Blanca Iris Padilla

Blanca Iris Padilla, PhD, MBA, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, FAANP

Dr. Blanca (Iris) Padilla is an Associate Professor a the Duke University School of Nursing. Her professional nursing experience includes trauma-critical care, emergency department, and primary care. Dr. Padilla earned her PhD at the University of Tennessee, Health Science Center, completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan - Division of Health Promotion and Risk Reduction, and earn her MBA form Elon University. Her research focused on health disparities, health seeking behaviors and diabetes.

Dr. Padilla’s strong passion for nursing education and diabetes led to a successful HRSA-ANE grant. It was under her leadership that the first Diabetes/Endocrinology Specialty for nurse practitioner (NP) students in the country was created. She created academic-practice partnerships that provided exceptional clinical training to NP students from diverse backgrounds in federally qualified health centers (FQHC) and specialty clinic across the country. Additionally, she connected hundreds of national/international preceptors with ongoing education/training using an innovative web platform (https://cop.nursing.duke.edu/).

She is deeply engaged in creating community partnerships in primary and specialty care practice settings to provide nursing students with clinical opportunities and build capacity that benefits community partners. Her research focuses on diabetes care and marginalized communities and transition of care models from hospital to community for Latino patients with diabetes.  She was appointed to the 2024-2025 American Association of Clinical Endocrinology Task Force, which focuses on updating diabetes management algorithms for primary care providers.

In 2021, Dr. Padilla was inducted into the American Academy for Nurse Practitioner.  She was also appointed Duke's University Presidential Fellow for the 2024-2025 academic year. As a Presidential Fellow, Dr. Padilla aims to contribute to the Duke's mission and support the president’s vision of climate sustainability and other initiatives that drive meaningful change across the university and health system.