2016 TONE Leadership Award-Dr. Barbara Cherry
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Dr. Cherry’s original nursing degree is a diploma from Methodist Hospital School of Nursing in Lubbock, Texas. She eventually progressed through the BSN and MSN degrees and also earned a Masters of Business Administration from Texas Tech University. In 2006, she received her Doctor of Nursing Science (DNSc) degree from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee.
The majority of her nursing career has been spent in management and administrative positions in critical care and nephrology nursing. About 17 years ago, she moved into the academic setting at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, first as a policy analyst and lead for special projects for the university. In 2007, Dr. Cherry moved to the School of Nursing as an Assistant Professor. By 2012 she had earned the rank of Professor and received tenure in 2014.
Throughout her nursing career, Dr. Cherry has had the opportunity to lead the development of many new initiatives making program development her special area of expertise. She led the establishment of the first home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis program in West Texas, which eventually became one of the largest programs in the United States. After coming to Texas Tech, Dr. Cherry coordinated the project to build a teaching nursing home on the Texas Tech campus through a public-private partnership. She was a member of a small interprofessional leadership team that established the Garrison Institute on Aging. She came to the School of Nursing to lead the development of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program. Currently, Dr. Cherry is Associate Dean, Department Chair for Leadership Studies and the Garrison Professor in Geriatric Nursing.
Her research areas are workforce issues in long-term care facilities and the use of technology in the caregiver role with funding from the National Science Foundation to investigate how robots can be designed to serve in the caregiver role. Her proudest scholarly achievement is being co-author and editor of Contemporary Nursing: Issues, Trends and Management, with the 7th edition published in 2016. Through this book, Dr. Cherry along with her co-author Dr. Susan Jacob, have influenced thousands of nursing students, practicing nurses and faculty.
