By Laura Gasque
Eleven University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing faculty members and alumni have been named Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing. They join more than 100 FAANs affiliated with the School.
This year’s faculty inductees include Martha Dawson, DNP, MSN, FACHE (BSN 1974, MSN 1986), Sharon Holley, DNP, CNM, FACNM (MSN 1996), Candace Knight, PhD, RN (BSN 1997, PhD 2013), Susan McMullan, PhD, CRNA, FAANA, Michele Talley, PhD, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FNAP (MSN 2005, PhD 2015), and Bryan Wilbanks, PhD, DNP, CRNA, FAANA (DNP 2012, PhD 2016).
The UAB School of Nursing alumni inductees include Azita Amiri, PhD, MPH, RN (BSN 2010, MSN 2012, PhD 2014), Pamela Stewart Fahs, PhD, RN (PhD 1991), Lucinda Graven, PhD, APRN, FAHA (PhD 2014), Emily Jones, PhD, RNC-OB, FAHA, FPCNA (PhD 2010), and Yeow Chye Ng, PhD, CRNP, FAANP (PhD 2013).
The American Academy of Nursing will induct 250 nurse leaders into its 2022 Class of Fellows during a conference in October.
“As the American Academy of Nursing’s President, it gives me great pride to announce the largest class of Fellows since the organization began nearly 50 years ago,” said Kenneth R. White, PhD, RN, AGACNP, ACHPN, FACHE, FAAN. “At a time when investments in, and policy to address, health equity, innovation, and access are paramount, the Academy is thrilled to welcome these dynamic and courageous nurse leaders who will support our collective vision of healthy lives for all people.”
Martha Dawson, DNP, MSN, FACHE (BSN 1974, MSN 1986)
Dawson is an Associate Professor and was named one of the School’s 70 Visionary Leaders in 2021. She also has received the UAB President’s Excellence in Teaching Award, UAB Dean’s Mentorship Award, American Organization of Nurse Leaders Prism Award in 2017 and, in 2019, was inducted into the Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame. She is a Scholar in the UAB Sparkman Center for Global Health Center, Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Executive Fellows alumna, and a Johnson & Johnson Wharton Nurse Administrative Fellows alumna. She is a co-convenor of the 2020 Black Coalition Against COVID, which reached millions through outreach and education efforts during the pandemic. Dawson is a co-lead on the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing, which is doing groundbreaking work to improve the image of the nursing profession and provide healing for Black and Brown nurses. Dawson is serving her second term as President of the National Black Nurses Association Inc. In 2022, she received the President’s Award from the American Nurses Association.
Sharon Holley, DNP, CNM, FACNM (MSN 1996)
Holley is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Nurse-Midwifery Pathway, which returned to the School in fall 2022. Holley is a graduate of the first iteration of UAB’s nurse-midwife program in 1996. In 2016, Holley was named a Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives.
Candace Knight, PhD, RN (BSN 1997, PhD 2013)
Knight is an Associate Professor and Program Director of the Nurse-Family Partnership of Central Alabama. She is a labor and delivery nurse and childbirth educator, teaching in the School’s AMNP and undergraduate programs, leading the next generation of nurses to impact the lives of mothers and babies. In 2017, she received the Alabama League for Nursing Excellence in Teaching Award for her leadership in education.
Susan McMullan, PhD, CRNA, FAANA
McMullan is an Associate Professor and Nurse Anesthesia DNP Pathway Director. She has been a CRNA for more than 30 years, with clinical experience in all forms of anesthesia. She has more than 10 years of experience as a nurse anesthesia didactic and simulation educator and program director. In addition to receiving over $500,000 in HRSA traineeship grant funding, she has received an additional $50,000 in AANA Foundation Doctoral, Post-Doctoral Fellowship and General Grants for her work on nurse anesthesia and patient safety. She’s serving a second term on the Board of Directors for the National Board of Certification & Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists and will serve as Vice President beginning in fall 2022. In 2021, the Alabama Association of Nurse Anesthetists presented McMullan with the Outstanding Advocacy and Service to the CRNA Profession Award. In 2022, she was named a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology.
Michele Talley, PhD, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FNAP (MSN 2005, PhD 2015)
Talley is an Associate Professor and the Interim Associate Dean for Clinical and Global Partnerships. Her research focuses on diabetes care, interprofessional models of care, integrated behavioral health, and care of the uninsured. She serves as Director of the Providing Access to Health Care (PATH) Clinic and is board certified as an adult acute care nurse practitioner. In 2021, Talley was named one of the School’s 70 Visionary Leaders. She also is a Fellow in the National Academies of Practice and American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
Bryan Wilbanks, PhD, DNP, CRNA, FAANA (DNP 2012, PhD 2016)
Wilbanks is an Assistant Professor with more than 20 years of clinical experience. His expertise in nursing informatics focuses on how electronic health record interface design impacts usability in real-world settings. Wilbanks serves on the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) Foundation Board of Trustees. He was named an inaugural AANA Fellow in 2021 and previously received the John F. Garde Researcher of the Year Award, which recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to the practice of anesthesia through research.
Azita Amiri, PhD, MPH, RN (BSN 2010, MSN 2012, PhD 2014)
Amiri is an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville College of Nursing and a Bloomberg Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is a nurse scientist with an interest in environmental health and justice. She measures indoor air quality in residential and occupational settings and studies the common indoor air exposures, their concentrations and sources, and their impact on pregnancy outcomes, child health and well-being of the elderly.
Pamela Stewart Fahs, PhD, RN (PhD 1991)
Fahs is a Professor, the Associate Dean and holds the Dr. G. Clifford and Florence B. Decker Endowed Chair in Rural Nursing at Binghamton University. She is also editor-in-chief for the Online Journal of Rural Nursing and Health Care. With a research focus of cardiovascular disease in rural populations, she has built a research trajectory combining her expertise in cardiovascular disease, passion for rural healthcare, and community-based participatory research. In 2021, she was named one of the School’s 70 Visionary Leaders. She received the Marie L. O’Koren Alumni Award for Innovation from the School in 2017.
Lucinda Graven, PhD, APRN, FAHA (PhD 2014)
Graven is an Associate Professor at the Florida State University College of Nursing. Her research focuses on improving outcomes for heart failure patients and their family care partners through the development and testing of cognitive-behavioral interventions. In 2017, she received the Early Science Investigator Award from the Southern Nursing Research Society. The award recognizes the contributions of a nurse scientist early in his or her research career who shows potential to develop a sustained program of research to enhance nursing science and practice.
She is a 2014 Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing graduate of the UAB School of Nursing. While at the School, Graven received the Outstanding PhD Student Award. In 2019, she was elected as a Fellow of the American Heart Association.
Emily Jones, PhD, RNC-OB, FAHA, FPCNA (PhD 2010)
Jones is an Associate Professor and PhD Program Director at the Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Informed by her former clinical practice as a labor and delivery nurse, her work as a nurse scientist contributes to redefining perinatal-lifecourse care as she leads interdisciplinary research teams to advance Indigenous postpartum health equity and collaborates nationally to advocate for nursing care that is culturally safe and whole-person oriented. She currently leads a PCORI-funded project focused on building capacity to advance Indigenous maternal health equity in the Southern Plains. Additionally, as Fellow and Board of Directors member of the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association, she elevates nursing’s role in preventing maternal cardiometabolic disease and addressing cardiovascular-related pregnancy complications.
Yeow Chye Ng, PhD, CRNP, FAANP (PhD 2013)
Ng is an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville College of Nursing. In 2015, he received the Nurse Practitioner Alliance of Alabama 2015 Outstanding Regional Nurse Practitioner Award for North Alabama. In 2019, he was inducted as a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
