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.

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Sheree Allen, MSN'03, is highlighted as one of the Professors to Know from schools with online doctor of nursing practice programs in nursing leadership by Nurse Practitioner Schools (2018). 

Melanie Allison, MSN'03, was promoted to assistant professor at VUSN in June 2021.

Shannon Sweeney Bell, MSN'03, received an Excellence in Patient Experience Award from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in October 2021.

Traci Turner Boswell, MSN'03, is a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Genesis Psychiatric Services in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (2017).

Jason Boylan, MSN'03, has a private practice in downtown and East Nashville called Third and Church Health Care (2017).

Kiersten Brown-Espaillat, BS'99, MSN'03, was named to the American Heart Association's Greater Southeast Affiliate board of directors for the 2018-19 fiscal year. She presented "Assessing Neurological Changes," at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in September 2018, where she is the stroke program manager. She was appointed in August 2016 to the AHA Greater Southeast Affiliate Board and serves on its Tennessee advocacy subcommittee. 

Melissa Griswold Davis, MSN'03, is lead author of "Hypothyroidism: Diagnosis and Evidence-based Treatment," published in April 2022 in the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health . She co-presented "Nutrition Basics for Midwives," "Overcoming Your Fear of Rashes: A Dermatology Review for Midwives," and "Sexually Transmitted Infections: Updates and Gender Inclusive Care," at the American College of Nurse Midwives conference in May, and, "Where Do I Begin… Scholarly Work and Publications," during Vanderbilt University Medical Center advanced practice grand rounds in August. Melissa is featured in a 2021 video on the importance of post-childbearing age women to seek preventative care during a pandemic, part of the Vanderbilt University Ask an Expert series, and named a fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives that May. She received the VUSN Dean's Award for Faculty Achievement in Clinical Practice in July 2020. In 2019, she was promoted to assistant professor at VUSN and was interviewed in December 2018 by My Southern Health for an article about the advantages of seeing a nurse practitioner. Melissa is director of the VUSN faculty nurse-midwives and primary care practice.

Cindy DeSio, MSN'03, received the Patient Experience Award from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in November 2022, and an Excellence in Patient Experience Award from VUMC in October 2021.

Laura Beckwith Dotson, MSN'03, is a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner at Centerstone in Titusville, Florida (2018). 

Emily Lee Durbin Edwards, MSN'03, was named chief nursing officer at North Mississippi Medical Center-West Point in January 2017.
Patricia Wells Haeberle , MSN'03, is an acute care nurse practitioner at Saint Thomas Medical Partners in Nashville, specializing in adult cardiothoracic and vascular medicine (2017).

Tina Hodges, MSN'03, was featured as one of the Nashville Business Journal's Women of Influence in April 2017, and recognized by Inc. Magazine as an Impact 50 Award recipient in November 2015. 

Mona Galbreath Hoehler, MSN'03 , of Nashville, passed away in February 24, 2016.  

Suzanne Tilley Hurley, MSN'03, was interviewed by The Tennessee Tribune in July 2022 for "Connectus Health Launches Full-Service Mobile Healthcare Unit," and in November 2019 by National Public Radio for a Morning Edition story about the health risks of chronic hunger. She was honored among Women of Influence by the Nashville Business Journal in November 2018. Suzanne is co-chief executive officer of Connectus Health,

Krista Koleas, MSN'03, of Nashville, passed away April 5, 2021. She was posthumously awarded the Alumni Award for Clinical Achievement in Nursing, presented to her family by the VUSN Alumni Association during the school's annual awards ceremony in October 2021. Krista was named to the board of Siloam Health in Nashville in January 2017 and was a nurse manager at Nashville Skin and Cancer.

Melissa McGuire Logue, MSN'03, received the Patient Experience Award from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in November 2022. She is a stem cell transplant nurse practitioner. 

Sarah Mannle, MSN'03, is an assistant professor in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina (2021).

Wendi Mason, MSN'03, presented about pulmonary fibrosis in January 2017 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and "Not all Shortness of Breath is Created Equal," in December at Vanderbilt Heart in Franklin, Tennessee. She is program director of Vanderbilt's idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis center.

Rachel McDowell, MSN'03, PMC'12, received the Patient Experience Award from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in November 2022, and an Excellence in Patient Experience Award from VUMC in October 2021. She co-authored "Developing Best Practices to Mitigate Opioid Abuse Is a Priority in Cancer Care," which was published in Oncology Live in July 2018 and appeared on the front cover, and she was published in The Empowered Nurse: Peer-Reviewed Journal for Innovative VUMC Nursing Research, Volume 1, Issue 2, that November.

Marie-Louise Miesel, MSN'03, became a certified health and wellness coach in 2017 and a diplomat of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. She is a nurse practitioner at Regents Medical Center in Pleasant View, Tennessee, specializing in internal medicine.

Annie Moon, MSN'03, is featured in a Vanderbilt News article in February 2021 about her work with the Navajo Nation in Chinle, Arizona, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was a panelist for "The American Indian Health Care Delivery System: How and Why it Works," in June, part of the VUSN Dore to Door Alumni Forum. She received the Alma Gault Alumni Award for Public Service presented by the VUSN Alumni Association during the school's annual awards ceremony in October 2018. Annie is supervisor of the Department of Adolescent and School Health Services in the Indian Health Services' Chinle Service Unit.

Abigail Moss, MSN'03, was voted to receive the Readers' Choice Award for Favorite Nurse Practitioner in Prentiss County, Mississippi, in 2015. She works at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. 

Jennifer Nichols, MSN'03, is an acute care nurse practitioner at Erlanger Health System Neuroscience Institute in Chattanooga, Tennessee (2020).

Bree Fryz Osborne, MSN'03, was named the 2021 VUSN Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Specialty Preceptor of the Year in December. She is an NP at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in thoracic surgery.

Julie Perry, MSN'03, is lead author of "Transitioning Community Health Clinical Experiences to an Online Format during COVID-19," published in the March 2022 issue of the Journal of Nursing Education . She presented a poster, "Simulated Home Visit to Promote Chronic Disease Management Competencies in Pre-licensure Nursing Students," at the Society of Pediatric Nurses conference in April, and started a two-year term as a member of the SPN nominating committee in May. She is lead author of "Simulated Home Visit to Promote Chronic Disease Management Competencies in Prelicensure Nursing Students," published in June in Nurse Educator , and co-author of "The Value of Nurses during the Opioid Crisis," published in August in Tennessee Nurse . Julie is lead author of "Utilizing Academic-community Partnerships with Nursing Students to Improve Hand Hygiene in Elementary Students to Reduce Transmission of COVID-19," published in NASN School Nurse in January 2021, and co-presented a poster, "Structured Debrief: From Theory to Integration," at the American Psychiatric Nurses Association conference in October. She successfully defended her dissertation at the University of Missouri in Columbia in May 2018. Her study is titled "Pediatric Critical Care Nurses: Distress and Appraisal during Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Treatment." 

Keri Revett , MSN'03, is a program manager with Vanderbilt Network Services in Nashville, a division of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (2017)

Sheila Ridner, MSN'00, PhD'03, is lead author of "A Comparison of Bioimpedance Spectroscopy or Tape Measure Triggered Compression Intervention in Chronic Breast Cancer Lymphedema Prevention," published in January 2022 in Lymphatic Research and Biology . Her research in lymphedema was featured in February in Yahoo!Finance and Finance News Network , and in March, she spoke with Oncology Nursing News about her research. Sheila's work was covered in April by MedicalXpress , Mirage.news , Oncology Nursing News , Oncology Nursing News again and Vanderbilt University Research News . She co-authored "Validity Testing of the Head and Neck Lymphedema and Fibrosis Symptom Inventory," published that month in Lymphatic Research and Biology . Sheila is co-author of "Risk Factors for Breast Cancer–related Lymphedema in Patients Undergoing 3 Years of Prospective Surveillance with Intervention," published in Cancer in July, and of "Prospective Surveillance with Compression for Subclinical Lymphedema: Symptoms, Skin and Quality-of-life Outcomes," in Lymphatic Research and Biology in September. Her piece, "Bioimpedance Spectroscopy May Play a Large Role in Proactively Preventing Chronic Lymphedema," was named among Oncology Nursing News top stories for 2022. Sheila co-authored "Standardization of Lower Extremity Quantitative Lymphedema Measurements and Associated Patient-reported Outcomes in Gynecologic Cancers," published in Gynecologic Oncology , and "Perceived Effects of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms on Functional Status in Early-stage Huntington Disease," in the Western Journal of Nursing Research , both in February 2021. She is co-author of "Perceived Benefits of a Brief Acupuncture for Sleep Disturbances in Post-deployment Military Service Members," in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine in March, and was named professor emerita at Vanderbilt in May. Sheila is co-author of "Subjective Cognition Reported by Caregivers is Correlated with Objective Cognition in Liver Transplant Recipients," published in Liver Transplantation , and "Implementation Strategies in the Context of Medication Reconciliation: A Qualitative Study," in Implementation Science Communications , both in June. She co-authored "Acupuncture for Sleep Disturbances in Post-deployment Military Service Members: A Randomized Controlled Trial," published in July in Clinical Nursing Research . She is the subject of a September Yahoo! Finance story about her work with Tactile Systems Technology to treat head and neck lymphedema, and an October Vanderbilt University Research News piece on faculty innovators. Sheila is lead author of "L-Dex, Arm Volume and Symptom Trajectories 24 Months after Breast Cancer Surgery," published in Cancer Medicine in January 2020. She co-authored "A Qualitative Examination of Patient Priorities and Preferences during Treatment Decision-making for Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer," in Supportive Care in Cancer , both in May, and "Implementing a Prospective Surveillance and Early Intervention Model of Care for Breast Cancer-related Lymphedema into Clinical Practice: Application of the RE-AIM Framework," published in June in Supportive Care in Cancer . In October, "Measuring Functional Status in Huntington's Disease," which she co-authored, was published in Movement Disorders . Sheila is lead author of "Lymphedema Symptom Intensity and Distress Surveys—Truncal and Head and Neck, Version 2.0," published in Lymphatic Research and Biology , and was featured, along with her research, in Vanderbilt's MyVU in November. She retired from her role as Martha Rivers Ingram Professor of Nursing and director of the VUSN PhD in Nursing Science program in December. Sheila was named American Cancer Society ResearcHERS ambassador in May 2019. Her research on measuring the risks for developing lymphedema appeared in spring 2019 in BusinessWire , HealthDay , Medscape , U.S. News , Yahoo Finance and other media outlets , and, later, in Oncology Times , Journal of Women's Health , Lymphatic Research and Biology and The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience . Sheila was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame in July 2017 and the University of Kentucky College of Nursing Hall of Fame in November of that year. She received the 2016 VUSN Dean's Award for Faculty Achievement in Research Endeavors, and co-authored "A Prospective Study of the Lymphedema and Fibrosis Continuum in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer," published in the December issue of Lymphatic Research and Biology , and cited as one of the journal's most widely read, circulated and cited articles. Sheila is the principal investigator on a bioimpedance spectroscopy technology project for ImpediMed and is featured in an educational webinar about a proposed standard of care that may help people with lymphedema. Julie is membership chair of the Sigma Iota At Large Chapter.

Virginia Edwards Rosas, MSN'03, wrote "SonoSpine: A New Tool in the Fight against Opioid Addiction," published in the Washington Times in April 2018.

Laura Scudder, MSN'03, is a school nurse at Saint Vincent DePaul Catholic School in Rogers, Arkansas (2021).

Erin Black Shankel, MSN'03, PMC'13, was honored in May 2022 as one of 50 outstanding graduates of Belmont University School of Nursing in Nashville, where she is an associate professor and family nurse practitioner coordinator. She is quoted in the NP Schools blog for "Tennessee NPs: The Fight for Full Practice Authority." 

Andy Shirley, BS'00, MSN'03, is a nurse practitioner in the neurology intensive care unit at the University of Maryland Medical Center Shock Trauma in Baltimore (2018). 

Rachael Goad Smith, MSN'03, is a nurse practitioner at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock (2020).

Sherrie Smith, MSN'03, is a nurse practitioner specializing in sleep disorders at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock (2021).

Tanya Sorrell, MSN'03, was a panelist for both sessions of "Mental Health and Black America Today: Where Are We?," part of the VUSN Dore to Door Alumni Forum in February and July 2021. In April, she was interviewed at length by WGN9 in Chicago and on National Public Radio after the Derek Chauvin verdict, on the emotional effects of systemic trauma on society. That May, she was promoted to director of Substance Use Disorder Community Services for the Illinois Regional Leadership Centers based at Rush University in Chicago. Tanya was named assistant director of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network—Great Lakes Region in July 2020. In July 2019, while she was associate professor at the University of Colorado College of Nursing in Aurora, Tanya began a $5 million, two-year legislative program to train advanced practice providers and assist patients needing substance use treatment in rural areas of the state. She is featured in the American Nurses Association on-demand webcast, "How You Can Have a Direct Impact on Reducing the Devastating Racial Disparities of COVID-19," and the ANA webcast, "Boosting Vaccine Confidence in Minority Populations: Specific Strategies to Encourage and Educate Your Patients." Tanya has trained over 5,000 community leaders in vaccine confidence for the InterFaith Youth Core. She is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Rush and owner and provider at Yuma Mental Health and Wellness Center in Arizona.

Tiffany Street, MSN'03, DNP'18, received the Jeanne E. Doyle Award from the Society of Vascular Nursing (the highest honor given by the organization) and co-presented at its conference in June 2022. She served on the SVN board in 2014-16 and was national president in 2016-17. Her article, "I Am TNA," was published in the winter 2021 issue of Tennessee Nurse . Tiffany was promoted to associate nursing officer at the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute in March 2021. She was named assistant professor at VUSN in January 2020 and appointed to represent VUSN as a board member of the Vanderbilt University Alumni Association, starting that July. She presented at the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant Critical Care Bootcamp at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in August 2018.

Liz Adams Threlkeld, MSN'03, is a nurse practitioner at Faith Family Medical Center in Nashville (2020).

Ty Williams, MSN'03, DNP'12, co-presented, "DNP Project Matching Strategies," at the National Organization of Nursing Practitioner Faculties conference in April 2022, and is lead author of "Linking Process Improvement with DNP Projects: Strategies to Advance Clinical Leadership Initiatives," published in Nurse Leader in May. He is co-author of "Identifying Mental Health Issues Associated with Infertility," published in the November issue of The Journal for Nurse Practitioners . Ty wrote the chapter, "Herbal Supplements: Precautions and Safe Use," for the book, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Part II: Herbal Supplements and Vitamins , published by Elsevier in March 2021. He received the DAISY Award for Recognition of Small Group Facilitator at the DNP Level from VUSN in June, which he also received in 2019. He is co-author of "Supporting Student Success: A Meaningful and Efficient Teaching Strategy to Document Practice Hours," published in Nurse Educator in July 2020. Ty is an assistant professor at VUSN and a member of the Alumni Board.

Donna Wimberly, MSN'03 , of Albany, Georgia, passed away August 31, 2021.