Elisa Patterson is a graduate of the RWJF Nursing and Health Policy Collaborative Fellowship. For the last 16 years, Elisa Patterson has delivered care to underprivileged women as a nurse-midwife in Colorado. While treating the underprivileged, Elisa developed an avid interest in providing care to a greater population of women in need. She has worked in a clinical environment for years and understands that the greatest changes occur in the policy-making arena. The RWJF Nursing and Health Policy Collaborative at the University of New Mexico has given her the ability to work from within to help create a culture of thinkers and leaders in the health care community. She has been able to travel outside of her area of expertise and work with health leaders around the country. In the future, Elisa would like to contribute to policy that cuts health care costs by providing more cost-effective care and greater access to it. She will do this by working to create a different delivery system for the American health care system. Elisa has developed an interest in economics as it relates to advanced practice nurses. She has worked to develop policy in supply and demand, workforce issues, and access to care related to advanced practice nurses. Her dissertation research compares different models of maternity care to determine whether it is cost effective to expand programs that increase the number of women able to deliver vaginally following a cesarean birth. Before studying at UNM, Elisa received a BSN and an MSN from the University of Colorado.