People: Staff News


PhD Graduate’s Work Could Alter Stroke Treatment Paradigm

|
Dr. Nicole Schumacher poses with her family for a professional photo outside with palm trees in the background.

Nicole Schumacher began working at 14, when she started helping her dad with his eBay side business of selling electronic components from their garage. At 18, the California native worked for Best Buy and had no plans for college. Today, Dr. Schumacher is doing research on glucose levels in stroke patients, especially in the very early stage of the stroke called… Read More


Life, Amplified

|
An audiology student looking into a young patient's ear

In the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, care, learning, and community come together one patient at a time. On a recent morning inside the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Audiology and Speech Pathology (ASP) clinic in downtown Knoxville, Rachel Brock sat for a routine appointment she has experienced dozens of times before. A clinician adjusted the settings on her… Read More


Seven UT Health Sciences Physicians Named to Inaugural Memphis Medical Society Hall of Fame

|
The honored physicians stand together in a line, wearing their Hall of Fame white coats at the Memphis Medical Society gala.

When the Memphis Medical Society named its inaugural Hall of Fame class recently, seven of the 10 honorees could trace their training, faculty careers, or both to the University of Tennessee Health Sciences. For 150 years, the Memphis Medical Society has stood alongside the physicians who built medicine in the city. The Hall of Fame… Read More


UT Health Sciences Team Earns 4 Statewide Communications Awards

|
Four TCPRA awards displayed on a table

The University of Tennessee Health Sciences Office of Communications and Marketing earned four awards, including two top honors, at the 2026 Tennessee College Public Relations Association (TCPRA) conference. The annual event, held May 20–22 in Chattanooga, brought together communicators from public and private colleges and universities across the state. This year’s competition drew a record-breaking… Read More


Nurturing Beginnings: Dr. Alicia Barnes and Team Are Helping Create Healthier Communities for Children

|
Dr. Alicia Barnes stands in a green dress indoors with green foliage in the foreground and a research poster in the background.

Memphis wasn’t on Alicia Barnes’ bingo card, but she saw an alignment she couldn’t ignore. The physician arrived three years ago, answering a listserv post from a colleague she had first met as a medical student at a national community psychiatry conference. She wasn’t actively looking. Yet when Altha Stewart, MD, posted about a leadership… Read More


NightinGala Marks a Decade of Honoring Mid-South Nurses

|
Dean Wendy Likes stands beside nurse Leatriece Franklin, who's holding a blue, teardrop-shaped award.

“Never underestimate the power of showing up and serving others,” said Leatriece Franklin, MHA, MSN, RN, as she received the 2026 Dr. John W. Runyan, Jr., Community Nursing Award at the recent 10th annual NightinGala. The award recognizes a registered nurse practicing in Tennessee, Mississippi, or Arkansas, who has made significant contributions to the development… Read More


A Clear Vision, A Balanced Budget, A Strong Future, Advisory Board Told

|
Raaj Kurapati speaking ot Advisory Board

During its spring meeting Friday, the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Advisory Board unanimously approved the university’s balanced operating budget proposal of $747 million for Fiscal Year 2027. The proposal, which goes before the UT Board of Trustees in June, includes $4 million for cost-of-living adjustments and $2.5 million for one-time performance-based compensation adjustments for employees, $1 million for institutional student scholarships, $150,000 to fund half of the increase… Read More


The CARE Team Shows Up Before the Crisis Does

|
A medium-size group of people, including two police officers and CARE Team representatives, are gathered on the steps of a large, cement building.

If you notice a student seems off, showing up less, falling behind, acting out of character, the instinct can be to wait and see. Charles Snyder, PhD, vice chancellor for Student Success and co-chair of the CARE Team at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences, wants you to know there’s another option. “The problem is… Read More