Jo Anna Curless, NP

About Jo Anna Curless

With a family full of teachers and trade workers, Jo Anna Curless, WHNP, says she honestly has no idea when and how she decided on a medical career. As for choosing women’s health as a specialty, she says, “I didn’t choose this specialty, it chose me.” While working at a hospital in labor and delivery as a Registered Nurse, there was a need for a lactation nurse. “I happened to be pregnant at the time and was planning on breastfeeding my son, so I was “voluntold” to be the lactation nurse for the department,” she recalls. After one lactation counselor course she was hooked.

Jo Anna then went back to school to earn her Nurse Practitioner degree so she could help women even more by being their provider and not “just” their nurse. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Purdue University North Central, Westville, IN, and her Master of Science in Nursing from Frontier Nursing University, Versailles, KY. She is IBCLC-IBCLCE certified (International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners).

Caring for women from puberty to death, Jo Anna’s philosophy as a provider is to follow the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” She says, “I try very hard to meet all my patients where they are and spend as much time with them as they need during a visit to help them make informed decisions about their own health.”

Jo Anna says her patients have taught her to listen intently. She hopes they feel she provides them the time they need to make informed decisions. “I am committed to providing compassionate and evidence-based care.”

In her own words…

Who is or was the most influential people/role models in your life?  I don’t have just one, because one person has not shaped who I am today. But if I had to just pick one, it would be my mother.

What was your first job growing up? What do you remember about it?  I was a lifeguard and a swim instructor for the La Porte County YMCA. I remember I liked teaching swim classes to the younger kids.

What is your favorite food? Movie?  Food: Tacos      Movie: A League of Their Own (1992)

What was your best/worst subjects in school growing up?  I was good at anything that wasn’t government, history, geography or statistics.

If you could sit down to dinner with anyone (alive or deceased) who would it be and why?  God: God could answer any question you could ever ask. 

In addition to medicine, what are you passionate about?  Learning new things, especially useless facts. I spend so much time using my brain, I like to learn things that don’t require much brain power.

What are your hobbies, interests?  Who has time for those? I have a husband, two children, two dogs, two cats, 20 chickens, 12 ducks and 7 bunnies. After adding in a full -time job, my interests include sleeping.

What is something most people don’t know about you?  I secretly want to be a librarian.