Carolyn Penrose, NNP

Carolyn Penrose is a board-certified neonatal nurse practitioner with clinical interests in mentoring and teaching through skills labs and in the Neonatal Resuscitation Program. She also has special interests in optimizing care for extremely low birth weight infants, improving respiratory management to decrease bronchopulmonary dysplasia and minimizing pain in the neonate. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Boulder, CO. She then completed a master’s degree while attending Regis University in Denver, CO.

Penrose’s philosophy of care is focused on supporting neonate patients and their families. She takes a holistic approach, where she explores not only the medical condition affecting the patient but also the beliefs and values of the family. She incorporates this while simultaneously protecting quality of life for her patients. She empowers families to be active in their infant’s care, while keeping them informed of the plan of care. She encourages skin-to-skin kangaroo care, so families can bond with their babies, despite a challenging and often emotional neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stay. She also values collaboration with the multidisciplinary care team to present the most comprehensive treatment plans. She is committed to continuous professional development and maintains involvement in scholarly activities to keep up to date with evidence-based practice.

When not at work, Penrose loves cooking delicious meals to share with her family, children and friends. She also loves time with her pups. She is fond of outdoor sunshine — whether that be enjoying a long hike or nature walk, gardening in her yard or going to the beach. She also loves traveling with her husband and has Italy on her bucket list. She enjoys going to gym, staying active — and vows to learn pickleball!