Connie Cole PhD, DNP, RN, ANP-C, GERO-BC, ACHPRN
Assistant Professor, University of Colorado, School of Medicine
| Dr. Connie Cole is a health services researcher and assistant professor in the division of geriatric medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Her program of research focuses on improving access to palliative care for nursing home residents. Her work is supported by a National Institute on Aging K23 Career Development Award. A nurse practitioner since 2011 and an advanced certified hospice and palliative nurse, Dr. Cole brings 40 years of nursing home experience to her research. Her clinical background spans roles as a nursing assistant, charge nurse, minimum data set coordinator, director of nursing, and nurse practitioner. This experience informs her focus on developing pragmatic, nursing home-specific approaches to identifying residents with unmet palliative care needs and improving timely referral to palliative care and hospice. Dr. Cole completed her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at Purdue University in 2014 and her PhD degree in nursing at Indiana University in 2022. She previously served as adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner program director and faculty member at Purdue University before completing postdoctoral training in palliative care and aging at the University of Colorado. Her long-term goal is to advance a program of research that improves quality of life and care for nursing home residents through scalable, clinically meaningful interventions. |