Dr. Jennifer Grisham, assistant professor of nursing at Lee University, earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice from Frontier Nursing University this June.
Dr. Grisham completed the entire DNP program in 15 months while teaching full-time at Lee, raising a family, and working part time at Kaful Family Practice in Cleveland as a family nurse practitioner at the beginning of a global pandemic.
“There were times I wondered why I was putting myself through this rigorous program, but I continued to push forward and lean into the Lord's strength,” said Dr. Grisham.
For her scholarly project, titled “A Patient-Centered Approach to Improving Diabetes Care in an Underserved Rural Clinic,” Dr. Grisham created a diabetes flow sheet to go on a patient's chart for all diabetics in the clinic. According to Dr. Grisham, this flow sheet helped guide the nurse practitioner to ensure American Diabetes Association standards were being followed on each patient, which improves care and monitors trends.
Dr. Grisham joined Lee’s School of Nursing faculty full time in 2019, after having served as adjunct faculty for a year. With 12 years’ experience as a family nurse practitioner in the Cleveland community and four years as a registered nurse before that, Dr. Grisham’s experience and education has proven beneficial in the classroom.
Dr. Grisham has been married to her husband Chad for 15 years. They have three kids together, Callie, Coleman, and Caitlin, ranging from ages 4 to 10. A Cleveland native, she is actively involved at her church First Baptist Cleveland and in several professional nursing organizations.