The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) College of Nursing will host its annual Alumni Weekend May 3-4. The weekend begins with the Nursing Alumni Awards luncheon on May 3 at 11:30 a.m. at the Memphis Botanic Garden, Sara’s Place, 750 Cherry Road. The cost is $40 per person.
Awards will be given to three nursing alumni, one of whom is the dean of the UTHSC College of Nursing. Wendy Likes, PhD, DNSc, ARNP-BC, FAANP, a three-time alumna of the university (CON ’99, ’04, ‘09), will receive the 2019 Outstanding Alumna Award. Others to be honored are Todd B. Monroe PhD, RN-BC, FNAP, FGSA, FAAN, Recent Alumnus Award, and Allyson Matney Neal, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, CNS-BC, CPNP, Most Supportive Alumna Award.
Dr. Wendy Likes, (CON ’99, ’04, ‘09)
Dr. Likes has served as dean of the College of Nursing since 2015.
She is a certified family nurse practitioner and has worked primarily with individuals with cancer and pre-invasive conditions related to HPV.
Dr. Likes is the founder of The Center for HPV and Dysplasia at Regional One Health. She is also a mentor for the American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, teaching others how to perform these advanced skills.
Dr. Likes’ research interests are HPV and lower genital tract disease. She completed a K23 grant from the National Institutes of Health focusing on women with vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia following vulvar surgery. Dr. Likes has had multiple internal and external grants to support her research.
She is currently a member of the American Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society, the International Society for the Study of Vulvovaginal Disease, and the American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology. Dr. Likes is a Fellow in the International Society for the Study of Vulvovaginal Disease, where she serves as past chair of the Psychosexual Committee. She serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease and is a manuscript reviewer for multiple journals. In 2016, she was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.
Dr. Likes received her Associate of Science Degree from Arkansas State University in 1994. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Memphis in 1997. She received her Master of Science in Nursing (family nurse practitioner), a Doctorate of Nursing Science, and a PhD from UTHSC in 1999, 2004, and 2009.
Dr. Todd B. Monroe, (CON ’10)
While at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Dr. Monroe was the first nurse at the university to receive the prestigious Alma and Hal Reagan Pre-Doctoral Fellowship for his dissertation work examining cancer pain in people with dementia at the end of life.
Upon graduation, Dr. Monroe moved to Nashville to complete a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, under the supervision of Dr. John Gore. While there, he was the Claire M. Fagin and Atlantic Philanthropies Postdoctoral Fellow in the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, under the supervision of by Dr. Lorraine Mion.
Currently, Dr. Monroe’s research is focused on using novel psychophysical and neurophysiological approaches to examine pain in older adults with and without dementia. Dr. Monroe is the recipient of an NIH/NIA K23 career development award, two NIH/NIA R21 awards, and has an NIH/NIA R01 focused on examining sex differences in pain reports and brain activation in people with Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Monroe holds fellowship status in the National Academies of Practice, the Gerontological Society of America, and the American Academy of Nursing.
Dr. Monroe earned a BSN degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1998, where he graduated cum laude. He earned his MSN from the University of Alabama College of Nursing in 2002, where he was awarded the Sigma Theta Tau Outstanding Graduate Student Award. He received an MS degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Memphis. Dr. Monroe earned his PhD in nursing in 2010 from UTHSC, under the supervision of Michael Carter, DNSc, DNP, FAAN, FNP/GNP-BC.
Dr. Monroe joined the Ohio State University College of Nursing faculty as an associate professor of nursing in 2018. Before joining the faculty at OSU, Dr. Monroe served as an assistant professor of nursing in the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.
Dr. Allyson Matney Neal, (CON ’95, ’10)
In addition to her faculty appointment at UTHSC, Dr. Neal practices as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PNP) and specializes in child and adolescent mental and behavioral health.
As a PNP, she practiced primary care pediatrics and pediatric neurology. During this time, she saw the need for mental health care in children, as well as the lack of trained providers and options for care. She returned to school and earned a Doctorate of Nursing Practice in psychiatric mental health from UTHSC.
Dr. Neal has a special interest in resiliency. Dr. Neal is nationally certified as a pediatric nurse practitioner, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, and a child and adolescent psychiatric clinical nurse specialist. She is a member in good standing of the American Nurses Association, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, and the Tennessee Nurses Association, for which she serves as the director of membership for Tennessee.
Dr. Neal has been an advanced practice registered nurse in Tennessee since 1996. She received her associate’s degree in nursing from East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a master’s in nursing as a pediatric nurse practitioner from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Neal joined the UTHSC College of Nursing faculty in May 2016 as an assistant professor in the Department of Advanced Practice and Doctoral Studies. She teaches in the Psychiatric Mental Health and Pediatric Advanced Practice Programs.
On May 4, various events will take place. From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., a continuing education course titled, “The Opioid Crisis As Experienced Through the Spectrum of Advanced Practice Nurses,” will be given at the UTHSC Pharmacy Building, 881 Madison Avenue. The cost is $125 and includes breakfast, lunch, parking, and continuing nursing education credits. To register for continuing education, email Roylynn Germain at rgermain@uthsc.edu.
The Methodist Hospital School of Nursing Reunion Luncheon be from noon-2 p.m. at the Memphis Botanic Garden, Goldsmith Room. All Methodist Hospital School of Nursing alumni are invited to attend. The cost is $45 per person. For more information about the reunion luncheon, contact Terri Catafygiotu at 901.448.8580.
The UTHSC College of Nursing’s NightinGala will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Memphis Botanic Garden, Hardin Hall. The cost is $75 for individuals and $130 for couples. To register and purchase tickets go to https://uthsc.edu/nursing/nightingala.php.
Ann Cashion, PhD, RN, FAAN, acting director and scientific director of the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research, will give the keynote address.
For more information on the Nursing Alumni weekend, contact Natassha Bowles in the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs at 901.448.2596 or nbowles@utfi.org. The deadline to register is April 20 by 10 a.m.