Paula Brooks
Director, Advanced Practice Clinicians
Paula Brooks is a DNP with a master’s in business administration with 26 years of experience as an Advanced Practice Nurse. For the past 8 years she has served in APP leadership roles – previously as Director of Advanced Practice at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and currently as the System Director of Advanced Practice Providers at Baystate Health in Springfield, MA where she provides strategic leadership for a team of 480+ employed advanced practice providers (APPs) and the 150+ credentialed community APPs across the Baystate integrated health care system. Paula is an Affiliate Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Nursing, University of Massachusetts Medical School and was a graduate faculty instructor at the University of Massachusetts/Boston graduate school of nursing for a number of years after obtaining her DNP.
Paula is a strong advocate for patient safety, quality care and the NP role. She and serves on Baystate’s Executive Committee, Credentials Committee, Clinical Practice Committee, and Leadership Council. She also has seats on the Board of Directors for Baystate Medical Practices, for the Advanced Practice Providers Executives, the Massachusetts Coalition of Nurse Practitioners, and a member of the Board for Baycare Health Partners PHO (one of the 1st PHOs in the country to welcome Advanced Practice Clinicians as members). She recently became one of the first Fellows of the AP Advanced Practice Providers Executives. Paula holds office as the State Legislative Policy Director for the MCNP and has received the 2024 American Association of Nurse Practitioners Advocate State Award for Excellence for the State of Massachusetts.