Dr. Shannon Cole is Co-Director of Vanderbilt Program for Interprofessional Learning (VPIL). She was a member of the committee that founded VPIL and, prior to being named Co-Director, she was both clinic and simulation coordinator. VPIL is a longitudinal program that places teams of medical, nursing, pharmacy and social work students in a clinical setting one-half day a week over a two-year period. Dr. Cole’s academic responsibilities include: aligning the vision of the program with the curricular needs of four health professional schools housed at five Institutions; facilitating curriculum development, quality improvement, and scholarship development. Dr. Cole also serves as Co-Director of Clinical Services for the Tennessee Practice and Education Consortium (TIPEC), and serves on the curriculum committee for the Nashville Interprofessional Consortium.
Dr. Cole is a Family Nurse Practitioner with over 24 years of experience serving vulnerable patients in a rural setting. She has been a faculty member at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing since 1999 and her additional academic responsibilities include teaching in the Family Nurse Practitioner Program and serving on the MSN curriculum committee.