Welcome New Faculty
Kelly Anne Davis, MSN’10, PhD’21, RN, APRN, CPNP-PC/AC
Assistant Professor
Davis is a pediatric nurse practitioner with more than 15 years of experience in pediatric critical care, cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, surgery, trauma, hematology and oncology. She has practiced at Levine Children’s Hospital at Carolinas Medical Center and at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at VUMC. Davis has served as a volunteer for Hearts of East Africa in Kenya, the Salvation Army in Nashville, and the International Children’s Heart Foundation in Mexico, Ecuador, Dominican Republic and Guyana. She is a member of the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society and National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.
Kendra Delaney, MSN’17, PhD’21, BA’15, PMHNP-BC, RN
Assistant Professor
A three-time Vanderbilt graduate and nurse researcher, Delaney owns Empowered Heart Integrative Mental Health Care, an outpatient psychiatric practice in Brentwood, TN. She has worked as an assistant professor at Marian University and precepted psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner students. Delaney studies the impact of anxiety and depression on young adult binge drinking, integrative health and mental health outcomes in women with complex PTSD, the standardization of nursing education, and clinical experiences on student and patient outcomes. Delaney teaches in the PMHNP program, and is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association and the Southern Nursing Research Society.
Brittany Kirby, MSN’18, DNP’22, APRN,
Instructor
Kirby teaches the PreSpecialty and master of nursing fundamentals course, Ethics and Knowledge and Identity courses, and the capstone clinical course for PreSpecialty students. Previously, she taught the BSN Fundamentals course at Austin Peay State University. Kirby has been a nurse for 12 years and currently practices as an NP in a vascular surgery specialty clinic. Her research focuses on chronic disease management and smoking cessation. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and Tennessee Nurses Association, as well as the American Nurses Association.
Manola McCain, DNP, MSN’10, CNM, APRN
Instructor
McCain teaches in the PreSpecialty program, specifically in the community health series, which has allowed her to partner with a clinic in Guatemala and with Nashville’s Hispanic Family Foundation. Her interests include obstetrics, gynecology, colposcopy and culturally sensitive care. Her doctoral project concerned the development of culturally tailored prenatal nutritional counseling for Hispanic women and recent work featured the collaboration between birth centers and academic hospitals. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, ACNM and the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology
Ellen Schoen, MSN-ED, RN
Instructor
Schoen is an experienced educator with a focus on classroom, simulation and clinical course design and online learning techniques. She holds an MSN in nursing education from Duke University School of Nursing and a bachelor of science in nursing from Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies. Schoen has been teaching MSN courses at VUSN since 2021 and taught for Nashville State Community College as assistant professor of nursing. Her research interests center around course design for online learning, flipping the classroom, video-based assignments and game-based learning. Schoen currently teaches in the PreSpecialty and master of nursing programs.
Ying Sheng, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
Sheng’s program of research focuses on symptom management and cancer survivorship. Her immediate research interests are heart palpitations and arrhythmias in breast cancer survivors, cardio-oncology and menopausal symptoms. She earned a PhD at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Indiana University School of Nursing. Her clinical experience includes gynecology, gynecologic oncology, breast cancer, and pre-operative and post-anesthesia nursing. Sheng has published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Neurourology and Urodynamics, and Frontiers in Medicine, among others. She is interested in teaching symptom science and management, epidemiology methods, research design and methods, and knowledge synthesis. She has served as a reviewer for a variety of research projects and is active in professional organizations, including the International Society of Nurses in Genetics.
Kyli Whitehead, DNP, MSN’14, CPNP-PC
Instructor
Whitehead specializes in pediatric primary care and teaches fundamentals lab and pediatric didactic and clinical courses at VUSN. Whitehead previously taught Pharmacology, Health Assessment, pediatric primary care and pediatric nursing at Tennessee State University School of Nursing, where she was an associate professor. She has also taught at East Tennessee State University and has served as a preceptor. Her clinical background includes practice as a primary care pediatric NP. Whitehead’s research focuses on pediatric developmental milestones. She is a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board.
