Melanie Fant, PhD, BSN, RN
Assistant Professor
874 Union Ave., Room 341
Memphis, TN, 38163
901.448.9786
mfant1@uthsc.edu
Dr. Melanie Fant joined the University of Tennessee (UT) Health Science Center College of Nursing in April 2024 as an Assistant Professor. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville in 2010 and a PhD in Nursing Science in 2023 from UT Health Science Center. An adjunct faculty member for the BSN Maternal Health course at UT Health Science Center for several years, Dr. Fant also worked in hospital administration as a Senior Clinical Nurse Educator, managing clinical staff education in more than 60 outpatient clinics. Before beginning as a full-time faculty member, she worked for several years as a labor and delivery nurse at Methodist-Germantown Hospital and as a contract labor and delivery nurse at UCLA Santa Monica in Santa Monica, CA, and St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Houston, TX.
Dr. Fant conducts research and has several research interests, including high-risk maternal care, patient-clinician communication among Black pregnant and postpartum mothers, and telehealth interventions for patients in underserved communities. Dr. Fant’s research aims to increase knowledge regarding Black mothers’ communication with their obstetric clinicians, especially those with high-risk disorders, to improve maternal and fetal outcomes. Lastly, she is involved with community engagement opportunities for maternal health research with continuous speaking engagements at the Arkansas Birthing Project’s annual meetings, the University of Arkansas for Medical Science POWER Luncheon for obstetric clinicians, the Porter Leath Parents as Teachers Home Visitation Program, and More for Memphis Health and Wellness Group.
Dr. Fant is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses Organization.