of the HHDRC, a $6 million dollar Center of Excellence. His leadership experience includes being former President for the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners; Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Miami; Director of the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Texas-Houston and University of Maryland-Baltimore; Dr. Provencio-Vasquez is a former Fellow with the Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Executive Program. This leadership development program is designed to prepare a select cadre of registered nurses for influential roles in shaping the U.S. health care system of the future.   

Dr. Provencio-Vasquez served on the Task Force on Education and Regulation of Professional Nursing Practice for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice, Health Resources and Services Administration and the Finance Committee for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. He holds “fellowship” status in several prestigious national organizations: United States Public Health Service Primary Care Policy Program; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Developing Leadership and Reducing Substance Abuse; American Association of Colleges of Nursing Leadership for Academic Nursing Programs; Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Executive; American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and American Academy of Nursing.