As a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP) for over thirty years, I have worked in two inner-city, underserved Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). I worked as the NNP Manager and Director at the Level III NICU at Regional One Health in Memphis, TN. From 2008- 2016, I was the NNP Director at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, TN. Both are inner-city, medically underserved hospitals that serve vulnerable populations. From 1999 till 2013, I held a joint appointment with both hospitals and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), College of Nursing as the director of the NNP Program at UTHSC. Currently, I work one day a week at Regional One NICU and I spend the rest of my time as the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program Director and as an educator in the NNP Program at UTHSC. We are concentrating on teaching our students to design, implement, and evaluate Quality Improvement (QI) projects to improve patient, family, and community outcomes. 

In our NICU, we have an increasing number of opioid-dependent newborns that undergo treatment for signs of withdrawal. We care for newborns and their families from a 150-mile radius; thus, our patients are from inner-city areas to very rural areas. I have experience with multiple evidence-based practice and QI projects. Over the years, I have over 100 presentations on neonatal subjects as well as evidence-based practice and educational topics along with several publications.