Faculty Directory
Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing (MNSON) faculty members are experienced, recognized leaders in their fields who integrate research and practical experiences. MNSON faculty are clinically experienced and passionate about teaching - prioritizing personal connection and interaction with their students. Faculty members challenge students intellectually and guide them with compassion, creating a community of learning, research, and practice that values service, ethics, and providing top-notch health care.
Amy Becklenberg, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, FAANP
Title/s: Clinical Associate Professor
Specialty Area: Immigrant and refugee health, health promotion and disease prevention across the lifespan, early childhood development
Office #: Health Sciences Campus, Room 125-4537
Phone: 708.216.2412
Email: abecklenberg@luc.edu
CV Link: Amy Becklenberg CV 2023
About
Throughout her nursing career, Dr. Becklenberg has worked in a broad array of settings, most of which have included underserved populations. She is passionate about ensuring that nurse practitioner students are prepared to assess and address the complex social needs of their patients.
Dr. Becklenberg has worked to provide primary clinical care for vulnerable populations in the US and globally. She has been involved with service learning health care experiences in rural Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Her first nursing position was as the “Migrant Farmworker Outreach Nurse” in central Indiana. She then worked with "Doctors Without Borders" in a large refugee camp in Zambia. Upon her return, she worked for 4.5 years in a large Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Chicago, primarily with new immigrants who spoke Spanish only. While there, she developed a group visit program for pediatric patients to help promote health lifestyle behaviors.
Research Interests
Dr. Becklenberg's recent research has involved the Talk With Me Baby (TWMB) initiative, a public health intervention that promotes neurocognitive, social and emotional development of infants and toddlers. Interventions such as TWMB that enhance early language environments demonstrate improvement in long-term academic success and long-term health outcomes.
Additionally, Dr. Becklenberg has incorporated content from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine into her teaching to enhance the knowledge and skills that FNP students receive on how to embrace their role in health promotion, disease prevention, and health education.