Dr. Karen Macauley

Director of Innovative Learning
Clinical Associate Professor

University of San Diego, San Diego, CA - DNP
University of San Diego, San Diego, CA - MSN
San Diego State University, San Diego, CA - BS

Karen Macauley, Clinical Associate Professor, teaches in the Family Nurse Practitioner program. She received her RN from Southwestern Community College in 1980, BS from San Diego State University in 1988, and MSN/FNP in 1995 from the University of San Diego. Her nursing background includes 18 years of clinical hospital experience including Pediatrics, Med/Surg, Wound Care, Emergency Department, Employee Health, Nursing Education, Quality/Risk Management, and Nursing Administration. As a Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, she has worked numerous clinical sites including Employee Health, Family Practice, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Internal Medicine. She currently practices part-time at Hillcrest Internal Medicine where she also precepts FNP students. 

Ms. Macauley also serves as the director of the Simulation and Standardized Patient Nursing Laboratory. She has develop the standardized patient /simulation program since inception in 2004 which has now grown to reflect a new creative teaching method giving students opportunities to practice with live patient and simulated encounters in our laboratory. She has trained other faculty members on this innovative teaching methodology and research to span across the NP and MEPN curriculum to ensure our graduating nurses are clinically ready for the “real world” of nursing.

For a detailed biosketch in PDF format, click here.