Alexis F. Gallardo Foreman, DNP, MSN, FNP-BC

Alexis F. Gallardo Foreman, DNP, MSN, FNP-BC, is a certified Family Nurse Practitioner specializing in pulmonary medicine at Boston Medical Center (BMC), where she serves as co-director of the Tobacco Treatment Center. She is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.

Dr. Gallardo Foreman received her Doctorate of Nursing Practice degree (DNP) from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts. She also holds a Master of Science in Nursing degree from Regis College as well as a Master of Arts in Intercultural Relations from Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dr. Gallardo Foreman is a trained Tobacco Cessation Specialist. She also regularly collaborates with the BMC Lung Cancer Screening Program to educate patients and promote vape and smoking cessation. She is also experienced at treating patients with chronic respiratory failure, long COVID, restrictive lung disease, and sleep-disordered breathing, and who are undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation.

Dr. Gallardo Foreman has witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of barriers such as food and housing insecurity, inadequate transportation, lack of dependent care, and low health literacy on patients in marginalized communities, and is dedicated to reducing these barriers and promoting diversity and equity. In BMC's Department of Pulmonary, Allergy, Sleep, and Critical Care Medicine, she has seen how limited access to preventive care, low health literacy, and challenges navigating the healthcare system can manifest as advanced lung disease, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and poorly controlled asthma.

In collaboration with Jinesa Howard, MPH, Dr. Gallardo Foreman developed a COPD readmission reduction program that successfully decreased hospitalwide COPD readmissions to 17.9 percent by addressing patients' social determinants of health. Resources developed for this project, such as multilingual instructional videos and handouts on inhaler techniques and nicotine replacement therapies, are now used to educate patients, providers, and staff across BMC, and Dr. Gallardo Foreman has been invited to mentor and lecture on the project at other hospitals.