Rural and Underserved Health Care Research

A $4 million, four-year grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to increase the number of Nurse-Midwives in the Delta region was awarded to the college in September 2023. The HRSA grant will provide stipends to educate 12-14 nurse midwifery students annually and will allow an expansion of clinical learning sites. Professor Kate Fouquier, PhD, APRN, CNM, FACNM, is the principal investigator on this grant.

A $3.98 million, four-year HRSA grant was awarded to the college in 2022 for a nursing mobile health unit that provides primary care in the underserved, rural counties of Lake and Lauderdale. The goals of this effort are to increase health care access to vulnerable populations while increasing variety in representation in the nursing workforce. The grant also enables the integration of rural health care into the program curriculum. The principal investigator is Director of Clinical Affairs and Assistant Professor Diana Dedmon, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, AFN-C.

A $500,000, two-year grant led by faculty from the College of Nursing will increase outreach, education, and health care workforce development in rural areas of the state. The effort is a collaboration of UT Health Science Center nursing faculty with members of the nursing faculty at the University of Tennessee at Martin and the University of Tennessee Southern in Pulaski. The grant was awarded through the UT Grand Challenges program. The program funded by the grant will deploy three mobile health units branded with One UT messaging to rural counties. One mobile health unit will travel from each of the three campuses involved to provide education, outreach, and training to nearby rural communities and to the health care workforces in those areas. The grant is led by Associate Dean of Research Ansley Stanfill, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Associate Professor Alisa Haushalter, DNP, RN, PHNA-BC.

College of Nursing Dean Wendy Likes, PhD, DNSc, APRN-BC, FAAN, FAANP, has received a $300,000 grant from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development to fund the Tennessee Rural Nurse Scholars program. This 17-month program will expand work-based opportunities in rural communities by strengthening their nursing pipeline. The grant will fund additional training, financial support and active learning experiences for eight rural nursing students: four at UT Martin and four at UT Southern. The students will receive financial support in their final year of nursing school, a paid student nurse internship experience, and additional training. The health care institutions involved include the Southern Tennessee Regional Health System in Pulaski, Baptist Memorial Hospital in Union City, and the UTHSC Nursing Mobile Health Unit. The program will serve the following counties: Giles, Lake, Lauderdale, Obion, and Weakley.