By Hunter Carter
Thirteen University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing faculty members and alumni have been named Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing for their significant contributions to health and health care. They join more than 100 FAANs with a UAB School of Nursing affiliation.
This year’s UAB School of Nursing faculty inductees include Edwin Aroke, PhD, MSN, CRNA, Natalie Baker, DNP, CRNP, ANP-BC, GNP-BC, CNE, GS-C, FAANP (BSN 1985, MSN 1990, DNP 2010), Crystal Chapman Lambert, PhD, MSN, MSPH, CRNP, Melanie Gibbons Hallman, DNP, RN, CNS, CRNP, FNP-BC, ACNP-BC, ENP-C, FAEN (BSN 1983, MSN 1990, MSN 1995, DNP 2012), Aimee Chism Holland, DNP, WHNP-BC, FNP-C, FAANP (DNP 2012), Rebecca (Suzie) Miltner, PhD, RN, CNL, NEA-BC, Shea Polancich, PhD, RN (MSN 1996) and Penni Watts, PhD, RN, CHSE-A (PhD 2015).
The UAB School of Nursing alumni inductees includes Joy Deupree, PhD, APRN, WHNP-BC (BSN 1994, MSN 1997), Pandora Hardtman, DNP, RN, CNM, FACNM (DNP 2012), JoAnn Oliver, PhD, RN, CNE (MSN 2001), Darrell Owens, DNP, MSN, MSHSA (DNP 2010) and Karen Winters, PhD (MSN 1985).
“I cannot express how proud I am for our 13 new Fellows of the Academy. This recognition is an acknowledgement of their hard work and dedication to health, health equity and advancing nursing not only within our community but also globally,” said UAB School of Nursing Dean and Fay B. Ireland Endowed Chair in Nursing Doreen C. Harper, PhD, RN, FAAN. “This year marks the most inductees our School has ever had, and that milestone is a testament to the UAB School of Nursing’s ability to produce nurse leaders and build a faculty that is motivated to pushing nursing to heights never imagined.”
Induction as a Fellow of the AAN is a significant milestone in a nurse leader’s career. Fellows are selected through a competitive and rigorous process where hundreds of applications are reviewed by a committee of elected fellows. New Fellows are selected based on their impressive contributions to policy, research, administration, practice and academia, and based on their dedication to championing health and wellness locally and globally.
Inductees will be honored as part of the AAN’s Health Policy Conference, held October 7-9, 2021. This year’s conference and induction ceremony will be offered in a hybrid format, allowing attendees to participate either in person or virtually.
Edwin Aroke, PhD, MSN, CRNA
Aroke is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist and assistant professor in the nurse anesthesia doctor of nursing practice specialty track in the UAB School of Nursing. Aroke has published several peer-reviewed articles, presented nationally and internationally on pharmacogenomics, pain management, and anesthesia outcomes. His teaching interest includes the scientific foundation of nurse anesthesia practice.
In 2020 and 2021, Aroke received a four-year, $1.7 million R01 grant from the NIH to study racial differences in chronic low back pain, has been elected as president of the Association of Cameroonian Nurse Anesthetists in America and received both first and second place for the 2021 Mary Hanna Memorial Journalism Awards from the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses.
Natalie Baker, DNP, CRNP, ANP-BC, GNP-BC, CNE, GS-C, FAANP (BSN 1985, MSN 1990, DNP 2010)
Baker is an associate professor in the UAB School of Nursing and has been a nurse practitioner for 24 years. Her area of interest is caring for frail older adults in long-term care settings. She is actively involved in local and national organizations promoting evidence-based initiatives for this patient population. She is the coordinator of the adult/gerontology primary nurse practitioner specialty track and maintains a clinical practice at a long-term care facility.
Crystal Chapman Lambert, PhD, MSN, MSPH, CRNP
Chapman Lambert is an associate professor in the UAB School of Nursing. Her research activities focus on improving health outcomes for minority populations, more specifically women living with HIV. For her dissertation, she recruited and administered a survey to 300 women living with HIV to assess their attitudes, beliefs and knowledge regarding HPV and cervical cancer screening. Continuing her passion to improve health outcomes for women living with HIV, Chapman Lambert is evaluating multilevel factors that impact medication and appointment adherence.
Melanie Gibbons Hallman, DNP, RN, CNS, CRNP, FNP-BC, ACNP-BC, ENP-C, FAEN (BSN 1983, MSN 1990, MSN 1995, DNP 2012)
Hallman is an assistant professor in the School and has been an active leader within the Emergency Nurses Association since 1988, serving in multiple leadership positions at state and local levels; and as a reviewer for the Journal of Emergency Nursing. Hallman provides patient care as an acute care nurse practitioner in the emergency department setting; and as a family nurse practitioner providing access to medically underserved populations. Educating compassionate, quality BSN-prepared and advanced practice nursing professionals is her primary goal.
Aimee Chism Holland, DNP, WHNP-BC, FNP-C, FAANP (DNP 2012)
Holland is the interim associate dean for graduate clinical education and associate professor in the School. Her practice initiatives focus on providing women's health and primary care services to the students at the UAB Student Health & Wellness Clinic. Holland's expertise in women's health is utilized performing gynecology procedures, reproductive life planning counseling, and preventive services in the college health setting. Her faculty practice is the primary platform for her scholarly work.
Rebecca (Suzie) Miltner, PhD, RN, CNL, NEA-BC
Miltner is director of educationally focused partnerships in the UAB School of Nursing and is also a nurse scientist at the Birmingham VA Medical Center. In 2021, she was named the Donna Brown Banton Endowed Professorship in Nursing in the School. She has extensive clinical and leadership experience in military, private and VA acute care settings as well as well as experience in nursing education in both academic and organizational settings. She has been a leader in driving quality improvement efforts in several health care organizations including ongoing work as a facilitator for VA improvement teams.
Shea Polancich, PhD, RN (MSN 1996)
Polancich is an associate professor and assistant dean of clinical innovation in the UAB School of Nursing and has been practicing in quality and patient safety for more than a decade. The primary focus of her work is understanding errors in the clinical environment. Her work focuses on using the best evidence to redesign the workflow and improve processes in order to prevent patient harm and improve the quality of care.
Penni Watts, PhD, RN, CHSE-A (PhD 2015)
Watts is director of clinical simulation and an associate professor in the UAB School of Nursing. She has been instrumental in the integration of clinical simulation experiences as well as interprofessional simulation experiences across multiple nursing programs. Her background includes over 25 years in critical care nursing. Her training in simulation includes the Center for Medical Simulation Comprehensive Instructor Course and the Advanced Instructor Course. Currently she is active on committees in INACSL and Society for Simulation in Healthcare and holds a certification as a CHSE- A (Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator-Advanced).
Joy Deupree, PhD, APRN, WHNP-BC (BSN 1994, MSN 1997)
Deupree is currently the associate dean for practice innovation, partnerships and policy at the College of Nursing at the University of South Carolina and has had a prolific professional career with more than 25 years of experience in health policy, health literacy, nursing practice, education, publications, research, politics and community service. In 2019, Deupree was the consortium principal investigator for the UAB Department of Preventive Medicine where she led the development and creation of all printed materials to ensure understandability, actionability, culturally and linguistically appropriate messaging for Deep South Network for Alabama and Mississippi.
Pandora Hardtman, DNP, RN, CNM, FACNM (DNP 2012)
Hardtman is chief nursing and midwifery officer for Jhpiego. For more than 25 years, Hardtman has been a leader in the field of nursing for her outstanding contributions to global health, nursing and midwifery. Following her completion of the doctor of nursing practice at UAB, Hardtman worked for three years in Rwanda through the Human Resources for Health Project – an initiative funded by the Clinton Foundation in partnership with the Rwandan Ministry of Health and a consortium of more than 20 academic institutions in the United States, including the University of Illinois in Chicago.
JoAnn Oliver, PhD, RN, ANP-BC, CNE (MSN 2001)
Oliver is currently a professor at the Capstone College of Nursing at the University of Alabama where she is teaching undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. Oliver has co-edited a journal, authored over 30 publications and presented at local, state, national, and international levels. She is a faculty associate and executive board member of the Alabama Research Institute on Aging. In 2020, Oliver was appointed by Governor Kay Ivey to serve on the Alabama United Health Committee, which focuses on addressing health issues, particularly those affecting rural and underserved communities.
Darrell Owens, DNP, MSN, MSHSA (DNP 2010)
Owens is a 2010 DNP graduate from the UAB School of Nursing and is section head for palliative care at the University of Washington Medical Center, Northwest Campus. He has more than 30 years of experience as a nurse, with 28 years centered in palliative care, and has improved patient-centered care by developing and building the inpatient palliative care service and the outpatient primary palliative care program within the UW Medicine system.
Karen Winters, PhD, RN (MSN 1985)
Winters is currently serving as professor and interim associate dean for research and scholarship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Winters has served as the principal investigator for several studies that address racial disparities in health and health care. She serves as the director of data acquisition for the Jackson Heart Student Field Center, the largest study in history to investigate genetic and other factors that affect heart disease in African Americans. In this capacity, she serves on the leadership team for the study and oversees the work of exam center staff, surveillance and annual follow-up staff.
