Dr. Burns is an Instructor of Clinical Nursing at LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing and serves as the Coordinator of the BSN to DNP Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program.  She earned a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from Louisiana State University A&M (2003), Associate of Science (2005) and Bachelor of Science (2009) degrees in Nursing from Our Lady of the Lake College, a Master of Science degree with a concentration in Family Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner across the lifespan (2014), and a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree (2017) from the University of South Alabama. She is Board Certified as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner through the American Nurses Credentialing Center.  She also holds a certification as a Certified Correctional Health Professional (CCHP) through the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare (NCCHC), a credential signifying mastery in the application of NCCHC professional standards, to reduce organizational risk and support the quality of patient care in jail and prison settings.  She holds active memberships in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA), the Louisiana State Nurses Association, the American Nurses Association (ANA), Louisiana Association of Nurse Practitioners (LANP), and the Association of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (aPMHNP). Dr. Burns has over 17 years of clinical and non-clinical nursing experience.  She has extensive experience in bedside nursing care and quality management.  Her clinical areas of expertise include assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of various psychiatric disorders in the outpatient and correctional settings.  She has served as a clinical preceptor to a number of PMHNP students and mentors novice clinicians through case collaboration.  She also provides mental health wellness coaching to employers seeking to create a workplace fostering positive mental health and mental wellness.