Loureen Downes

Loureen Downes, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, DipACLM, FAANP, NBC-HWC, is a Conner Professor in Nursing and the founding Program Director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program at Florida Gulf Coast University. She has a master's degree in nursing from Florida Atlantic University and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Connecticut. As a clinician, Dr. Downes is a board-certified family nurse practitioner, a diplomate of lifestyle medicine, and a health and wellness coach. As a...See more

Loureen Downes, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, DipACLM, FAANP, NBC-HWC, is a Conner Professor in Nursing and the founding Program Director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program at Florida Gulf Coast University. She has a master's degree in nursing from Florida Atlantic University and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Connecticut. As a clinician, Dr. Downes is a board-certified family nurse practitioner, a diplomate of lifestyle medicine, and a health and wellness coach. As a professor, she enjoys teaching nurse practitioner students to use lifestyle as first-line treatment or as an adjunct to traditional treatment regimens. One of her favorite courses to teach is Advanced Health Promotion. Her passion and research interest is to improve dietary habits and physical activity to decrease risk factors for preventable chronic diseases. She frequently contributes to her community and faith-based organization by delivering presentations on preventing and managing chronic diseases through lifestyle behaviors. Her notable research accomplishment includes developing an instrument, the Motivators, and the Barriers of Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale, used nationally and internationally. Dr. Downes is the author of several peer-reviewed articles and has presented regionally, nationally, and internationally on lifestyle behaviors. See less