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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Samantha Abbott, MSN'19, is a nurse practitioner at Neighborhood Health Center in Milwaukee, Oregon (2022).

Shelley Atkinson, MSN'95, DNP'19, was named co-chair of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Advanced Practice Professional Development Committee in February 2021, and is lead author of "Improving Efficiency within a Trauma Nurse Practitioner Team," published in the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners in May 2020. Shelley is director of advanced practice, acute surgery, at the Vanderbilt Adult Hospital.

Lindsey Baksh, MSN'07, DNP'19, co-presented, "Trauma-informed Teaching," at VUSN in February 2022. She received the Sara K. Archer Award from students in the VUSN Women's Health Nurse Practitioner specialty in August and was a panelist for "Trauma and Addiction: Breaking the Cycle for Women," in September, part of the VUSN Dore to Door Alumni Forum. Lindsey co-authored "Opioid Use Disorder Screening for Women across the Lifespan," published in Advances in Family Practice Nursing in May 2021 and was promoted to assistant professor at VUSN in June. She co-presented, "Opioid Use Disorder Screening across the Women's Health Lifespan," at the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health annual conference in October and co-authored "Generational Learning Preferences," published in American Nurse in December. Lindsey received the Sara K. Archer Excellence in Teaching Award from students in the WHNP specialty in August 2020. She is a member of the Center of Women's Health Clinic drug dependency group, which received Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Team Award in May 2018. 

Breanna Baraff, MSN'19, co-authored "A Qualitative Examination of Patient Priorities and Preferences during Treatment Decision-making for Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer," published in Supportive Care in Cancer in May 2020, and "Priorities and Preferences of Patients with Head and Neck Cancer for Discussing and Receiving Information about Sexuality and Perception of Self-report Measures," in The Journal of Sexual Medicine in August.

Nicole Beckmann, PhD'19, is lead author of "Parent Caregiving Experiences and Posttraumatic Growth following Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant," published in the Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing in March 2021, and "Parental Posttraumatic Growth after Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant," in the August issue of the Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing . She is a pediatric nurse practitioner at the Children's Minnesota Hospitalist Program in Minneapolis.

Sarah Bowman, PMC'19, is a nurse practitioner at All Heart Pediatric Cardiology in Chattanooga, Tennessee (2022).

Emily Brignola, BA'14, MSN'19, DNP'21, 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 is a nurse practitioner specializing in otolaryngology, otology and neurotology at the Bill Wilkerson Center.

La Donna Brown, DNP'19, was a panelist for the VUSN Alumni Board's annual DNP Know Your Value in March 2021, and was mentioned in the September 2020 issue of Clinical Advisor about DNPs of Color, an organization she co-founded and serves as treasurer. She is a certified registered nurse anesthetist with North American Partners in Anesthesia, providing anesthesia and perioperative management for surgical patients of all age groups, mostly from suburban and urban areas around Washington, D.C.

Natalie Burleson, MSN'19, is a pediatric nurse practitioner at Happi Health in Huntsville, Alabama (2022).

Jenna Barnes Caron, MSN'19, is a primary care nurse practitioner at Cornerstone Medical Group in Dalton, Georgia (2022).

Amanda Cherny-Reyes, MSN'19 , of Hollister, California, passed away December 25, 2021.

Erica Choi, BA'16, MSN'19, co-authored "A Case for Cultural Awareness," published in the February 2020 issue of The Journal for Nurse Practitioners .

Gy Choi, MSN'19, is a family nurse practitioner at Urban Health Plan, a federally qualified health center in the Bronx and Queens areas of New York, serving low-income, undocumented immigrants, predominantly from Central and South America (2020).

Madalene Dawson Drummond, MSN'17, DNP'19, is lead author of "Utilizing Patient Reported Outcomes and Quality of Life Measures in the Management of Obesity," published in the Journal of Doctoral Nursing Practice in February 2022, and received the Patient Experience Award from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in November. She received an Excellence in Patient Experience Award from VUMC in October 2021.

Cate Enstrom, DNP'19, returned to VUSN in May 2021 as an instructor in the PreSpecialty program, and became a National League for Nursing certified nurse educator in December.

Laura Flanagan, MSN'19, is a women's health nurse practitioner at The Women's Health Pavilion in Queens and Long Island, New York (2020).

Dan Ford, MSN'19, was interviewed in a Vanderbilt Magazine article in February 2021 about the emotional impact that caring for COVID-19 patients has on Vanderbilt University Medical Center providers.

Jessie Sellers Gibson, MSN'16, PhD'19, is co-author of "A Qualitative Examination of Patient Priorities and Preferences during Treatment Decision-making for Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer," published in Supportive Care in Cancer in May 2020, and lead author of "Measuring Functional Status in Huntington's Disease," published in October Movement Disorders .

Lily Guevel, BS'18, MSN'19, is lead author for "Necrotizing Fasciitis in the Adult Patient: Implications for Nurse Practitioners," published in The Journal for Nurse Practitioners in May 2020.

Andrea Hill, DNP'19, is an assistant professor at Touro University Nevada in Henderson, in its master's in nursing science and doctor of nursing practice programs (2022).

Sally Humphrey, MSN'01, DNP'19, is an associate professor in the pediatric nurse practitioner primary care program at University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center in Memphis (2019).

Kendall Jefferson, BA'15, MSN'19, is a nurse practitioner at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte in California (2020).

Madeline Johnson, MSN'19, is a public health nurse practitioner in the Metro Nashville Public Health Department, specializing in family planning, sexual health and pre-exposure prophylaxis (2022).

Abigail Jones, MSN'19, received an Excellence in Patient Experience Award from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in October 2021.

LaGaunda Jones, DNP'19, was named chief nurse of hospital services at the Charlie Norwood Veterans Administration Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, in May 2021.

Komi Kokou-Abi, MSN'19, DNP'21, was a panelist for "What a Nurse Can Do: The Surprisingly Broad Range of Expertise among Nurses/Nurse Practitioners," in May 2021, part of the VUSN Dore to Door Alumni Forum. He is founder and executive director of Baobab Psychiatric Services in Austin, Texas.

Brie Lajeret, MSN'19, was nominated in May 2022 for a Vanderbilt University Medical Center award named in memory of the late Jerita Payne, MSN'90, MMHC'13.

Lauren Larkin, MSN'19, is a women's health nurse practitioner at Bosque Women's Care in Albuquerque (2020).

Mikala Larsen, MSN'19, is a nurse practitioner at Intermountain Healthcare in Saint George, Utah, specializing in adult vascular surgery (2022).

Hannah Ritter Lee, MSN'19, received the Patient Experience Award from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in November 2022, and a DAISY Award in July 2021, for her work in the Adult Urology Clinic at VUMC. She was selected for a nurse practitioner urology fellowship at VUMC and is the second VUSN fellow in the program.

Molly Lodigiani, MSN'19, is a nurse practitioner at Steward Medical Group in Newton, Massachusetts, specializing in internal medicine (2021).

Julia MacKendrick, BA'17, MSN'19, is a pediatric primary care nurse practitioner at Desert Valley Pediatrics in Scottsdale, Arizona (2019).

Abby Markus, MSN'19, is a nurse practitioner at Diabetes Management Associates in Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, where she manages all aspects of diabetes care, including evaluation, treatment, education and co-morbid conditions such as cardiovascular disease, lipid disorders and neuropathy diseases (2021).

Adrianne Janicik Maurer, MSN'19, is an advanced registered nurse practitioner at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, a teaching associate in the University of Washington School of Medicine, and an affiliate member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (2020).

Kaitlyn McGowan, MSN'19, is an adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner at El Camino Health Primary Care in Mountain View, California (2020).

Sheila Metzger, PMC'19, is the subject of a November 2021 Yahoo! News story about her holistic women's health practice in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Brittany Miller, MSN'19, is a pediatric nurse practitioner at Health Care Alliance in Tampa, Florida, specializing in primary care pediatrics and providing care to mothers and babies with breastfeeding concerns (2022).

Erin Miller, MSN'19, was a panelist for "SANE: Improving Outcomes for Survivors of Sexual Assault (Part 2)," in April 2022, part of the VUSN Dore to Door Alumni Forum, and received the Catherine Hanley Class of 1912 Rising Star Alumni Award presented by the VUSN Alumni Association during the school's annual awards ceremony in October. She presented a pediatric sexual assault nurse examiner case study to the Children's Advocacy Center of Southwest Florida in April 2021, and was a panelist for the Dore to Door, "SANE: Improving Outcomes for Survivors of Sexual Assault," in October. She is a nurse practitioner in the child protection team at CACSF in Fort Myers, and is one of only two board-certified pediatric sexual assault nurse examiners in the state.

Sara Milwee, DNP'19, is lead author of "An Effective Model for Unit-based Advanced Practice Provider/Physician Collaboration on a Complex Medicine Hospital Unit," published in The Journal of Nursing Administration in September 2022.

Thomasena Moore, DNP'19, completed a post-doctoral fellowship with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Quality Scholars fellowship program in July 2022. She is a registered nurse and surgical quality management nurse consultant with the Durham VA Healthcare System in North Carolina, and a member of the VUSN Alumni Board.

Amy Parrott, MSN'19, received the Patient Experience Award from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in November 2022.

Jolene Ramirez, DNP'19, was appointed a member of the VUSN Alumni Board in September 2022. She was interviewed by WSMV in November 2021 for a story about how she was connected to Dismas House in Nashville through her son's incarceration. She is associate chief nursing officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a board member for Dismas House, where she sits on the program committee.

Rick Ramirez, MSN'17, DNP'19, is lead author of "Development and Implementation of a Trauma Team Education Program in Georgetown, Guyana," published by The Nurse Practitioner in July 2021.

Rebecca Soderlind Rice, MSN'17, DNP'19, is a certified nurse-midwife at Anchorage Women's Clinic (2019).

Lindsay Saltsgiver, MSN'19, is a family nurse practitioner at Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic in Spokane, Washington (2020).

Laurel Kagan Schaefer, MSN'13, DNP'19, received the Patient Experience Award from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in November 2022.

Lorne Schwartz, MSN'19, is a nurse practitioner at Dr. Hasemeier and Associates in Tennessee (2020).

John Shaver, MSN'19, co-authored "Rural Primary Care Providers' Attitudes towards Sexual and Gender Minorities in a Midwestern State in the USA," published in November 2019 in Rural Remote Health .

Cathy Shull, BA'01, MEd'06, MSN'19, received the Patient Experience Award from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in November 2022. She is a family psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at VUMC.

Alexandra Speros, MSN'19, is featured in a June 2021 VUMC Voice story about how she saved a choking victim while attending a wedding, and, in August, recorded a Vanderbilt University Research News podcast, "Ask an Expert: Is the COVID-19 Vaccine Safe for Pregnant Women?" She was called upon in March 2020 to be co-supervisor of a hotline for Vanderbilt University Medical Center patients and employees with questions and concerns about COVID-19. Alexandra is a certified nurse-midwife and family practitioner at West End Women's Health Center and Vanderbilt Nurse-Midwives at Melrose.

Ivan Srdanovic, MSN'19, is a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner at Pondworks Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Austin, Texas (2020).

Melanie Steen, MSN'19, is a certified nurse-midwife at Modern Obstetrics and Gynecology of North Atlanta (2020).

Andrea Taylor, MSN'10, DNP'19, is lead author of "Increasing Human Papillomavirus Immunization in the Primary Care Setting," published in The Nurse Practitioner in October 2021.

Lexa Taylor, MSN'19, DNP'21, was featured in an advertisement for the Health Resources and Services Administration's Nurse Corps Scholarship Fund in spring 2021, and is co-author of "Influenza Vaccine Community Outreach: Leveraging an Interprofessional Healthcare Student Workforce to Immunize Marginalized Populations," published in June in Preventive Medicine . She was featured in Noozhawk in August 2020, for a story about the Bridge Clinic in Santa Barbara, California, where she provides treatment for people with substance use disorders.

Charlotte Van Cleve, MSN'19, co-authored "Implementation of a Collaborative Smoking Cessation Referral Process in a Psychiatric Setting," published in the Journal for Interprofessional Education & Practice in March 2020.

Amanda Wagner, PMC'19, DNP'19, is a clinical assistant professor at Texas State University's Saint David's School of Nursing in Round Rock (2022).

Jennifer Werthman, PhD'19, co-authored "Assess, Prevent and Manage Pain; Both Spontaneous Awakening and Breathing Trials; Choice of Analgesia/Sedation; Delirium: Assess, Prevent and Manage; Early Mobility; Family Engagement and Empowerment Bundle Implementation: Quantifying the Association of Access to Bundle-enhancing Supplies and Equipment," published in Critical Care Explorations in September 2021. She is co-author of "The Administration of Moderate Sedation and the Role of the Radiology Nurse," published in January 2020 by the Journal of Radiology Nursing , and lead author of "Moderate Sedation Education for Nurses in Interventional Radiology to Promote Patient Safety: Results of a National Survey," published in the Journal of Radiology Nursing in December.

Cory Williams, MSN'19, DNP'21, co-presented at the American Association of Nurse Practitioners conference in June 2022.

Julie Witte, MSN'19, is a women's health nurse practitioner at PrivaMD in Grand Haven, Michigan (2020).