We are the nation’s leading professional organization for Latino nurses.

Rita Norelli is the new President of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (Denver Chapter). Rita is a first-generation Mexican-American, and is a bilingual, board-certified nurse practitioner that specializes in family medicine. Rita has closely observed and experienced healthcare disparities that minority groups face. Her experience as a medical provider and healthcare consumer motivates her to promote advocacy for change within the healthcare system for our Latino community. 

Rita attended Metropolitan State University of Denver and obtained her BSN with Honors and was a featured scholar during her 2018 graduation ceremony. Upon graduation, Rita knew that she would return to school to obtain her nurse practitioner degree, which she achieved with Sigma Theta Tau Honors in 2022. Rita was also nominated for a Daisy Award in 2019, while working at Lutheran Medical Center in Wheatridge, Colorado.

Rita has worked in acute care, medical-surgical, acute in-patient behavioral health, home health, and hospice. Rita has worked in behavioral health management roles and has been a member of DEI committees. Rita strongly believes representation matters both for other Latino nurses and patients. She believes being bilingual is an asset that she can utilize to give voice to those in need with language barriers. Rita has mentored other Latino students at MSU Denver who aspire to pursue a career in healthcare, which is very rewarding to her.

Rita lives in the Denver area with her husband, George, and her two teenage boys, and she loves spending time with her family. Rita works in primary care and believes her Latino roots allow her to incorporate the holistic side of healing that cannot be left out of medicine. Rita believes in incorporating her patients’ culture into their healthcare, which is one way patients can feel the most seen, heard, and valued.

As President of NAHN, Rita has a vision of continuing the Association’s objective of advancing health in Latino communities and to advocate for health equity. Rita will be a voice for the underserved and underrepresented, and she has ideas to advocate for Latino nurses on workplace equity, inclusion, career advancement, and safety. Rita’s vision includes providing an avenue for continued promotion of healthcare services within the Latino community. 

Rita is excited to start her term as President and looks forward to partnering with NAHN community members in advancing health equity and continuing to grow our Denver Chapter. 

Dr. Martinez received her BSN, MS degree, post master's certificate, and doctorate from the University of CO College of Nursing. At the beginning of her nursing practice, she cared for people with cardiac disease, then made a huge switch to caring for those with severe mental illness at the state psychiatric hospital (Ft. Logan).  At Ft. Logan, she practiced as a staff nurse, nurse manager, a division chief nurse, and Asst Director of Nursing. Dr. Martinez was on the faculty at CU for approximately 8 years and taught psychiatric nursing in the graduate and undergraduate programs. In addition to teaching and mentoring, she conducted research on runaway teenagers and in her last years served as the Director of Admissions for the College of Nursing. Dr. Martinez also practiced at Denver Health as Nurse Manger of the adolescent psychiatric unit, and then the adult unit. Currently, she practices part time at AllHealth Network, an outpatient community mental health clinic in Douglas County.  Dr. Martinez is a past board President of the CO Center for Nursing Excellence and is currently on the Board of Directors at the Parker Adventist Hospital. Through most of her career, she maintained membership in the Denver Chapter of NAHN and served in the capacity of President about 15 years ago.  In 2020, Dr. Martinez received the Latino Legacy Aware from NAHN. 

Theresa Nino MSN RN CCRN joined the College of Nursing faculty in 2013. Ms. Nino began her nursing journey at the Los Angeles County School of Nursing earning a Diploma of Nursing. Ms. Nino earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s in nursing at California State University at Dominquez Hills College of Nursing.

She brings over 27 years of clinical practice expertise in critical care, trauma and nursing education. She has been nationally certified in adult critical care (CCRN) for over 20 years. Nino currently teaches Pharmacology, Pathophysiology, Medical Surgical Nursing I & II. She is dedicated to the success of students on their nursing journey. Theresa participates on the Undergrad Curriculum Committee, Inclusivity and Diversity committee, Student advising team and strives to share the standards of a healthy work environment.

Prior to joining the College of Nursing Nino served as the Clinical Nurse Educator in the Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit at Denver Health E. E. Moore Shock Trauma Center. Her career has been dedicated to the care of the critically ill and trauma patients. He work centers on improving practice though education. With the desire to improve practice through knowledge she started the Annual Improving Outcomes, Saving Lives Critical Care Conference. This conference is in it’s tenth year featuring features world class speakers, offering evidence based practice and updates on critical care and trauma.

Ms. Nino is active in the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) both locally and nationally. She has been a Denver chapter board member for over ten years with two terms as president. As a Chapter board member she has been successful in developing education and community service activities. She leads in the planning and implementation of an all-day conference to both present complex topics and raise funds for an education scholarship fund. Her national participation includes participation on conference planning committee for the National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition; Peer Reviewer for Journal Article Continuing Education articles; Chapter Award Reviewer, NTI Leadership Development Workshop, Essentials of Critical Care Education (ECCO) Module Review Panel, Advanced Critical Care Journal Bariatric Series review panel. Most recently is served a three year term as an AACN Chapter Advisor for states including Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. She has spoken nationally on Healthy Work Environment standards and participated in award winning Chapter educational programming, leadership development and collaboration for critical care nurses.

With the goal of improving collaboration with other professional organization she led the implementation of the Interdisciplinary Collaboration for the Improvement of Patient Outcomes’. This annual conference brings leaders together from over 10 professional nurse organizations and the Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence to plan and host a conference with topics that face nurses and patients across the continuum of care. The conference is now in its and is now in its 6th year of success.

Theresa continues a clinical practice in critical care at University of Colorado Health Burn Trauma Intensive Care unit.

Patrick Luna is a Senior Instructor of Clinical Teaching at CU College of Nursing and serves on the National Association of Hispanic Nurses Board of Directors.

Patrick has supported the foundational development of nursing students and entry-level nurses through his roles as a clinical instructor, faculty member, lecturer, and volunteer advocate. Patrick works closely with community organizations to achieve goals aimed at supporting bedside nursing providers and fostering inclusive nursing cultures.

Patrick holds a master’s degree in nursing education from the University of Texas and is a PhD student studying educational leadership at the University of Colorado Denver.