College of Nursing Dean to Lead Statewide Rural Health Initiative

5 hours ago 3

Wendy Likes, PhD, DNSc APRN-Bc, FAAN, FAANP, dean of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Nursing, will fill a new role as executive director and special advisor on rural health for the university. Dean Likes will continue her role as the College of Nursing’s dean.

Chancellor Peter Buckley, MD, made the announcement at the UT Health Science Center Advisory Board meeting on May 9. The appointment reflects the outstanding work the college has done in bringing needed primary care services to rural communities in West Tennessee through mobile health outreach.

Building upon the recommendations of a gubernatorial task force that addressed rural health needs in Tennessee, Dean Likes will collaborate with the other UT Health Science Center deans and with Paul Wesolowski, vice chancellor for Strategic Partnerships, and Cindy Russell, PhD, vice chancellor for Academic, Faculty, and Student Affairs, to advance care, training, and retention of health sciences-trained clinicians in rural communities.

“I’m most grateful to Dean Likes for her willingness to assume this additional key role, building upon her 11 years of leadership as dean and impact upon rural health, in a collaborative manner to advance in rural Tennessee our vision of Healthy Tennesseans. Thriving Communities,” Chancellor Buckley said.

“I am excited about taking the next few years to lay the foundation for improved health care in rural communities across Tennessee,” Dean Likes said. “I am proud that the College of Nursing is being recognized for its programs in rural health and am excited to collaborate with the other colleges at UT Health Science Center on their ongoing rural health initiatives to raise health care in rural communities to the next level.”

The College of Nursing leads several rural health outreach and education programs. Dean Likes leads one of the college’s newest rural health projects, the Tennessee Rural Nurse Scholars program. Funded through a $300,000 grant from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, this 17-month effort will expand work-based opportunities in rural communities by strengthening the nursing pipeline. The grant will fund additional training, financial support, and active learning experiences for eight rural nursing students: four at the University of Tennessee at Martin and four at the University of Tennessee Southern. The students will receive financial support in their final year of nursing school, a paid student nurse internship experience, and additional training.

The college’s other rural initiatives are funded through $12.58 million from a variety of sources. One major grant provides primary care in rural Lake and Lauderdale counties. Another offers financial support for nursing students committed to rural and underserved areas. In addition, a UT Grand Challenges grant will send three vans into rural areas to provide education, outreach, and training to nearby rural communities and to their health care workforces.

Photo of the UTHSC Nursing Mobile Health Unit

Rural health outreach efforts by other colleges at UT Health Science Center are also funded through UT Grand Challenges grants. The Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology in Knoxville is using a Grand Challenges grant to purchase a van that can take audiology, speech language pathology, and social work services on the road in rural East Tennessee. This allows the College of Health Professions to bring care to those who may not have access to it otherwise.

The College of Dentistry, in collaboration with the Tennessee Department of Health, began a five-year, $53 million project in 2023 to increase access to dentists and dental care across Tennessee, with a focus on the rural areas with the most need.  Funded by the state and called the Healthy Smiles Initiative, the ambitious project is a multipronged approach to tackling the current shortage of dentists in Tennessee and improving health across the state by making dental care more readily available. The Tennessee Department of Health has committed a total of $94 million for its overall statewide Healthy Smiles oral health effort.

Here is a detailed description of the College of Nursing’s rural health outreach and education efforts and their funding sources:

A $3.98 million, four-year Health Resources and Services Administration (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.
A $4 million, four-year HRSA grant to increase the number of Nurse-Midwives in the Delta region was awarded to the college in September 2023. The grant provides stipends to educate 12 to 14 nurse midwifery students annually and allows an expansion of clinical learning sites.
A $2.6 million, four-year HRSA grant renewal in 2023 provides stipends to support the education of 19 advanced practice nursing students committed to serving rural and underserved communities to increase health care access and variety in the nursing workforce.
A $1.5 million, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, which began September 30, 2024, supports 13 senior nursing students during each of the three grant years by covering full tuition, books, and fees. The program will also offer 12 months of mentoring and specialized clinical education.
A $500,000, two-year grant 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 UT Martin and UT Southern. The grant was awarded this year through the UT Grand Challenges program. The program funded by the grant will deploy three mobile health units branded with One UT messaging – sending one mobile health unit from each of the three campuses to provide education, outreach, and training to nearby rural communities and to their health care workforces.