New Appointments

Clinical associate professor Terri Ades DNP FNP-BC RN comes to Emory from the American Cancer Society (ACS) National Home Office, where she oversaw  dissemination of cancer information to the public. Upon joining ACS, she brought with her 12 years of clinical oncology experience with adults and children. She served as coordinator of a National Cancer Institute-sponsored Community Clinical Oncology Program, an oncology clinician at Indiana University Medical Center, and a pediatric oncology clinician at the Medical University of South Carolina. For the past three years, she taught part-time at the School of Nursing and practiced at Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute and Grady Memorial Hospital. 

Brenda Baker PhD RN, clinical assistant professor, is an expert in maternal, newborn, and perinatal health. Her research focuses on maternal competence and responsiveness and the role of social support and social media in the postpartum period. Baker is a clinical nurse specialist experienced in labor and delivery, postpartum, and neonatal intensive care. In 2013, she was named a March of Dimes Nurse of the Year in the advanced practice category. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing and Advances in Neonatal Care, among other publications.

Sharron Close PhD MS CPNP-PC is a research assistant professor and pediatric nurse practitioner whose studies focus on pediatric primary care, developmental pediatrics, and management of chronic genetic conditions. Formerly an audiologist, Close provides expertise in ear, nose, and throat pathophysiology and communication disorders throughout the lifespan. Prior to joining Emory, she completed a postdoctoral research program at Yale School of Nursing, where she focused on family management challenges associated with Klinefelter Syndrome and completed an intensive genetics study program offered by the National Institute of Nursing Research. Close now teaches genetics and pediatric primary care at the School of Nursing.

Clinical assistant professor  John Cranmer DNP ANP RN is a global health scholar and adult nurse practitioner who designs solutions for health problems among special populations through mixed-methods research and interdisciplinary collaboration. Prior to joining Emory, Cranmer completed a Fogarty postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington, where he used mixed methods to promote a more cohesive community-to-clinic continuum of obstetric care in Kenya. He also managed patients there with a complex array of chronic medical conditions, psychiatric comorbidities, and limited economic resources. Cranmer continues to promote clinic-community partnerships to reduce maternal mortality in western Kenya.

Erin Poe Ferranti 96OX 98N 01MN/01MPH 13PhD is a research assistant professor focusing on the condition of diet quality to pregnancy outcomes in the postpartum time frame. Her research has been supported by the NIH and the American Heart Association. Prior to joining the Emory faculty, Ferranti served as assistant chief nurse for the Georgia Division of Public Health. There, she managed a nursing quality improvement initiative throughout the state of Georgia and participated in emergency preparedness strategic planning following 9/11.

Ann Horigan PhD RN, clinical assistant professor, comes to Emory from James Madison University in Virginia. She received her PhD in 2012 from Duke University, where her dissertation explored the self-management of fatigue in end-stage renal patients on hemodialysis. Currently, she is completing a pilot study to determine the feasibility and reliability of using the Lee Fatigue Scale in the hemodialysis population. Horigan has received writing awards for her articles in the Nephrology Nursing Journal and MEDSURGNursing. She is also a member of Sigma Theta Tau International, the National Kidney Foundation, the American Nephrology Nurses’ Association, and the Southern Nursing Research Society.

Dorothy Jordan 82MN DNP APRN PMHNP-BC, PMHCNS-BC,  clinical assistant professor, has taught part-time at the School of Nursing since 2011. Her clinical interests include early mental health screening, infant mental health promotion, early intervention, the universal prevention of psychiatric mental health disorders, and the integration of mental health into primary care. She also has a special interest in access to psychiatric mental health care for underserved and displaced youth and families. In 1983, Jordan co-founded Camp Sunshine, which offers year-round recreation, education, and support programming for children with cancer and their families throughout Georgia.

Roy Simpson DNP RN DPNAP FAAN is a clinical professor with the new Doctorate of Nursing Practice program. He is also vice president, nursing, with Cerner Corporation, with responsibility for strategic sales and relationships for the global patient care enterprise and representation at the industry level for Cerner’s nurse practice. Simpson has more than 35 years of experience in nursing informatics and senior executive administration. He pioneered the development and funding of the Werley and Lang Nursing Minimum Data Set, has lectured extensively around the world, and published more than 500 articles on nursing informatics. Additionally, he is an honorary member of the International Medical Informatics Association, a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Nursing, a distinguished practitioner in the National Academy of Practice, and an honorary member of Sigma Theta Tau International.

Suzanne Staebler DNP APRN NNP-BC is a clinical associate professor and coordinator of Emory’s neonatal nurse practitioner (NNP) program. Staebler has held faculty appointments in nursing at the Medical University of South Carolina and Baylor University. She is dedicated to guiding policy development and its implementation at the RN and advanced practice nursing levels and provided a platform for NNPs to be designated as an APRN specialty population. Staebler has developed quality improvement and productivity measurement tools to enhance NNP practice and improve patient outcomes. She currently serves as the director of advanced practice for the Georgia Nurses Association and as a member of its board of directors.

LisaMarie Wands PhD RN is a research assistant professor who studies the experiences of veterans coming home from war and the effects on their health. Wands comes to Emory from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, where she was a research associate and VA Quality Scholar with the Tennessee Valley Health System. She holds a doctorate from Florida International University. Her dissertation sought to understand the issues that complicate the health of veterans who returned home from serving in the Middle East and the strategies necessary to overcome these issues. 

Jessica Wells 12PhD RN, research assistant professor, is a graduate of the School of Nursing’s doctoral program and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Emory this year. Her overarching research focus is cancer control and prevention, specifically to improve cancer outcomes in vulnerable populations with or at risk for cancer. She is particularly interested in cancer prevention and control among those at risk for HIV. Her research has been funded by an NIH National Research Service Award, the American Cancer Society, and Sigma Theta Tau International. Wells is the first graduate of Emory’s BSN to PhD program. Her BSN is from Howard University.

Canhua Xiao PhD RN completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the School of Nursing before joining the faculty as a research assistant professor. Her research centers on cancer-related symptoms and the mechanisms of cancer-related fatigue. Prior to joining the School of Nursing, Xiao received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Her dissertation provided the first published description of symptom clusters in patients with head and neck cancer. She has published more than 30 journal articles in leading journals such as Cancer, Research in Nursing and Health, and Cancer Nursing.