Every VUSN graduate has exciting things happening in her or his life, both professionally and personally. Class Notes – printed twice a year in the Vanderbilt Nurse Magazine and available online on this page – is an opportunity for you to not only learn what other alumni are doing but also share news about your life. We would love to hear what you've been up to! Please contact us with any updates, or call 615-322-4836. And, when posting on social media please tag us! #VUSN

Look below for news from your classmates as of December 31, 2022. Items received since July 1, 2022 are shown in red font.

Joyce Feigel Backman, BSN’84, was featured on the Westport Chapter of Hadassah Connecticut’s website as a Member of the Month in 2018. She belongs to the Hadassah Nurses Council.

Suzanne McMurtry Baird, BSN’84, MSN’95, is lead author of “Goals for Collaborative Management of Obstetric Hemorrhage,” published in Obstetrics & Gynecology Clinics in March 2021, co-author of “Current Key Challenges in Managing Maternal Sepsis,” in the April/June issue of The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing , and author of “Maternal Sepsis: Key Challenges,” published in the Symposia Medicus blog in July. She is one of two presenters on the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses podcast, “COVID-19 in the Perinatal Space,” and co-authored “Statewide Quality Improvement Initiative to Implement Immediate Postpartum Long-acting Reversible Contraception,” published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in April 2020. Suzanne was elected president of the AWHONN board of directors in October 2019 and received the AWHONN Excellence in Clinical Education Award in June 2017. She co-edited  Intrapartum Management Modules, 5th ed ., the runner-up in the American Journal of Nursing's Book of the Year in 2016 for the maternal-child health category. Suzanne is founder of Clinical Concepts in Obstetrics in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Lucretia Bolin, BSN’84, MSN’85, was a panelist for “How the Media and Entertainment Industry Perpetuate Stereotypes of Nursing (and Why That Hurts Everyone),” in May 2021, part of the VUSN Dore to Door Alumni Forum. She is an addiction medicine nurse practitioner at Oakland Medical Center in California and member of the sexual assault response team for the City and County of San Francisco.

Laura Logsdon Buchanan, BSN’84, received the Linda Norman Alumni Award for Innovation in Health Care presented by the VUSN Alumni Association during the school’s annual awards ceremony in October 2022.

Elizabeth Burgess-Dowdell, BSN’84, is lead author of “Risk Behaviors of High School Students Who Report Knowing Someone Who Self-harms,” published in January 2020 in Issues in Mental Health Nursing , and co-author of “Using the Word ‘Healthy’ in an Emergency Food Pantry: An Unexpected Response,” published in Public Health Nursing that September.

Nancy Myers Ellsworth, BSN’84 , of Atlanta, passed away March 18, 2022.

Kelly McCampbell Gentry, BSN’84, is director at the Oklahoma Center for Adult Stem Cell Research in Oklahoma City. She represented VUSN on the Vanderbilt University Alumni Board (2018).

Debbie Dunn Gregory, BSN’84, was promoted to principal of healthcare innovation consulting at Smith Seckman Reid in Nashville in August 2022. She is author of “Code Lavender: Designing Healthcare Spaces to Enhance Caregiver Wellness,” published in HERD: Health Environments Research and Design Journal in February 2021, and was a panelist for “Influential Women in Data Science,” hosted by the Society of Women Engineers at the Memphis Data Conference, and presented “Experiences from Cancer Care, Elderly Care and TeleHealth,” at the Rethink Tomorrow: Transforming Healthcare Challenges into Opportunities conference hosted by the Swedish Minister of Health, both in March. She co-authored a chapter, “Communication and COVID-19: Challenges in Evidence-based Healthcare Design,” in the book Communicating Science in Times of Crisis , in May. Debbie co-chaired the International Nursing Conference for Excellence in Healthcare Design in July and September, where she co-presented, “Transforming Care: A Toolbox for Ideation, Creativity and Empathy,” and “Healthcare Technology Questionnaire Development: Validating an Approach to Data Gathering.” In August, she was a speaker for the American Nurses Association Innovation Lounge’s event, “Empathy for Change: Create a Better Future and Drive Impact,” and was featured in the Center for Health Design webinar, “How the Coronavirus Has Changed Healthcare Design,” recorded in September. Debbie is lead author of “Adapting and Creating Healing Environments: Lessons Nurses Have Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” published in Nurse Leader in November and co-author of a letter to the editor in the same issue. That year, she presented, “Standing Up Field Hospitals,” for the ANA’s COVID-19 Nurse Innovation Stories blog. In November 2019, Debbie was featured in the Johnson & Johnson Notes on Nursing newsletter for her work in innovative clinical models and the founding of the Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design. She was honored by the Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design as the first recipient of the Debbie Gregory Leadership Award. She is co-editor of Health Environments Research and Design Journal and authored two chapters in the book, Planning and Design for Healthcare Environments: A Nurse’s Perspective. Debbie is senior clinical consultant with SSR in Nashville and a member of the Clemson University Academy of Nursing Excellence in Design.

Sharon Jablonski Henry, BSN’84, is an attorney with Mateer Harbert in Orlando, Florida (2022).

Sarah Nichols Hutchison, BSN’84, is manager of transition management at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (2021).

Jackie Garrett Moreland, BSN’84, is clinical quality improvement specialist for the Tennessee Center for Patient Safety, part of the Tennessee Hospital Association (2020).

Cole Powers, BSN’80, MSN’84, co-authored “Transitioning Community Health Clinical Experiences to an Online Format during COVID-19,” in the March 2022 issue of the Journal of Nursing Education , and “Simulated Home Visit to Promote Chronic Disease Management Competencies in Prelicensure Nursing Students,” in the June Nurse Educator . She was promoted to assistant professor at VUSN in January 2020.

Robin Rosen Schuman, BSN’84, is owner and chief executive officer of Fairview Medical-Legal Consulting in New York. She founded the company after serving 17 years as in-house medical consultant for Aaronson, Rappaport, Feinstein & Deutsch, where she received the Employee of The Year Award.

James Tucker, BSN’84, is chief quality officer at Bayfront Health Saint Petersburg in Florida (2021).

Reita Varney, MSN’84 , of Akron, Ohio, passed away May 10, 2020.

Michelle Wenker, BSN’84, JD’93 , of Cincinnati, passed away May 6, 2022.

Scarlett Hackman West, BSN’84, is an adjunct instructor of nursing at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida (2017).