Allison Underwood
DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC
Director, Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) Track
She/Her/Hers
Dr. Allison Underwood is an Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) Program at the University of Connecticut School of Nursing. As the founding director of UConn’s PMHNP specialty, she is leading the development of a program designed to prepare practice-ready psychiatric nurse practitioners to meet the growing mental health needs of individuals, families, and communities.
Dr. Underwood is a board-certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner with more than a decade of clinical experience providing care in federally qualified health centers and community mental health settings. Her clinical work has focused on the treatment of individuals with complex psychiatric, substance use, and co-occurring health conditions, as well as the mentorship and supervision of PMHNP students and early-career clinicians.
Prior to joining UConn, Dr. Underwood served as a Senior Lecturer and Lead Academic Advisor at Yale School of Nursing, where she taught graduate PMHNP courses, coordinated clinical placement partnerships, and played a key role in curriculum redesign initiatives.
Her scholarship focuses on competency-based nursing education, clinical reasoning, simulation and technology-enhanced learning, and strategies to improve psychiatric mental health workforce readiness. Drawing on her experiences as both a clinician and educator, she is committed to preparing future PMHNPs to deliver high-quality, evidence-based mental health care in complex healthcare environments.
Research/Scholarship Interests:
- Competency-Based Nursing Education
- Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Education
- Clinical Reasoning and Clinical Judgment
- Simulation and Technology-Enhanced Learning
- Workforce Development and Practice Readiness
- Community Mental Health
- Behavioral Health Quality Improvement
Education:
- DNP, University of Connecticut
- MSN, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Yale School of Nursing
- BA, Psychology, Connecticut College
Honors & Awards
- 2025: Yale University Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning AI Course Revision Grant
- 2022: Janey Brooks Scholarship, University of Connecticut
- 2015: Larry Plant Award, American Association of Nurse Practitioners
- Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society
