Cody selected as American Academy of Nursing Fellow
Dr. Shameka L. Cody has been selected as a member of the 2025 class of American Academy of Nursing Fellows. AAN Fellows are chosen through a rigorous nomination and review process and inducted into the organization for their extraordinary contributions to improving health locally and globally. Dr. Cody and the 2025 class of AAN Fellows will be inducted during the Academy’s annual Health Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., in October.
The academy shared, “The 2025 class of fellows represent the continued influence nurses have on ensuring innovative, evidence-informed solutions that champion health and well-being in their systems and communities.”
Dr. Cody is an associate professor at the Capstone College of Nursing and a board-certified adult-geriatric and psychiatric nurse practitioner. She teaches in the Capstone College of Nursing’s traditional undergraduate, RN-to-BSN mobility, and Ph.D. programs. She is highly regarded for her impactful mentorship of students at different academic stages, spanning multiple institutions and disciplines.
Dr. Cody’s primary research focuses on sleep health and comorbidities in older adults living with HIV. She is currently leading several projects related to HIV and substance use in rural Alabama and is the recipient of a National Institutes of Health supplement grant examining insomnia and pain-related outcomes in people with HIV, particularly those taking opioids.
She also serves as principal investigator and project director for a 2022 Health Resources and Services Administration-funded Rural Communities Opioid Response Program implementation grant. The project explores nontraditional interventions to reduce opioid- and mental health-related stigma in rural Alabama.
Dr. Cody has authored several publications on HIV, cognitive aging, and related health outcomes. She was guest editor for the June 2021 special issue of Nursing Clinics of North America, titled “Sleep Disorders Across the Lifespan.”
With more than 15 years of clinical experience in areas including primary care and infectious disease, Dr. Cody embraces an interdisciplinary, clinic-to-community approach to addressing HIV stigma and improving behavioral health outcomes in rural communities.
She has received numerous honors, including the Distinguished Educator in Gerontological Nursing Award from the National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing Excellence, the Emerging Scholar President’s Faculty Research Award from the University of Alabama, and multiple Outstanding Research Scholarship Awards from the Capstone College of Nursing.