National Advanced Practice Providers Week is celebrated from Sept. 21-25, to honor the vital role of APPs in healthcare. Duke Health's APP Week Celebration and Awards Ceremony was held on Thursday, Sept. 24, featuring remarks from executive leadership, recognition of this year's award recipients, and an opportunity to celebrate the impact of APPs across Duke Health. The event included a virtual well-being keynote with Bryan Sexton, PhD, and Kristen Lakis.
We are incredibly proud of our outstanding APP team members for their dedication and compassion, which have been recognized through three well-deserved awards.
- Emily Tate, MSN, CNM, received the Rising Star Award, which recognizes an emerging APP (in practice fewer than two years) who demonstrates great promise and potential. Emily joined the inpatient Women's Health APP Team in March 2025, providing high risk OB care on the antepartum, active and postpartum services at Duke University and Duke Regional Hospitals. She received the OB Resident APP Teaching award in 2026; co-wrote the first APP Resource Handbook; and serves on multiple committees. Her colleagues consistently describe her as highly competent, incredibly kind and supportive of all levels of learning.
- The Inpatient Women's APP Team received the APP Team of the Year Award, which acknowledges a team of APPs that goes above and beyond to exemplify excellent patient care and cultivate a collegial atmosphere. The Women’s Health Inpatient Team brings together a diverse APP group of certified nurse midwives, nurse practitioners, and — just this year — the first OB-trained physician assistant. Now a team of 28 APPs, they provide both low and high-risk obstetrical care at DUH, DRH and clinic settings across the health system. This team led a major expansion of clinical services by extending coverage to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at Duke University Hospital and in addition, played a pivotal role in the successful launch of a brand-new 10 bed Obstetric Emergency Department.
- Alice Cooper, WHNP, RNC, received the inaugural Alice Cooper Legacy Award, honoring an APP whose enduring contributions, leadership, and commitment to excellence have left a lasting impact on patient care, professional practice and the Duke mission. For almost four decades, Alice has been a trusted clinician, an impactful leader, a mentor to many and an advocate for patients, colleagues and the communities Duke Health serves. Since joining Duke in 1987 as one of the first APPs in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology — and the first in Maternal-Fetal Medicine — Alice has helped shape the evolution of advanced practice, ambulatory care and patient access across our organization. Those who know Alice know her not only for her accomplishments, but for the way she leads — with humility, kindness, wisdom and authenticity. Additionally, Alice was nominated for the National APP Week Legacy Builder Award, in honor of nearly 40 years of leadership, mentorship and advocacy that have helped shape advanced practice at Duke Health.