Faculty & Staff
Meet the Faculty
Cheryl D. Parker, DNP, CRNA, RNC-OB, FAWHONN, FAANA
DNP-NA Program Director, Assistant Professor
cheryl.parker@louisville.edu
Cheryl Parker is the Director for the Doctor of Nursing Practice in Nurse Anesthesia Program at the University of Louisville. She is also an actively practicing obstetric anesthetist providing services with Obstetric Anesthesia Consultants at Norton Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Louisville.
Dr. Parker earned her BSN from Eastern Kentucky University and her MSN and DNP from Murray State University. She has been a nurse for 28 years, working primarily in the areas of women’s health, specifically: Postpartum, L&D, and NICU. For the last 14 years, her focus has been on Obstetric Anesthesia. She is a member of the AANA (American Association of Nurse Anesthetists), KyANA (Kentucky Anesthesia Nurses Association), SOAP (Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology), KyPQC (Kentucky Perinatal Quality Collaborative), and a long-standing member of AWHONN (Association for Women’s Health, Obstetrics, and Neonatal Nursing), where she served 2 years on the Public Policy Committee. In 2020 she was instrumental in the submission and acceptance of KY-HR73; approving legislation to establish January 23rd as Women’s Health Awareness Day; and making Kentucky the 5th state in the nation to inaugurate an MHA resolution.
Dr. Parker’s publications include; a case report in JOGNN (Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Neonatal Nursing), May 2015, entitled: An Innovative Nursing Approach to Caring for an Obstetric Patient with Rape Trauma Syndrome (RTS); in 2019 she served on AWHONN’s Evidence Based Guidelines- Revision Science Team, which produced the evidence-based clinical practice guideline entitled: Analgesia and Anesthesia in the Intrapartum Period, and in Oct 2020, an AWHONN Practice Brief and Podcast entitled: Lower Extremity Nerve Injury in Childbirth.
Education
- Doctor of Nursing Practice, Murray State University, Murray, KY
- Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, Obstetric Anesthesia Consultants, Louisville, KY
- NCC Credential in Inpatient Obstetric Nursing (RNC-OB)
Zohn Centimole, PhD, CRNA, FAANA
DNP-NA Assistant Director, Assistant Professor
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Zohn Centimole joined the School of Nursing as the Assistant Director for the Nurse Anesthesia Program to begin the first nurse anesthesia program housed on a tertiary medical center campus, in the state of Kentucky. Dr. Centimole has over 15 years of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) practice in the tertiary health care setting. His practice experience spans from outpatient remote anesthetics to major trauma resuscitations, as well as a large volume of complex cancer care. He also has been a didactic assistant professor in the Northern Kentucky University-Nurse Anesthesia Program, teaching courses in pharmacology, chemistry, and physics for nurse anesthetists. He has presented at national meetings and been published in several perianesthesia journals. His most recent article regarding calcinosis universalis is published in the April 2022 edition of the AANA Journal.
His research interests include the effects of anesthesia on cognitive function. In his clinical trial from 2014-2017, he applied the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery-Mild Cognitive Impairment (CANTAB-MCI) computer-based system to the anesthesia population. He actively studies individualized, custom anesthesia, strategies to optimize patient outcomes in vulnerable individuals.
Education
- PhD: Nursing, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
- MS: Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia, Madison, TN
- BSN: Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY
Jennifer Harpe-Bates, DNAP, APRN, CRNA, FAANA
DNP-NA Assistant Professor
jennifer.harpe.1
Jennifer Harpe-Bates joined the School of Nursing’s Doctor of Nursing Practice Nurse Anesthesia Program in October 2022 as Assistant Professor. Dr. Harpe-Bates has practiced for over 30 years as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. She was previously Adjunct Faculty for Northern Kentucky University Nurse Anesthesia Program focusing on Doctoral Projects. Her anesthesia interests include opioid sparing anesthesia techniques that include a regional component. She frequently lectures on Transversus Abdominis Plane blocks at Anesthesia conferences. She is also the Kentucky Association of Nurse Anesthetist Program Committee Chair, providing annual education for the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist of Kentucky.
Education
Dr. Harpe-Bates, received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Kentucky in 1986, and her Masters in Health Sciences with a Certificate in Nurse Anesthesia from the Medical University of South Carolina in 1992. She returned to the Medical University of South Carolina to complete her Doctorate of Nurse Anesthesia Program in 2019.
Brett Kendon, DNP, CRNA, ARNP, CHSE-A, DCA
DNP-NA Associate Clinical Professor
brett.kendon
Dr. Brett Kendon is an experienced clinician and Advanced Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator (CHSE-A) in the field of nurse anesthesia. He joins the University of Louisville SON as an Associate Clinical Professor with the Nurse Anesthesia Program as a didactic instructor and simulation specialist.
Throughout his career, Dr. Kendon has actively contributed to the advancement of simulation education in nurse anesthesia. He has presented lectures and workshops at various professional meetings, including the Florida Association of Nurse Anesthetists (FANA), Kentucky Association of Nurse Anesthetists (KYANA), and at national anesthesia and international simulation conferences.
He has played a significant leadership role in promoting simulation education within the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) and anesthesia education, hosting meetings at the Assembly of School Faculty and National Congress. In conjunction with other educators, he progressed healthcare simulation education through the AANA simulation community, and in 2018 established and for 2 years chaired the initial AANA Simulation Sub-Committee to the Education Committee.
Most recently his role has been in the design and development of the Northern Kentucky University, Nurse Anesthesia Program, and serving as the Assistant Program Director and Director of Simulation for the past 5 years.
Education
Attaining a BSN in 2003, from Massey University in New Zealand as a distance learner, then an MSN in Nurse Anesthesia in 2008 from Florida International University (FIU). Continuing at FIU, he graduated in 2011 with a Post-master’s Certificate in Nursing Education with a focus on simulation-based education modalities. In 2016 he completed his Doctor of Nursing Practice at the University of Cincinnati, concluding with a capstone focused on simulation-based clinical competency evaluation in nurse anesthesia education.
Saundra Smalley, CRNA, MSN
DNP-NA Assistant Professor
saundra.smalley@louisville.edu
Saundra joined the University of Louisville SON as adjunct faculty with the Nurse Anesthesia Program in summer of 2023. She has been a CRNA since December 2004 when she graduated from the University of Cincinnati with her MSN in anesthesia. She began practicing at St. Mary and Elizabeth Hospital in Louisville, Ky where she worked until August 2015. In September 2015 she began her pediatric practice at Norton Children’s Hospital where she continues to practice today. Pediatrics is where she feels she is truly called to practice.
Education
Saundra began her nursing education at the University of Louisville where she graduated with her BSN in May 1997. She worked in the operating room at St. Mary and Elizabeth Hospital until she moved to the ICU in March 2001. After gaining her ICU experience, she began her anesthesia program at the University of Cincinnati where she graduated with her MSN in 2004.
