Biography

Dr. Cole joined FNU in October of 2012, initially as Regional Clinical Faculty and in 2014 adding Academic Faculty assignments as Assistant Professor in the Department of Midwifery and Women’s Health. She has taught Introduction to Scholarly Writing, Antepartum, and The Role of the Nurse-Midwife in Health Care Delivery Systems. She is currently course coordinator for PC713 Principles of Independent Practice. Dr. Cole received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of Colorado in 1985, her Master of Science in Nursing at the Medical University of South Carolina in 1994 and her Doctorate in Nursing Practice at Frontier Nursing University in 2012. Dr. Cole spent a year teaching Nurse-midwifery students early in her career at the Medical University of South Carolina, but has spent most of her professional life in full-scope practice at a freestanding birth center in Knoxville, TN. She served as President of the American Association of Birth Centers from 2009-2013 and has published chapters in two textbooks. Her first textbook Freestanding Birth Centers: Innovation, Evidence, Optimal Outcomes is due to be published in Spring 2017 with Springer Publishing Company. Her professional interests continue to be focused on the birth center model of care and the triple aim of cost, quality and patient satisfaction. In her free time she mostly enjoys gardening and traveling and enjoying the company of her family and friends.