Family nurse practitioner Megan O’Brien, formerly of Sharon, has joined Gifford Medical Center’s family practice in Randolph. O’Brien grew up in Sharon and attended Hartford High School, where she says her biology teacher sparked a passion for health sciences. She went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Vermont, graduating with honors in 2001. She’s since worked primarily in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Vermont Children’s Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington and graduated from the master’s degree family nurse practitioner program at UVM. She holds board certification from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, was a Freeman Nurse Scholar and Gifford Auxiliary nursing scholarship winner, and, as part of her degree, trained at primary care practices in Vermont from 2006-2008.
Beginning this month, O’Brien began putting that training to work at Gifford. She joined the Randolph medical center for the opportunity to work in rural health care and to work with Gifford family physicians Drs. Ken Borie, Marcus Coxon and Jonna Goulding and family nurse practitioner Kim Ladue.
While her background is in infant care – she was seven years at Vermont Children’s Hospital and previously worked at the Duke University Health System in Durham, N.C. – women’s care will be one of O’Brien’s focuses at Gifford, along with family and preventative medicine. O’Brien is the third female health care provider Gifford has hired in recent months to increase access to women’s care in the region.