Faculty Highlights

Dr. Martin was recently selected to serve on the American Assocaition of Nurse Anesthetist's Wellness Committee. We also named her as Assistant Program Director for Didactic Instruction for the Nursing Anesthesia Program. Dr. Martin is a current fellow for the Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia Nurse Anesthesia Educator Program. She is also first author on a manuscript detailing her dissertation research that has been accepted for publication in the AORN Journal (Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses). This August (2025) she will be presenting at the AANA Annual Congress. Her podium presentation will be, "Stop Stigma Before Stigma Stops Someone You Know from Getting Help." Sharing her expertise with future CRNAs, she recently appeared on AANA's national Grade 1 View podcast. She is also a co-host on the Airway Exchange podcast, a joint effort by Beyond The Mask Podcasts and the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology.

Dr. Rodriguez is a critical part of the College of Nursing team, and she is a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator. We value faculty CHSE certification as it has a direct correlation to the increased quality of our programs. According to Dr. Rodriguez, "I decided to pursue the CHSE certification because of my role as the simulation coordinator for the nursing anesthesia program. I believe obtaining the CHSE certification shows that I have a deep commitment to maintaining proficiency in simulation education. It helps to ensure that the simulation education we provide to our students meets the current simulation standards." Dr. Rodriguez is a wonderful role model for all our faculty seeking the CHSE certification.

Dr. Chernecky is an internationally-recognized expert scholar in vascular access and cancer symptoms. She has published over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters, has over 400 citations, and has some of the most successful clinical reference books (30 total) in the nation. She pioneered the first book on critical care oncology, is the inventor of the ABCDE clinical education pedagogy and the HATS research model. Her talents have been recognized multiple times, most notably by the International Nurses Association, where she was honored as a Best Professor in Nursing among Worldwide Leaders in Healthcare.

Dr. Marin serves as an associate professor in our department of nursing science. She holds three different distinguished fellowships: Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and Fellow of the National Academies of Practice. “Being inducted as a distinguished fellow in the NAP is a great honor and will provide me with an enormous opportunity to further my interdisciplinary growth, and to form partnerships to advance significant research findings into nationally adopted policy,” Marin stated in 2023. Marin is a renowned neonatal nurse practitioner, receiving two awards for her contribution to neonatal research. Notably, she recently published “Routine Diaper Change Alters Kidney Oxygenation in Premature Infants: A Non-A Priori Analysis.” Marin received the 2023 Distinguished Alumni award from the State University of New York as is currently serving as an editor for the Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing. Recently, she was recognized as Outstanding PhD Faculty for 2025 at The Graduate School's Scientific Integrity Ceremony. Marin is an excellent example of the importance of scholarship and research to the nursing profession, and we are proud to have her as a mentor for our PhD students.

Dr. Cromer serves as a professor, the APRN clinical coordinator, and the Director of the Interdisciplinary Costa Layman Community Health Outreach Programs for the College of Nursing. Dr. Cromer is a pillar in the community due to her leadership and work with events such as the Costa Layman Health Fair, the Costa Layman Women’s Clinic, and the various resources provided through the Healthy Grandparents Program. She is a proud alumna of Augusta University, earning her DNP from the Medical College of Georgia. Her exemplary work is consistently highlighted through awards including the 2024 Excellence in Service-Learning Faculty Award, College of Nursing E. Louisa Grant Distinguished Alumna (2017), AANP Nurse Practitioner State Award of Excellence (2016), and her Excellence in Published Writing award (2017). She continues to give back to our college though her Endowed Scholarship, the Marion, Cromer, Layman Clinical Nurse Leader Scholarship. Recently, she was invited as a panelist to represent FNP programs nationwide. Their work, of which she was a co-author, was recently published in the Advanced Emergency Nursing Journal. You can find it under "Crosswalk Analysis of Existing Nurse Practitioner Populations and Emergency Nurse Practitioner Competencies."