Kala Christopherson, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Graduate Studies and Co-Coordinator of the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) track at UTHealth Houston Cizik School of Nursing. A dedicated educator and clinician, she focuses her work at the intersection of competency-based education, clinical preceptorship, and advanced practice nursing. Her work is built on active practice as a Family Nurse Practitioner with clinical experience in family practice, especially chronic disease management in the uninsured population. Her contributions to nursing education and practice have been recognized with the DAISY Foundation Extraordinary Nurse Educators Award, the Good Samaritan Foundation Faculty Excellence in Nursing Award (Bronze Medal), and UTHealth Houston Cizik School of Nursing's Values Champion Award.

Dr. Christopherson advances graduate nursing education through her leadership of the FNP track, which was ranked 12th nationally and 1st in Texas by U.S. News & World Report in 2026. As a faculty leader, she has served in appointed and elected roles at the school and national levels, including founding and chairing the Graduate Clinical Preceptor Committee, and serving multiple terms on the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) Preceptor Committee. She also has contributed to the profession as a board certification item writer for the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board (AANP-CB) FNP examination.

Dr. Christopherson leads a productive program of scholarship focused on competency-based education, clinical preceptor development, and evidence-based chronic disease management. Her peer-reviewed work appears in leading journals including The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, Nurse Educator, and the Journal of Nursing Education, and spans original research, competency frameworks, and clinical guidelines that inform practice and education. She is one of the original members of the PRIME-NP Multi-University Consortium—a collaboration with Johns Hopkins, Pace University, UConn, and the University of Florida among others—dedicated to developing and validating competency-based education frameworks for nurse practitioner programs.  Dr. Christopherson's work is driven by the belief that rigorous, competency-based education and strong preceptor partnerships are essential to preparing the next generation of nurse practitioners to deliver safe, high-quality care.