Mrs. Jennie Alspach has a background as a Family Nurse Practitioner and broad work experience at the Senior Health Center, Emergency Department, Medical-Surgical, Spinal Cord and Brain Injury unit. She became interested in education and worked as an Adjunct Clinical Instructor teaching in the undergraduate program before joining the UAB SON as full-time faculty. She is enrolled in the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program.
Ms. Baker began her career in the Surgical Intensive Care at UAB Hospital. She became interested in education and moved to the school to teach clinicals for undergraduate nursing.
Dr. Kala Blakely has been an adult nurse practitioner since March 2011. Her practice initiatives focus on providing women's health and primary care to those in rural Alabama. Dr. Blakely's faculty practice is her motivation for scholarship. She desires to bring quality healthcare to those in underserved areas. Dr. Blakely teaches in the adult-gerontology primary care track. She also serves on the UAB School of Nursing Alumni Board and enjoys involvement in numerous other professional organizatio...
Dr. Bordelon is a dual certified Neonatal and Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner teaching Neonatal Nurse Practitioner and Leadership courses. He has extensive leadership experience as a nurse practitioner manager for three Neonatal Intensive Care Units. Dr Bordelon is an active member of the Education Committee for the Academy of Neonatal Nursing and is an item writer for national board certification exams.
Dr. Bordelon is a dual certified Neonatal and Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner teaching Neonatal Nurse Practitioner and Leadership courses. He has extensive leadership experience as a nurse practitioner manager for three Neonatal Intensive Care Units. Dr Bordelon is an active member of the Education Committee for the Academy of Neonatal Nursing and is an item writer for national board certification exams.
Dr. Buys is an Instructor in the Family Nurse Practitioner Track. She is dually trained in Nursing and Public Health (Health Behavior). Her teaching and clinical interests lie at the intersection of clinical practice and public health/ disease prevention. She understands that an important part of nursing education is training students to empower patients to take control of their health and to educate the public on how they can prevent disease through healthy lifestyles. Dr. Buys’ primary clinica...
Dr. Bryan Combs has been a faculty member at the UAB School of Nursing since 2013 and currently is the Director of the Nurse Practitioner Pathways. He has extensive experience in orthopedics as both a certified athletic trainer as well as a family nurse practitioner. Dr. Combs completed his doctoral work at the UAB School of Nursing in August of 2019. His dissertation focused on musculoskeletal injuries of the shoulder in commercial truck drivers.
Joy P. Deupree, PhD, MSN, RN, WHNP-BC is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow (2014-2017) and serves as an appointed member to the Alabama Governor's Health Care Improvement Task Force and Chairs the Health Literacy Partnership of AL . Dr. Deupree has served in many leadership roles for professional organizations and is currently the senior adviser for policy for the Nurse Practitioner Alliance of Alabama the professional association she co-founded in 2006 which represents th...
I have worked in the mental healthcare field since 2005. My experience is as an outpatient therapist, residential program manager, and Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner working with patients across the lifespan. I have found academia and clinical practice to be very complimentary activities, augmenting the other and resulting in better care and better education.
Mrs. Sherita Etheridge is a full-time instructor for UAB School of Nursing. She is a certified pediatric primary care nurse practitioner. She is currently a member of National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. She has fifteen years of pediatric nursing experience. She has worked as adjunct faculty for 6 years before excepting a full-time faculty position. She teaches in the pediatric dual option nurse practitioner program, pediatric primary care nurse practitioner program and ...
Dr. Fogger is an educator and clinician with more than 40 years’ experience as a psychiatric/mental health nurse. She is a veteran of the US Air Force with over 12 years as a psychiatric staff nurse and nurse manager of an alcohol treatment unit. She also provided psychiatric home health in a rural area of Louisiana; and was a nurse manager of a psychiatric adolescent unit. She has taught Graduate and Undergraduate Psychiatric Nursing since 2003 while maintaining a clinical practice. Current p...
Dr. Harris' practice initiatives focus on providing care for children and families that are affected by demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system in the UAB Center for Pediatric Onset Demyelinating Disease. Her prior training in adolescent medicine and her 20 years of experience at Children's of Alabama in the Special Care Unit are utilized to provide holistic care to patients and families from all the Southeastern States. She is an integral part of a multi-disciplinary team of expert...
Todd Hicks earned a BS in education from Auburn University in 1999 and successfully taught in public secondary schools for three years. In 2004, Mr. Hicks earned his BSN from Auburn University, magna cum laude, and practiced as a critical care RN for two years. In 2006, he entered the UAB Nurse Anesthesia Program, from which he graduated in 2008. Since completing his MNA, Mr. Hicks has practiced clinically as a CRNA in Montgomery, AL, where he presently maintains his practice.
Ashley Hodges, PhD, WHNP-BC, FAANP is a Professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Clinical Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Hodges has over 29 years experience in women's health and is recognized nationally for her expertise leadership, curriculum development and evaluation. She is the Curricular Leadership Committee Chair for the National Association of the Nurse Practitioner Faculties. Dr. Hodges maintains faculty practice at the WellHouse, a one-of-a-kind clinic she e...
Ashley Hodges, PhD, WHNP-BC, FAANP is a Professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Clinical Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Hodges has over 29 years experience in women's health and is recognized nationally for her expertise leadership, curriculum development and evaluation. She is the Curricular Leadership Committee Chair for the National Association of the Nurse Practitioner Faculties. Dr. Hodges maintains faculty practice at the WellHouse, a one-of-a-kind clinic she e...
Connie Hogewood has spent the majority of her nursing career caring for high risk obstetric patients. As a prenatal educator she has assisted patients in understanding their role in lifestyle modifications to maintain a healthy pregnancy and birth. A major area of research interest is the rising rate of cesarean deliveries and what can be done to reverse this growing trend.
Dr. Aimee Chism Holland is the Assistant Dean for Graduate Clinical Education. Her practice initiatives focus on providing women's health and primary care services to the students at the UAB Student Health & Wellness Clinic. Dr. Holland's expertise in women's health is utilized performing gynecology procedures, reproductive life planning counseling, and preventive services in the college health setting. Her faculty practice is the primary platform for her scholarly work.
Dr. Karmie Johnson specializes in mental health nursing with an emphasis in the child/adolescent population. She has extensive experience in cultural competency as a Peace Corps Volunteer and is the Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Fellows Coordinator for the UAB School of Nursing. Her expertise in these two fields is combined in her interest in international forensic nursing.
Dr. Candace Knight teaches obstetric nursing in the undergraduate and accelerated master's programs. Her qualitative doctoral research focused on adolescent prenatal stress and she continues research activities as part of a team exploring adolescent sexual decision making.
Ms. Langley is an instructor and co-coordinator in the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner specialty track. Ms. Langley joined the School of Nursing as a full-time instructor in August 2017 after being an adjunct instructor for 2 years in the graduate program.
She graduated from UAB SON with a BSN in 1998, then again in 2014 with a MSN. She is certified through the ANCC as an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP. As a RN, primary interest was in invasive cardiology and electrop...
Shannon Polson has over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur and business executive. During her career as a nurse and social worker, she has founded three corporations to deliver treatment services to clients in at risk or under-served areas of the Southeast. She received her Doctorate of Nursing Practice and Masters of Nursing Science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and her Masters of Social Work from the University of Alabama and also holds a BA in Political Science fr...
Ms. Love earned her MSN through UAB’s Accelerated Master’s in Nursing Pathway in 2013. Prior to her nursing career, she received a BA in journalism from Auburn University. She has since focused on obstetric nursing, primarily working in the Labor & Delivery and Mother Baby (postpartum) units. Her passion for education was realized while serving as an adjunct instructor for the UAB and Auburn University Schools of Nursing. She joined the UAB faculty fulltime in 2017 and teaches in the pre-lic...
Dr. Rhonda McLain is an experienced educator with expertise in the areas of teaching-learning strategies, curriculum development and program evaluation. Having taught more than 20 years in undergraduate education, Dr. McLain has led the development of innovative nursing curricula designed to prepare new nurses in meeting client needs in an ever-changing health care environment. As an educator in the classroom, Dr. McLain has been recognized by her students for her creative teaching strategies th...
Dr. McMullan has been a CRNA for over 30 years. She has clinical experience in all forms of anesthesia with a focus on pediatric and cardiovascular anesthesia. Her teaching experience includes basic and advanced principles of nurse anesthesia, pediatric anesthesia, and high-fidelity simulation. Her research focuses on patient safety in nurse anesthesia.
She has received the AANA Foundation Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Fellowship Grants for her work on nurse anesthesia and patient safety.
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Dr. Dana Mitchell joined the UABSON as faculty in 2015. Her clinical expertise includes critical care nursing and cardiology, with subspecialty experience in heart failure and heart and lung transplantation. She holds a specialty certification in heart failure nursing and is an active member of the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses. Dr. Mitchell teaches in both the graduate and prelicensure programs.
My nursing career has taken me from acute care to intensive care, into primary care, home care, and into administration. I have spent my career, thus far, caring for the adult and geriatric population. For the past 7 years, I have worked in home care from the field nursing level through administration. Over the course of completing my graduate degree at UAB while working in home care, I developed both a desire to work with chronically ill and limited access individuals as well as a need to educa...
Mr. Murphy manages the successful execution of distance-accessible courses for the UAB School of Nursing. He has implemented instructional and learning design strategies, and provided leadership in instructional design, design technology, and development of innovative, engaging, and student-focused course development. He has a proven 16-year record for delivering training and advanced support to faculty and students.
Dr. Lynn Nichols specializes in maternal-child health, and has extensive experience with curriculum development, program evaluation, strategic planning and online instruction. She is committed to the utilization of high-impact practices to foster student engagement. She is interested in leadership development and team building in faculty work groups and facilitating the professional development of faculty. Her topics of interest include: interprofessional collaborative care, BSN roles in primar...
Dr. Parris is known throughtout the medical community for her experience in nursing administration, nursing educaton and home care. Dr. Parris has spent 11 years at a large teaching institute providing care and leadership to critical care nurses. Most recently she has joined the UAB School of Nursing to educate and mentor BSN and AMNP students.
Shea Polancich, PhD, RN has been practicing in quality and patient safety for more than a decade. The primary focus of her work is understanding errors in the clinical environment Her work focuses on using the best evidence to redesign the workflow and improve processes in order to prevent patient harm and improve the quality of care.
Shea Polancich, PhD, RN has been practicing in quality and patient safety for more than a decade. The primary focus of her work is understanding errors in the clinical environment Her work focuses on using the best evidence to redesign the workflow and improve processes in order to prevent patient harm and improve the quality of care.
Dr. Tedra S. Smith is a pediatric nurse practitioner with a specialization in primary care. She has more than 13 years of experience as a pediatric nurse including primary, emergency and preanesthesia care. Her interest includes utilizing simulation as a pediatric clinical rotation to enhance communication with children and their caregivers. This also includes using simulation to decrease student anxiety related to caring for pediatric patients.
Dr. Stallworth has been an instructor in the UAB School of Nursing since 2012. Prior to accepting this position, she worked as a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner, providing care to underserved women in the Birmingham area. She earned her DNP in April 2014, from UAB, with a focus on sexually transmitted disease education and awareness for children and adolescents.
Dr. Laura Steadman has been in Nursing Education for 23 years and at UAB SON for 9 years. Her background is as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She currently has a faculty practice at Wylam Adult Health Care Center.
Dr. Laura Steadman has been in Nursing Education for 23 years and at UAB SON for 9 years. Her background is as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She currently has a faculty practice at Wylam Adult Health Care Center.
Dr. Rebecca D. Suttle is a certified Adult-Gero Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and an Instructor at the UAB School of Nursing. She spent her early nursing career working with bone marrow transplant patients and went on to practice as a nurse practitioner seeing hematology-oncology patients in the acute care setting. While practicing and teaching in an adjunct role, she completed her Doctorate in Nursing Practice degree and then transitioned to a full-time educator position, joining the faculty at...
Dr. Penni Watts is currently the Director of Clinical Simulation and has been instrumental in the integration of clinical simulation experiences as well as interprofessional simulation experiences across multiple nursing programs. Her background includes over 25 years in critical care nursing. Her training in simulation includes the Center for Medical Simulation Comprehensive Instructor Course and the Advanced Instructor Course. Currently she is active on committees in INACSL and Society for S...
Dr. Tracie White is an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Certified RN First Assistant. She has spent her career caring for the surgical patient and has an interest in improving surgical processes and patient outcomes. She teaches in the Nationally ranked Adult-Gero Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program and is the Coordinator for the RN First Assistant Subspecialty.
Dr. Tracie White is an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Certified RN First Assistant. She has spent her career caring for the surgical patient and has an interest in improving surgical processes and patient outcomes. She teaches in the Nationally ranked Adult-Gero Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program and is the Coordinator for the RN First Assistant Subspecialty.
Dr. Marisa L. Wilson is a board certified informatician with an interest in health information technology policy, implementation, and positive patient outcome and clinical efficiency supported by technology. She spent over 15 years as a nurse clinician working in acute physical rehabilitation, medical-surgical, and telemetry units. In addition, Dr. Wilson spent over 25 years as an analyst, project leader and manager implementing information systems in public health and acute care with settings.
Dr. Marisa L. Wilson is a board certified informatician with an interest in health information technology policy, implementation, and positive patient outcome and clinical efficiency supported by technology. She spent over 15 years as a nurse clinician working in acute physical rehabilitation, medical-surgical, and telemetry units. In addition, Dr. Wilson spent over 25 years as an analyst, project leader and manager implementing information systems in public health and acute care with settings.
Nancy Wingo, MA, PhD (c) is a non-clinical instructor in the UAB School of Nursing, where she teaches in the Nurse Educator track and works with faculty to implement innovative teaching strategies and increase student engagement in online and on-ground courses. She also has special interests in educational technology and simulation debriefing. She taught high school AP English for many years and was previously the Projects Analyst to the Provost at UAB.
Tara Wood, DNP, CRNP, NNP-BC is the Coordinator for the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Specialty Track at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing.
Dr. Wood is a two-time alumna of the UAB School of Nursing, earning both her MSN and DNP degrees from UAB. Dr. Wood has provided care to infants and families in the Neonatal ICU for over 16 years. She maintains her neonatal nurse practitioner board certification through the National Certification Corporation.
Dr. Wood...
Dr. Curry is a Professor of Medicine who joined our faculty in 2004. He is the former Associate Dean of the Tuscaloosa Regional Medical Campus of UAB (1997 -2004). He formerly was in private practice in Rural Alabama. Dr. Curry is also the Associate Dean for Primary Care and Rural Medicine. He was the former President of the State Medical Association and member of the State Committee of Public Health and Board of Medical Examiners. He served as Chair of the HRSA Advisory Committee in 2009-2010. ...
Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, PhD, RD is Professor and Webb Endowed Chair of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Demark-Wahnefried received her baccalaureate degree in Nutritional Science and Biochemistry from the University of Michigan and then completed a coordinated master’s degree – dietetic internship through the VA Texas Medical Center, Texas Women’s University and Baylor College of Medicine. She completed her doctoral degree in Nutritional Science from Syr...
Dr. Register’s clinical practice focuses on ocular disease, surgical co-management, primary eye care and contact lenses. Dr. Register joined the UAB Department of Ophthalmology in Fall 2016 and received the 2016 AOSA Teaching Award from her students. Dr. Register is a Distinguished Scholar and Fellow of the National Academies of Practice and a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry. She serves on the Board of Directors for the UAB National Alumni Society and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Cent...
James H. Willig, MD, MSPH, is the Associate Dean of Clinical Education in the School of Medicine. He attended Medical School at the Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) and completed his residency at the University of Virginia Roanoke-Salem. At UAB, Willig has earned an M.S. in Public Health and completed an Infectious Diseases Fellowship. His research interests in quality improvement and medical informatics have found expression in both research into quality issues in HIV primary care...
Mrs. Bolus is a Skills Lab Educator within the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing. Prior to working at UAB, she served as a staff nurse at Children's of Alabama on the inpatient Hematology/ Oncology/ Bone Marrow Transplant Unit. Educating new graduate nurses and precepting nursing students quickly became one of her favorite parts of her job at Children's, prompting her to return to school in 2016 to pursue a Master's of Science in Nursing Education. She joined the UAB ...
Carrie Beth Littleton, MSN, RN, CNEcl
Ms. Littleton received both her BSN and MSN from the UAB School of Nursing. She is proud to be a blazer alumna and to have been a UAB Hospital RN. Her experience includes GI Surgery, General Surgery, Surgical Oncology, Surgical Stepdown, and Maternal-Newborn care. Ms. Littleton teaches in a variety of pre-licensure nursing courses. Ms. Littleton enjoys working with students in the lab and clinical setting. She is passionate about helping students be...
