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Master of Science in Nursing: Family Nurse Practitioner (MSN-FNP)

School of Health & Human Sciences

Advanced Care to Advance Your Career

Concordia University Irvine’s Master of Science in Nursing with Family Nurse Practitioner (MSN-FNP) certification eligibility prepares competent, compassionate, and holistic nursing professionals to be change agents in the world of healthcare.

With the increasing shortage of healthcare workers, more hospitals and healthcare settings are looking to nurse practitioners to serve as the primary care provider. Overall employment of advanced practice nurses is projected to increase by 40% by 2031, and California has both the highest number of employed nurse practitioners and the highest average annual wage (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Concordia’s MSN-FNP program welcomes students who are interested in ethically-sound and caring-based patient advocacy. We’re preparing nurses who will serve, lead, and train diverse populations across the lifespan to promote health and wellbeing.

Get Started Today

Join our first cohort starting in January 2025! Take the first step today by allowing one of our admissions counselors to contact you with more information.


Concordia-Spectrum Campus

In 2023, Concordia opened its Concordia - Spectrum Campus™ as the home of the Nursing program and other graduate programs in the School of Health and Human Sciences. The campus features 20,000 sq. ft. of dedicated nursing skills laboratories, simulation, conference rooms, and office space, and more than 90,000 sq. ft. of additional classrooms, offices, workstations, and unique educational spaces for study groups and breaks.

Strategically located in a dynamic biotech and healthcare sector hub, the Concordia - Spectrum Campus™ neighbors Hoag Hospital and Kaiser Permanente within the city of Irvine. The campus is located at
16355 Laguna Canyon Rd, Irvine CA, 92618.

As a student in the MSN-FNP program, you will have the opportunity through two-day intensives to gain skills in our state-of-the-art simulation labs, practice in our exam rooms, and perform advanced physical and health assessments with direct supervision from our faculty.

Featured Nursing Faculty

Photo of Cheryl Smythe-Padgham

Cheryl Smythe-Padgham, DNP, RN, WHNP-BC

Dr. Smythe-Padgham began her career as a labor and delivery nurse over 25 years ago. She worked as a women’s health nurse practitioner in both private and community care settings for 17 years in Orange and Los Angeles counties, where she practiced in primarily underserved communities in order to serve the needs of women, mothers, and babies. In 2009, she began her career in academia as a nursing faculty member and then Assistant Dean. Dr. Smythe-Padgham has served as the Assistant Dean and Director of Nursing at Concordia since 2017. She earned her Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) from the Southern California State University Consortium; her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and Women's Health Nurse Practitioner (WHNP) at the University of California, San Francisco; and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from the University of Southern California.

IRVINE SPECTRUM® and SPECTRUM™ are trademarks of Irvine Management Company used with permission.

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