Dr. Joan King is a professor of nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and is the Program Director for the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program. Dr. King also practices in a pre-anesthesia clinic where she sees heart failure patients on a regular basis prior to their surgical procedures. Having both a clinical practice as well as a teaching role, has allowed Dr. King to share her love of caring for heart failure patients to both the students as well as to the patients and families themselves.