Associate Professor
Education
Biography
Dr. Shameka Cody is an Associate Professor at the Capstone College of Nursing. She is a board-certified Adult/Geriatric and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. She obtained her Master of Science in Nursing in 2011 and her PhD in Nursing in 2017 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She completed her undergraduate studies at Jacksonville State University and Jefferson State Community College.
Her primary research focuses on the sleep health disparities and comorbidities (cognitive impairment and substance use disorder) in older adults with HIV. Dr. Cody is the awardee of a NIH diversity supplement that examines insomnia and pain-related outcomes in people with HIV, specifically those taking opioids. Dr. Cody is working on several projects related to HIV and substance/opioid use in rural Alabama. She is the principal investigator/project director of a 2022 HRSA-funded RCORP implementation grant that focuses on nontraditional interventions to reduce opioid and mental health related stigma in rural Alabama. She served as the principal investigator/project director of a 2020 HRSA-funded RCORP planning grant.
Dr. Cody has received the 2020 Distinguished Educator in Gerontological Nursing award from the National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing Excellence (NHCGNE). Dr. Cody has 20+ publications on HIV, cognitive aging, and related health outcomes. She served as the Guest Editor for Nursing Clinics of North America’s June 2021 Special Issue: Sleep Disorders Across the Lifespan. She teaches in the traditional undergraduate, RN-BSN mobility, and PhD programs. She has 15 years of clinical experience in various areas including medical/surgical, adult primary care, and infectious disease. Dr. Cody embraces an interdisciplinary “clinic to community” approach to addressing health disparities and improving health education in rural communities.