Welcome New Faculty

Research

Cathy Ivory
PhD, MSN, RN

Ivory completed her PhD and post-doctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University. Her dissertation focused on standardizing failure to rescue elements in perinatal nursing documentation. Ivory brings more than 20 years of clinical, education and research experience to her role as assistant professor, continuing her research and teaching courses in informatics. She has directed women’s services for large hospital systems, was a faculty member at King’s College, in Bristol, Tenn., and was a labor and delivery staff nurse. She earned her MSN in Nursing Administration/ Healthcare Informatics from Georgia College & State University and her BSN from Georgia Baptist College of Nursing at Mercer University. She has published in Nursing for Women’s Health and Technology Horizons and regularly presents at Association of Women’s Health Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. She is the president of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN).

Cathy Maxwell
PhD, MSN, RN

Maxwell earned her PhD and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at VUSN. She is continuing to pursue her research to determine the effect of pre-injury status impact on patient outcomes among older adults. Maxwell was a trauma and critical care nurse and nurse manager for more than 25 years, rising to the position of director of Emergency Services in Columbus Regional Medical Center in Georgia. She won several regional and state awards for her emergency care work and served as assistant professor at Troy University, in Alabama, for five years—the same institution where she earned her BSN. She received a Vanderbilt Clinical and Translational Science Award grant to support her research and has published in journals such as Applied Nursing Research, Geriatric Nursing and the Journal of Trauma Nursing.

Jeremy Neal
PhD, CNM, RN

Neal joined VUSN from The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology where he served as assistant professor and director of the Nurse-Midwifery and Women’s Health Specialty Tracks since 2009. His research and funded grant activities focus on the active phase of labor and how to improve outcomes for mothers. His current research focuses on developing a computer-adaptive pictograph to measure labor progression for first-time, low-risk mothers. His sample publications include articles in the Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, and a book chapter in “Varney’s Midwifery.” Dr. Neal earned his PhD and MSN degrees from The Ohio State University, where he won several awards for his academic excellence and contributions. He earned his BSN from Bowling Green State University. He is also a former captain in the United States Air Force.

Bethany Rhoten
PhD, MSN, RN

Rhoten earned her MSN and PhD and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at VUSN. She is pursuing research areas related to body image, provider-patient communication and self-monitoring among people with head and neck cancer. She was the 2012 March of Dimes Graduate Student Nurse of the Year, and won the VUSN Dean’s Award for excellence in writing. She was chosen as a Vanderbilt University V-Pocket Scholar which will provide funding for her research activities.

Clinical

Diana Dowdy
DNP, CNM, RDMS

Dowdy has more than 32 years of advanced practice nursing experience, specializing in women’s health and nurse-midwifery. Her experience encompasses a variety of settings including clinical practice, administrative, academic, rural public health, research and state regulatory process. She earned a DNP from the University of Alabama-Huntsville, an MSN from Emory University and a BSN from the Anna Vaughn School of Nursing in Oklahoma.

Randy Smith
MSN, FNP-BC, RN

Smith began his career as an elementary school teacher and changed directions to become a family nurse practitioner. He earned an MSN from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and an MS and Bachelor of Arts both from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He will be working closely with the Family Nurse Practitioner program faculty. Smith has deep experience in the urgent care, walk-in clinic care delivery arena.

Academic

Courtney Cook
DNP, ACNP-BC, RN

Cook is an acute care nurse practitioner who has practiced in Neuroscience Intensive Care and congestive heart failure units at two academic health systems, coming to Vanderbilt from UNC-Chapel Hill. She earned a DNP from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing where she established a shivering assessment scale for neurocritical care patients receiving hypothermia treatment. She earned an MSN from Yale University and a BSN from Clemson University in South Carolina. She will be teaching in VUSN’s Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program.

Jill Harris
MSN, RN

Harris has been in nursing for more than 15 years, much of that time spent in the pediatric critical care unit of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. She also taught at Belmont University School of Nursing and Nashville State Community Colleges in classroom and clinical settings for the past few years. She earned an MSN in Nursing Education from Western Governors University and a BSN from Tennessee State University. She is a clinical faculty member in the PreSpecialty Level Program.

Lesley Ann Owen
MSN, RN

Owen is a clinical faculty member in the PreSpecialty Level Program and has been in nursing more than 10 years, specifically in the care and well-being of children. She worked at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in pediatric hematology/oncology for eight years and in pediatric home care. Owen also served as a clinical instructor for Lipscomb University the past couple of years. She earned an MSN in clinical management, with a focus in pediatrics from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and a BSN from Samford University School of Nursing in Alabama.

Mary Lauren Pfieffer
MSN, FNP-BC

Pfieffer will serve as a clinical faculty member in VUSN’s PreSpecialty level program. She previously worked at the Williamson Family Medicine Clinic, while pursuing a DNP at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where she earned her BSN. She also has worked in pediatric cardiology critical care at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. She has served as a clinical instructor at Aquinas College and Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn.

Judson Smith
MSN, FNP-BC, AGACNP

Smith will serve as a clinical faculty member in the PreSpecialty level program. He has been a hospital supervisor at Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville, and is responsible for patient movement and safety throughout the hospital. Previously, he was a travel nurse working throughout the U.S. He earned an MSN from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Acute Care/Family Nurse Practitioner with an Emergency Focus specialty. He earned a BSN from Chamberlain College of Nursing in Illinois and an ASN from the State University of New York-Canton.

LeTezia Baxter Smith
MSN, PMHNP

Smith is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner who works at the Mental Health Cooperative, where she provides psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis and treatment for people with mental illness and emotional disturbance. Previously, she worked for the Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute. She earned an MSN from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and a BA in Sociology from Vanderbilt University. She will be working closely with the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program faculty and with the program’s clinical placement activities.