CHRISTINA PAZ
DNP, APRN, FNP-C

Christina Paz, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, has been selected for a 2022 Texas Nurse Practitioners (TNP) Community Impact Award, given annually to dedicated Texas nurse practitioners (NPs) who have made exceptional contributions to the health
and well-being of their communities.

Paz received the award September 24 during TNP’s 34th Annual Fall Conference. “Nurse practitioners again faced numerous challenges in 2022, both as we adjusted to a return to normalcy and dealt with significant societal changes in the wake of COVID-19. As always, our NPs rose to those challenges and played a crucial role in helping Texans everywhere get the care
they needed, ranging from family practice and obstetrics to pediatrics and mental health care,” said TNP President Cindy Weston, DNP, APRN, CCRN, CNS-CC, FNP-BC, CHSE. “Through her diligent efforts, both by seeing patients personally and by heading up clinics along the U.S.- Mexico border, Christina demonstrates how NPs can bring better access to health care, and better lives, to thousands of underserved people, including the homeless.”

The CEO of Centro San Vicente, Christina Paz is in charge of 23 advanced practice providers at the federally-qualified health center, which sees over 12,000 patients at its main location and three satellite clinics. She is also a founding member and Chair of Every Little Blessings Beginning, the Down Syndrome Coalition for El Paso, which provides advocacy, education, and counseling services to individuals and families in need of resources related to Down Syndrome.

Paz earned her DNP from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 2013, having earned her MS at Texas Tech University Health Science Center and her BS from New Mexico State University. She has also served as a clinical assistant professor at the UTEP School of Nursing, teaching in the DNP program.

Every year, TNP’s Fall Conference brings together hundreds of nurse practitioners, students, and stakeholders to discuss trends in health care, the state of the industry, and recent changes to Texas laws and regulations. This year’s event ran September 22-25.