Assistant Professor Colleen Reilly Moss, BS’00, MSN’01, DNP, NNP-BC, has been named academic director for the neonatal nurse practitioner specialty at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Moss had been interim co-director with assistant professor Patricia Scott, DNP, NNP-BC, C-NPT.
“Colleen has a passion for teaching and mentoring new neonatal providers,” said Mavis Schorn, PhD, CNM, FACNM, FNAP, FAAN, senior associate dean for academic affairs. “She understands and appreciates the challenges facing those who care for these tiny and fragile infants and their families. She is dedicated to not just educating future neonatal nurse practitioners but also equipping them to avoid the burnout and stress that that can sometimes occur.”
Moss has two decades of clinical experience in neonatal nursing, and has worked in both level IV and level II neonatal/infant intensive care units. Her current clinical practice is at the level IV NICU at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt; she also provides NNP services at Maury Regional Medical Center’s level II NICU, a Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital affiliate.
Moss joined Vanderbilt School of Nursing in 2019, teaching in the master of nursing science Neonatal Nurse Practitioner specialty and the doctor of nursing practice program. She received the school’s Sara K. Archer Award for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner specialty in 2020 and 2021.
Her academic interests include quality improvement and mentorship in the NICU, as well as neonatal sepsis and hypocalcemia. Her most recent paper on the effectiveness of the National Association of Neonatal Nurse Practitioners’ mentoring toolkit was published in the November 2021 issue of Advances in Neonatal Care.