Bruce S. Zitkus, EdD, ARNP, ANP-BC, FNP-BC, CDE
Biosketch

Dr. Bruce S. Zitkus is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Family Nurse Practitioner program at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University.  He is very excited to be part of this distinguished private university and in the Department of Nursing in the School of Health Professions and Nursing.  Currently his research interests are in the topic of obesity, personality and weight loss. His teaching expertise includes all aspects of Primary Care Practice and Education including Adult Health, Women’s Health, and Pediatrics with a focus on the following acute and chronic conditions: Acute Abdomen, STD’s, Fatigue, Chest Pain, Hyperlipidemia, PVC/PAD, Diabetes & Thyroid diseases, Gout, Nutrition, Rheumatology, GI diseases, Obesity, and many other primary care conditions. 
He had been associated with Stony Brook University since 1997 and most recently was a Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at Stony Brook University and the Director of the Advanced Practice Nursing Program in Adult Health. He was also the elected Presiding Officer of the Faculty Assembly of the School of Nursing (F.A.S.N.) from 2010-2011. He taught in the Undergraduate and Graduate nursing programs at SBU including the on-site and distance education Adult Nurse Practitioner program, the distance education Family Nurse Practitioner program, and the DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice) program. 
Dr. Zitkus completed his Doctorate of Education in Educational Administration at Dowling College on Long Island. His research interest for his doctorate studies was in the obesity, personality type, and successful or unsuccessful weight loss. As a practicing family Nurse Practitioner he often saw patients who desired to lose weight; however, they were often unsuccessful. With over 30,000 copyrighted diets in the market he found it difficult to suggest appropriate weight loss regimens. Thus, he developed his research study to see if there was a relationship between personality type and how an individual successfully lost weight. His supposition was that if he could correlate an individual’s personality type utilizing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (developed from the Jungian Personality Type Theory) and how individuals successfully or unsuccessfully lost weight he might be able to guide his patients in the right direction in choosing a weight loss regimen. The title of his dissertation research was “The relationship among Registered Nurses’ personality type, weight status, weight loss motivating factors, weight loss regimens, and successful or unsuccessful weight loss.” More information and the results of his study can be found on the Professional Activities page of this website. Dr. Zitkus is a MBTI certified practitioner.
Dr. Zitkus started his educational pursuit in1979 as a freshman at the University of Dallas in Dallas, Texas. After completing his freshman year in Dallas, he transferred to The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. as a Basselin Scholar in the School of Philosophy and received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy in 1982 Cum Laude. He completed the coursework for his Masters in Philosophy; however, due to changes in faculty and changing his thesis topic three times he felt that this goal was not meant to be obtained at that time. However, this was the time period that he first was given the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and was found to have the personality type of INFJ. During this time he also worked in various administrative positions (Assistant to the Director of Development and then Manager, Development Records in the President’s Office at The Catholic University of America; and, Production Manager for Lifespring, Inc.), he moved to New York and pursued his Associate Degree in Applied Science (Nursing) at Rockland Community College (RCC) in Suffern, NY in 1987. At RCC he was President of the Student Nurses Association, Editor of the Student Nurses Association of RCC’s Newsletter, and was Class Speaker at the capping ceremony in January 1990. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Excelsior College, formerly known as Regents College in 1994. He obtained his Masters of Science as an Adult Nurse Practitioner in 1997 and his Post-Masters Certificate as a Family Nurse Practitioner in 1998 from Stony Brook University on Long Island.
Dr. Zitkus has continually been nationally Board Certified since the following dates: Adult Nurse Practitioner (1997), Family Nurse Practitioner (1998), and Diabetic Educator (2000). As noted above, he is also certified as a MBTI practitioner. He currently works at DocCare (Family Practice) in Hauppauge managing and treating both adults and children (youngest being a couple of days old to patients in their 90's). His previous NP experiences include private practice in Family Practice (Farmingville, NY), Internal Medicine (Babylon, NY) and in Family Medicine (Wantagh, NY). He also served as House Officer (Hospitalist) at Massapequa General Hospital for three years. In the latter position he dealt with acute emergencies and routine care of patients in the Medical / Surgical / Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, Telemetry Unit, Medical/Surgical Units, and the Emergency Department. 
Dr. Zitkus’ medical experience started as a Hospital Corpsman (Medic) in the U.S. Navy. He attended Hospital Corpsman School in San Diego, California where he graduated at the top ten percent of his class and was promoted to 3rd Class Petty Officer. His first duty station was at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he worked on the General Surgery, Plastic Surgery, and Vascular Surgery unit on the 13th floor of the tower section of the hospital for his first three months. He was then promoted to Senior Corpsman of the Neurosurgery & Orthopedic Surgery unit on the 12th floor of the tower. He worked diligently on this unit which had been disorganized and with a new Head Nurse turned it around to provide excellent clinical care by the staff. After approximately ten months he was approached and asked to work in the Office of the Commanding Officer as the Enlisted Administrative Assistant on the Commanding Officer’s staff. Although reluctant because he loved providing clinical care to his patients, he felt that this might be an interesting opportunity. During this time he also took the 2nd Class Petty Officer Exam and was promoted to this rank at the age of 19. While on the Commanding Officer’s staff, he was given an additional title and responsibility. He was assigned as the “Petty-Officer-In-Charge” of the Presidential Suite. Dr. Zitkus had this responsibility during the administrations of President’s Ford & Carter, which required being on-call 24 hours a day, maintaining the Presidential Suite for readiness, and working closely with the CIA. His administrative duties on the Commanding Officer’s staff also included participating in the administrative hospital issues including JCAHO certification, maintaining the master lists of committee memberships of hospital staff, and reviewing all materials that were seen by the Commanding Officer. He completed his Naval Career on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. as the Personal Assistant to the Attending Physician to the U.S. Congress. In this position he assisted in providing medical treatment to both Congressmen and Senators as well as responding to any acute emergencies in the Capitol Hill environment. He was also the solo medic to Senators and Congressman as they traveled within the United States to various functions.
After leaving the U.S. Navy and obtaining his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, he worked in the Office of the President of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. His first position was Assistant to the Director of Development, which focused on fund-raising activities for the University through individual, corporate, and foundation entities. He later was asked to become the Manager of Development Records. Responsibilities included managing and assisting in making changes to the Development Records computer program from a user friendly perspective (with the help of an outstanding computer programmer at CUA), computerized input of the financial gifts given to the university through fund raising as well as any correspondence to donors. After almost four years at Catholic University, he decided to make a change and became the Production Manager for Lifespring, Inc., in the Washington, DC area. His office was in Old Town Alexandria, VA. His responsibilities included managing the behind-the-scenes production of adult educational programs. These programs included evening, weekend, and weeklong events for personal development. Thus, he was responsible for obtaining and negotiating hotels for the events, preparation and set-up of the events, and day-to-day management issues in the office that dealt with the various programs.
After twelve years in Washington, DC, Dr. Zitkus moved to New York and pursued his nursing career. As a Registered Professional Nurse, Dr. Zitkus worked mostly in critical care environments including the following Intensive Care Units: Medical / Surgical / Cardiac / Cardiac Surgery / Transplantation. He was certified as a Critical Care Nurse during this time. During this period, he had the positions of Night Clinician of a Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit as well as the Nurse Manager of a Cardiac Care Unit with nursing responsibility over a cardiac catheterization lab. In addition, he also served in various positions on the Board of Directors of the Suffolk County Critical Care Nurses Association. These included Program Chair, Secretary, and President.
Dr. Zitkus has published journal articles on Sarcoidosis, Transesophageal Echocardiography, and Aseptic Meningitis: A Case Study for Discussion. He also co-published case studies on Acute Diarrhea, Skin Rashes, and Acute Testicular Pain. He has published in the journal Advance for Nurse Practitioners in February 2009 on the “Acute Abdomen: Keys to Diagnosis” and was their featured CE offering. Dr. Zitkus’s manuscript on “The relationship among registered nurses' weight status, weight loss regimens, and successful or unsuccessful weight loss” has been published in the February 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. He also co-authored “Overweight and obesity: Pharmacotherapeutic considerations” in the same journal in February 2011. Dr. Zitkus published in December 2010 in The Nurse Practitioner: The American Journal of Primary Healthcare “How NONPF has helped shape NP education.”  In September 2010, he was published in The Nurse Practitioner on “Chest pain diagnosis: Take chest pain to heart.”  He is currently working on a manuscript on the evidence-based management and treatment of obesity. Dr. Zitkus is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for a two year term during 2010-2012 for “The Nurse Practitioner: The American Journal of Primary Healthcare” journal.  He is also on the Clinical Editorial Advisory Committee for the ”JNPA The Journal” which is the public policy and practice news of The Nurse Practitioner Association New York State.
Dr. Zitkus is a featured local, regional, national, and international speaker on a variety of primary care topics as well as other issues related to Nurse Practitioners. He has presented at conferences held by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), the American College of Nurse Practitioners, the National Conference for Nurse Practitioners, the Nursing Symposium, the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, the Nurse Practitioner Association of Long Island, Inc., The Nurse Practitioner Association of New York State, New York Institute of Technology Spring Colloquium, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, The Obesity Society’s Annual Scientific Meeting, the Practicing Clinicians Exchange, and the Royal College of Nursing’s NP Association Annual Conference and Exhibition in England. His topics of expertise include “Obesity Management in Primary Care, Management of the Acute Abdomen, Hyperlipidemia, Gout, Fatigue, Osteoporosis, Abdominal Hypertension and the Abdominal Compartment Syndrome, Cultural Barriers to Men’s Health in Primary Care, Peripheral Arterial Disease, Diabetes, the Metabolic Syndrome, Allergic, Seasonal & Perennial Rhinitis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Primary Dysmenorrhea, Male Sexual Dysfunction, Asthma, and Upper Respiratory Infections.” He is a symposium moderator and speaker as well as a forum moderator for the Practicing Clinicians Exchange (PCE) and its website. The focus of PCE is to be an “innovative, multisupported, multichannel educational initiative created specifically for nurse practitioners and physician assistants. This CE/CME program provides live, home study, and Internet-based educational opportunities designed to meet the real-world clinical needs of NPs and PAs” (www.practicing clinicians.com).  You can read his previous forum blogs on the website. Enjoy the reading!

Dr. Zitkus was elected in 2009 by the United University Professions (UUP) academic members at Stony Brook University to be Vice President of Academics for academic union members in the Health Sciences Center in the Schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine, Social Welfare, Health Management and Technology, and Nursing. He is also a Co-Chair of the Academic Lecture committee as well as a member of the Local Action Project (LAP) committee for the Health Sciences Center UUP. Most recently in November 2009, Dr. Zitkus was elected at the Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) Honor Society of Nursing Biennium to their Governance Committee for a two-year term. In addition, he is Co-Chair of the Governance Committee Guidelines Workgroup. He was also a Chapter Key Award Judge for STTI in 2009. Other positions he holds or has held previously include: Co-Chair of the Membership Resource Committee of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) (2009 - 2010) and currently Chair of the same committee, Consultant for the NONPF website reorganization (2009), Member and Chair of the Nomination’s Committee of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (2007-2010), President of the Kappa Gamma Chapter of STTI at Stony Brook University (2008-2010), Chair of the Finance Committee of the Kappa Gamma Chapter, STTI (2005-2008), President of the Nurse Practitioner Association of Long Island, Inc.(NPALI)(2004), Treasurer of NPALI (2006-2008), and Chair of the Finance and Research Committees of NPALI (2008-present). Dr. Zitkus strongly believes it is important to give back to the Nurse Practitioner community by volunteering your expertise.
In June 2010, Dr. Zitkus was honored by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners  with their State Award for Excellence: “New York State Nurse Practitioner of the Year Award.” He was honored in 2009 with the “Nancy J. MacIntyre, PhD., FNP, Nurse Practitioner of the Year Award” from The Nurse Practitioner Association New York State. He also received an “Outstanding Leadership Award” from the Kappa Gamma Chapter of STTI in 2009. Dr. Zitkus was invited in 2006 to be a Scholar in the American Academy of Nurse Practitioner’s Health Policy Leadership Fellowship in Washington, D.C. In 2005 he was distinguished with the following awards and scholarships: “Regional Winner of the New York / New Jersey Nursing Spectrum 2005 Excellence in Teaching Award”, received the “Stony Brook University President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching”, received a “Nurse Practitioner Doctoral Education Scholarship” from the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Foundation, and was also honored with the “2005 Nurse Practitioner of the Year Award” by the Nurse Practitioner Association of Long Island.
Dr. Zitkus loves teaching and precepting nurse practitioner students as well as practicing as a Family Nurse Practitioner. In his spare time he enjoys playing the piano, reading, working in the yard and garden, travelling within the United States as well as to foreign lands, and swimming.