Dr. Allison Shorten, Professor in Nursing, serves as Director of UAB Office of Interprofessional Curriculum. An Australian registered nurse and midwife, Dr. Shorten is internationally recognized for her trailblazing Birth Choices decision aid research. A fellow of the Australian College of Midwives, she has made significant contributions to the midwifery profession and international research supporting shared decision making in pregnancy. Dr. Shorten, an expert in evidence based curriculum desig...
After many years in the acute care clinical setting and after completing a Doctorate in Nursing Practice, Dr. Carla C. Turner developed a vigorous commitment to nursing education. She joined the team of outstanding professionals at UAB School of Nursing in August 2014. Dr. Turner has worked in Hospitalist Medicine, Pulmonary/ Sickle Cell Outpatient Medicine and Emergency Medicine.
A Board Certified Women's Health Nurse Practitioner since 1992, Dr. Pair has focused her clinical practice in the care of women across the life-span.
Matthew Jennings has a Master of Education in Instructional Design and is currently an Instructor and Director of Instructional Technology in the UAB School of Nursing. He is responsible for the review and implementation of online course technologies and project, providing instructional design and technical support to faculty, development of faculty and student technology training resources, and serves as an instructional technology consultant for the School of Nursing faculty. His passion is to...
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...
Though Ms. Alice Bristow came to nursing later in life, she has enjoyed numerous opportunities for professional growth, both in education and practice. As an instructor for family nurse practitioner students, she views her role as educator, coach, advocate, encourager, and sometimes comforter. "The nursing students at UAB are among the most capable in the nation, and are our greatest resource - both at the university level and for the future of nursing."
Dr. Jones began her nursing career working in the University of Kentucky Emergency Department, a Level I trauma center. She completed her PhD in Nursing in 2015 with a focus on outcomes associated with use of older stored blood in patients with major trauma. She is certified as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Adult Acute Care, and in Patient Blood Management. Dr. Jones is actively involved in the Stop the Bleed campaign through her connections with the UAB trauma team, and is a certified Stop The...
Dr. Allison Shorten, Professor in Nursing, serves as Director of UAB Office of Interprofessional Curriculum. An Australian registered nurse and midwife, Dr. Shorten is internationally recognized for her trailblazing Birth Choices decision aid research. A fellow of the Australian College of Midwives, she has made significant contributions to the midwifery profession and international research supporting shared decision making in pregnancy. Dr. Shorten, an expert in evidence based curriculum desig...
Bela Patel received her MSN with specialty in Primary care and Geriatrics as an Adult Nurse Practitioner from UAB School of Nursing. She has experience in Geriatrics, Medical-Surgical, Diabetes and Gynecology/Oncology. She currently maintains her faculty practice as a nurse practitioner with School of Nursing’s PATH clinic which specializes in providing care for indigent patients with diagnoses of diabetes.
Dr. Wilbanks is a nurse anesthetist with over 12 years of clinical experience. He is also an educator and researcher. His expertise is in nursing informatics, specifically how electronic health record interface design impacts usability in real-world settings.
Dr. C. Ann Gakumo is internationally known for her research in addressing health disparities and low health literacy in African Americans living with HIV. In addition to her research, she has made significant contributions in advancing health literacy initiatives and global health into health professional education
After many years in the acute care clinical setting and after completing a Doctorate in Nursing Practice, Dr. Carla C. Turner developed a vigorous commitment to nursing education. She joined the team of outstanding professionals at UAB School of Nursing in August 2014. Dr. Turner has worked in Hospitalist Medicine, Pulmonary/ Sickle Cell Outpatient Medicine and Emergency Medicine.
Ms. Cartledge is an Instructor in the Acute, Chronic and Continuing Care Department of the School of Nursing at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is currently the Operations Manager of the Nursing Competency Suites. She has a background in medical-surgical nursing, cardiology, dermatology, and gynecology/oncology. She developed a passion for education early in her nursing career and graduated from the Nurse Educator program at UAB School of Nursing in 2016 and later finished her Famil...
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...
Dr. Robinson is an Associate Professor in the Acute,Chronic, Continuing Care Department. She teaches at both the MSN and DNP program levels and has been recognized with teaching and eLeader awards. Dr. Robinson serves member of the SON's Curriculum Committee, a committee member for the Alabama Department of Public Health, - Office of Women’s Health, and as a CCNE Site Team Leader and Evaluator. Memberships include: AWHONN (2014 Conference Planning Committee), NANN, NANNP, AANP, NLN, SSTI.
Cori Johnson is a board-certified Adult/Geriatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner and also has a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner degree. She started her career as an RN in UAB’s Surgical Intensive Care Unit. She then worked as a Nurse Practitioner with the Vascular Division at UAB. Currently she is a full-time Instructor at the SON and teaches in the Adult/Geriatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program. She has a faculty practice as a nurse practitioner at the PATH Clinic, which provides c...
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.
Dr. David Vance is a psychologist who actively researches neurocognitive aging and HIV. His funded studies focus on transcranial direct current stimulation, olfactory dysfunction, cognitive prescriptions, and others. He co-chairs the Neurocognitive Group of the MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study, a national longitudinal cohort study. His scholarship has led to numerous publications (+245 peer-reviewed articles) and presentations (+450) as well as being an invited member to a White House forum an...
Dr. Aroke is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) and a Nurse Scientist whose program of research focuses on racial pain disparities. Dr. Aroke has an interdisciplinary project that aims to identify the role of epigenomic and transcriptomic modifications in racial disparities in chronic low back pain.
Dr. Aroke is an active member of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA), the International Society of Nurses in Genetics (ISONG), and the U.S. Association for th...
Elizabeth M. Byrd graduated with her BSN from the UAB SON in May of 2004. She started her clinical practice as a bedside nightshift nurse on the Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit at University Hospital. In 2009, she accepted the interim Advanced Nursing Coordinator position on the same unit and spent the next five years orienting new nursing staff, validating skills during competencies, and conducting quality improvement and quality assurance programs, all while working on her MSN. After obta...
Dr. Patton is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner with experience in internal medicine, gastroenterology, and international medicine. She is an Instructor and the Project Faculty Liaison on a NEPQR grant entitled "Building a Resilient Primary Care Registered Nurse Workforce for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control in Alabama." She has a passion for providing medical care and health education to underserved populations both at home and abroad, and currently has a volunteer faculty pract...
Dr. Frank Puga is an Assistant Professor in the UAB School of Nursing. Dr. Puga is a behavioral neuroscientist with advanced training in neuroendocrinology, and aging research. Dr. Puga’s program of research is centered on individual-level and contextual factors that affect the well-being of diverse aging populations. His work aims to advance understanding of the relationships among stress, mediators of stress, mental health outcomes, and healthy aging.
Dr. Milligan is currently the director of the RN to BSN, RN Mobility Program. He has taught in multiple programs in the School of Nursing, is actively involved in school and university service, and currently focuses on distance accessible educational delivery.
Grace Grau is a board certified Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. She currently holds a dual appointment as faculty at the SON in the Adult Gero Acute Care NP Track and CRNP at UAB Medicine in the department of CVD/Interventional Cardiology.
Dr. Patterson is an Instructor in the Acute, Chronic and Continuing Care Department. She is a licensed pharmacist teaching in the distance accessible MSN pharmacology course and is very passionate about teaching pharmacology content to nursing students.
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. Ledlow attained her ADN from Central Alabama Community College, and both her BSN and MSN, from UAB School of Nursing. She has over 14 years of nursing experience in a variety of settings, including medical/surgical, hospice, critical care, and administration. Ms. Ledlow has been an Adjunct Clinical Instructor since December of 2016. She joined the UAB School of Nursing as full-time faculty in January of 2018. Ms. Ledlow is and Instructor and the Student Success Educator in the Nursing Comp...
Dr. Grant is a Professor of Nursing in the UAB School of Nursing. She has more than 30 years of experience working with neuroscience and other populations with disabilities. She is an expert in family caregiving and those with disabilities who experience psychosocial problems. Dr. Grant’s previous funding efforts relate to telehealth interventions using social support and problem-solving skills to manage psychosocial problems in the home and other settings. She publishes on stroke, heart failure...
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...
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.
Dr. Karen Heaton’s program of research is primarily focused on the effects of sleep deprivation and obstructive sleep apnea on cognition and injury risk in workers. For example, she has been involved in projects that explored the impact of distraction and health issues on driving and driving performance issues among aging truck drivers, and self-assessment of driving performance compared to real-time simulated driving performance among truck drivers.
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...
Dr. Weaver's primary experience as an RN is in critical care working in Surgical, Medical, and Trauma and Burn intensive care units. Additionally, she is certified through the American Nurse Credentialing Center (ANCC) as an Adult Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and has worked as a nurse practitioner on hospitalist, orthopedic, and diabetes services. Currently, she holds a Faculty Practice at the UAB Providing Access to Healthcare (PATH) Clinic.
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.
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A Board Certified Women's Health Nurse Practitioner since 1992, Dr. Pair has focused her clinical practice in the care of women across the life-span.
Dr. Lee is an Associate Professor and a board certified Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) with more than 15 years experience as a FNP. She earned a BSN from the University of Alabama. Shortly thereafter she completed a MSN at the UAB followed by a Post Masters FNP at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. She has both clinical and management experience. Her clinical background includes: GI surgery, diabetes, cardiology, telemetry, critical care, and primary care. Most of her primary care pract...
Dr. Shirey is an internationally recognized expert in nursing leadership and management. Her research focuses on studying nurse manager work complexity to better understand and influence authentic leadership practices. Dr. Shirey’s research identifies structures and processes required to maximize outcomes associated with nursing leadership. She teaches leadership, management, health policy, and scholarly writing in the DNP program. A prolific author and editor, Dr. Shirey is a mentor to developi...
Dr. Marie Bakitas is internationally recognized in pain and palliative care science. Focused on reducing suffering and enhancing quality of life for persons with advanced illness and family caregivers--especially in rural areas--her early tele-health palliative care model ENABLE (Educate, Nurture, Advise, Before Life Ends), has led to practice and policy changes. She is disseminating ENABLE for cancer and heart failure patients in the Deep South and Veteran populations. Her research, mentorship ...
I have been a critical care nurse for 25 years and have been an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner with a sub specialization in cardio-pulmonary for 17 of those years. I have worked in a variety of fields, including cardiology, pulmonary, internal medicine, urgent care, and have worked as an ACNP in the Emergency Room. I am currently the Sub-Specialty Track Coordinator of the RN First Assistant Program at UAB SON. I also am course manager over NUR 614, Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Course. I a...
Matthew Jennings has a Master of Education in Instructional Design and is currently an Instructor and Director of Instructional Technology in the UAB School of Nursing. He is responsible for the review and implementation of online course technologies and project, providing instructional design and technical support to faculty, development of faculty and student technology training resources, and serves as an instructional technology consultant for the School of Nursing faculty. His passion is to...
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...
Dr. Talley leads a team of talented faculty for the MSN Program at UAB. Her experience in diabetes and cardiac, thoracic, and vascular surgery yield many opportunities to share with students. Her current endeavors will include teaching, maintaining a practice for diabetes care, and focusing her research on diabetes care, interprofessional teams, and care of the uninsured.
Dr. Claus is a nursing instructor who prides herself on the success of her students. She is currently teaching in the Undergraduate and RN Mobility program. She recently graduated from the DNP Program where her project was "Evaluating self-perceived knowledge of med-surg nurses on Veteran Care competencies at a non-VHA facility."
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.
Dr. Natalie Baker has been a nurse practitioner for 24 years. Her area of interest is caring for frail older adults in long term care settings. She is actively involved in local and national organizations promoting evidence based initiatives for this patient population. She is the coordinator of the adult/gerontology primary nurse practitioner specialty track and maintains a clinical practice at a long term care facility.
Dr. Bowen has been a certified family nurse practitioner since 2000. Her patient population has been predominantly African Americans with obesity-related chronic illnesses, such as hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease. She has personally witnessed the struggles people with limited resources face as it relates to adopting healthier lifestyle behaviors. Because of her research interest and clinical nursing experience, she is cognizant that reducing obesity health disparities among ...
Paula Midyette earned both her BSN and MSN from the School of Nursing. She is a board certified Adult Health Clinical Nurse Specialist ,CCRN certified, and is a Certified Nurse Educator. Ms. Midyette has over 25 years as a Clinical Nurse Specialist with experience with consulting, teaching, quality improvement, and research related to cardiovascular and thoracic surgical nursing. She has expertise managing adults and children with cardiovascular disorders including advanced therapies such as ve...
Dr. Li's major research interest includes design, management, conduct, analysis and interpretation of clinical trials, epidemiologic studies and evaluation research, with particular expertise in cluster-randomized trials. He has broad collaborative experience with researchers from multidiscipline including clinicians and biologists, involving in study design, power and sample size calculation, data management and analysis.
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. Edwards is an Assistant Professor in the UAB School of Nursing. Her clinical experience is in the area of adult medical oncology, hospice, and palliative care. Her research experience and interests involve advancing cancer and palliative care nursing globally and locally. She co-coordinates the palliative care and oncology sub-specialty programs and is a current PhD student. Her dissertation work is in Jamaica where she is exploring ways to optimize palliative care in collaboration with loca...
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. 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. Taylor is an Assistant Professor in the UAB School of Nursing. He graduated from UAB School of Nursing in 1985 with a Bachelor’s degree, received his Master’s degree in Adult Oncology Nursing from the University of California, San Francisco in 1987, a post graduate Adult Nurse Practitioner degree in 2000, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from UAB 2010. He is currently a UAB SON PhD student and his dissertation topic is life-space mobility in elderly rural community-dwelling cancer survivors...
Dr. Rita Jablonski’s internationally-renowned program of research is focused on improving the lives of older adults, especially those with dementia who reside in nursing homes. Her most recent studies have tested interventions that improve oral hygiene for persons with dementia who resist care. The strategies for reducing threat perception using dementia-centric communication strategies are congruent with the principles of person-centered care and nursing home culture change initiatives.
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. Daniel has over 14 years of experience in nursing education and over 19 years of clinical experience in the area of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). She completed her BSN at Tuskegee University and graduate studies at UAB earning a MSN in Adult Health and the PhD in Nursing. She practices with a nephrologist group in Alabama. Her research focus is understanding the relationship between nutrition and quality of life in ESRD patients. Improving overall psychosocial well-being in this populatio...
Dr. Somali Nguyen, DNP, CRNP, AGACNP-BC is an instructor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing. He is a Board-Certified Adult and Gerontology Acute Care nurse practitioner with over 10 years of clinical experience. His background is in Emergency Medicine and has extensive leadership experience as he assisted in the implementation and management of the comprehensive vascular access team and medical emergency team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Cen...
Dr. Summer Langston has more than 18 years of experience in critical care and cardiovascular medicine. As an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, she is very involved in current practice and is an active member and leader in the Alabama Chapter of the American College of Cardiology. As an educator, she has received special training in simulation and has special interests in interprofessional education and resuscitation science.
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, Post-Doctoral Fellowship and General Grants for her work on nurse anesthesia and patient saf...
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 18 years. She maintains her neonatal nurse practitioner board certification through the National Certification Corporation.
Dr. Wood...
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.
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.
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 registered nurse at Children's of Alabama on the inpatient Hematology/ Oncology/ Bone Marrow Transplant Units. 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 her alma mater, Samford University, to earn a Master of Science in Nursing with a sp...
Ms. Bria is a faculty member in the undergraduate/pre-licensure program at UAB School of Nursing. Her clinical background includes emergency, critical care, trauma, burn, and preadmission nursing. After discovering a love for working with nursing students and new nurse orientees, she decided to seek a career in education. She graduated with her MSN in the Nurse Educator program through Samford University’s Ida Moffett School of Nursing. She plans to pursue a doctorate degree in the future.
