Accomplished Faculty Join the College
10/22/2014 – After nationwide searches, the College of Nursing brought on board four new stellar and very accomplished faculty members who will be great assets to our education, research, practice and service missions.
Amanda Fallin, PhD, RN, Assistant Research Professor
Dr. Fallin is an active early-career tobacco control scientist with a focus on tobacco policy and disparate populations. As a faculty associate in the Tobacco Policy Research Program, she is currently developing a program of research focused on tobacco use and tobacco-related policies in mental health and substance abuse treatment facilities.
In June 2014, she completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Stanton Glantz at the University of California San Francisco’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. While there she led projects related to tobacco use, policy and prevention for vulnerable populations: in tobacco growing states; and among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults, college students, and bar-going young adults. Fallin has led two multi-site capacity-building projects funded by California’s Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program to evaluate smoke and tobacco-free college campus policies in California as an extension of her dissertation research. Her article, “To quarterback behind the scenes, third party efforts: The tobacco industry and the Tea Party,” was the most downloaded article in Tobacco Control in 2013.
As a predoctoral student, she served as a community advisor on an NHLBI-funded project to promote smoke-free policies in rural Kentucky communities. Dr. Fallin earned her BSN, MSN and PhD from the University of Kentucky College of Nursing.
Dianna Inman, DNP, RN, APRN, CPNP, PMHS, Assistant Professor
Dr. Inman is a pediatric nurse practitioner, primary care mental health specialist and an assistant professor of nursing at the University of Kentucky in the graduate program.
Dedicated to serving children and adolescents, her work has focused on assessing and treating students in schools in underserved areas with primary care, developmental and behavioral health services. She
is an active member in the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, has presented at national conferences and is a member of special interest groups related to school health and mental health. She has authored articles for “Ready Set Grow Health Information for Kids and Parents” magazine sponsored by the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.
Dr. Inman received the Outstanding Faculty Member Award from the Medical University of South Carolina and the distinguished Palmetto Gold Nurse Recognition Award by the South Carolina Nurses Foundation. She has received funding as co-PI from the Duke Endowment and Health Resources and Services Administration for implementing evidence-based programs to decrease aggressive behaviors in elementary school students.
As an advocate for children and adolescents, Dr. Inman has served on the First Steps Board to improve school readiness for children in Charleston County, S.C. She is passionate about improving health outcomes of children and adolescents through increasing nursing students’, nurses’ and practitioners’ knowledge and practice related to evidence-based care.
Sheila Melander, PhD, ACNP-BC, FCCM, FAANP, Professor
Dr. Melander is a nationally known adult-gerontological acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP) leader. She is currently serving a two-year term as president of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties. She was involved in the revision of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Scope and Standards document in 2006 and was a member of the work committee that established the 2012 Adult-Gerontological Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Competencies. She also led the development of the Statement on Acute Care and Primary Care Certified Nurse Practitioners. Additionally she facilitated the development of a second multiorganizational white paper addressing nurse practitioner employment, which is being used across the U.S. in both primary and acute care settings.
Funded with a grant from the University of Southern Indiana College of Nursing and Health Professions, Dr. Melander started and taught in one of the earliest master’s-level ACNP tracks in the U.S. In 2003 she was recruited to the University of Tennessee College of Nursing to teach in the ACNP Track, where she taught at both the master’s and doctoral levels. Since 2003 she has been involved in high-fidelity simulation to maximize student learning.
Dr. Melander has practiced for more than 12 years as a cardiovascular ACNP specialist in both hospital and office settings. She was the first certified ACNP to practice in the Owensboro/Daviess County, Ky., area. While practicing at Sandra Fallon Cardiology in Santa Monica, Calif., she was one of the first practitioners to be involved with advanced genetic counseling for cardiovascular disease treatment and prevention.
She is a fellow in the Society of Critical Care Medicine as well as the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
Carol Thompson, PhD, DNP, ACNP, CCRN, FCCM, FAANP, FAAN, Professor
Dr. Thompson is nationally known for her acute and critical care nursing leadership. She was the first acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP) and the second nurse to be president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine; the first ACNP on the national board of directors of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses; the first ACNP to serve on the Tennessee Board of Nursing; and was among the first 100 nurses to be certified as an ACNP.
During her 27-year academic career she developed one of the early ACNP programs at the MSN and then DNP level. As she embraced technological advances in education she became a founding member of the Society of Medical Simulation and developed expertise in online learning.
Her scholarship interests have included dyspnea, pain, agitation, delirium and mobility in critically ill adults. Since 2013 she has delivered more than 30 international presentations.
Dr. Thompson received her BSN from Florida State University, an MS in nursing from the University of Maryland, a PhD in nursing from Case Western Reserve University, and a DNP from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She has achieved Fellow status in the American College of Critical Care Medicine, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the American Academy of Nursing.
