Connie-Marie Lapadat, RN, OBSCE, MSN-FNP

Dr. Connie-Marie Lapadat is a licensed ARNP practicing for 13 years. Her practice passions include rheumatology, neuroscience, women’s health, tropical medicine, psychiatry, forensics, and general practice.

Dr. Lapadat obtained a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in nursing from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. She then obtained a diploma in international medicine with a summa cum laude standing from the University of Science and Technology in Dallas, TX, where she also received the National Honor Award from the Presidential Office. She also completed an MD/MBBS degree from the same university.

Dr. Lapadat is faculty at the University of Northern BC, where she teaches pediatrics, women’s health, and adult health in the MSN-FNP online program for the last 12 years. Her love of medicine has taken her to the Arctic Circle and rural villages in Africa, Mexico, Haiti, and Panama to work as a medical practitioner and consultant, where she set up HIV and child health projects and clinics. She holds certificates in tropical medicine, palliative care, primary health care in developing countries, obstetrical nursing, ophthalmology, and HIV obtained from London, Zambia, the United States, and Canada.

Dr. Lapadat is interested in the legalities of practice, and she works with the College of Registered Nursing in Canada as the Chief Examiner for the OSCE NP licensure exam. She has published research in the areas of refugee health care, international and rural health care, women’s health, mobile medical clinics for the homeless, and cultural barriers. She is a medical reviewer/editor for journals and editor of practice textbooks. She set up the first nurse practitioner-led clinic (The New Canadian Clinic) for refugees in Burnaby, Canada.

At the age of 18, she decided to commit herself to living an exceptional life of serving and helping the most marginalized and vulnerable communities, especially in places devoid of adequate primary health facilities, and she looks forward to when she can again lead a medical mission abroad. Outside of the health care field, Dr. Lapadat has competed internationally in Latin dance competitions and holds a motorcycle license and a Zumba instructor certificate. Her dream is to be in the TV show “Dancing with the Stars.”