W Lawrence Daniels is an autonomously licensed pediatric nurse practitioner with experience in primary care and child and adolescent mental health. Retiring from the insurance and investment industry in 1989, he pursued nursing as a passion discovered while on a volunteer medical mission to Liberia as a first aid and CPR instructor. He has served as an educator for nursing and EMS at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the roles of faculty member, chair for graduate nursing programs and as chairman for a multicampus, multistate nursing program involving undergraduate and graduate education. With over seventeen years of emergency department nursing experience, several years in a public health department and a community health center, and over 10 years in private mental health practice his nursing experience crosses the lifespan and virtually every population.
After a career in nursing education, he was asked to join Christian Psychotherapy Services as a pediatric nurse practitioner and in that role, he has served children and adolescents, and families, adapt to a rapidly changing world. He continues in that role with several practices.
His nursing career has included positions on the board of directors of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) as treasurer and as the NAPNAP Foundation treasurer. The local chapter of NAPNAP has elected him president twice.
As a paramedic he has served the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia for over 45 years as a responder. He received the first EMS administration degree granted in the United States and possibly the world. In 1994, he guided the establishment of the emergency medical technician certification program for the Philippine Red Cross. He continues to serve in the role of consultant for that program. The emergency medical technician program at Old Dominion University was established and taught by him from 1981-1995.
His academic preparation includes a PhD in family and family related nursing research, a master’s degree in nursing with a concentration as a pediatric nurse practitioner, a bachelor’s degree in nursing, a master’s degree in adult education, and a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies emphasizing emergency medical services administration.