Assistant Professor
Education
Biography
Dr. Kiari R. Kinnie is an Assistant Professor in the Capstone College of Nursing at The University of Alabama. She earned her BSN from The University of Alabama and her PhD in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Dr. Kinnie is a nurse scientist whose research focuses on the biopsychosocial mechanisms that influence adaptation to chronic pain, with an emphasis on pain resilience and the biological and psychosocial factors underlying pain-related outcomes.
Her work integrates behavioral and molecular approaches, with interests in epigenetics, biological aging, stress-related mechanisms, health disparities, and opioid-sparing pain adaptation. Her doctoral research examined pain resilience in adults with chronic low back pain, including associations with functional outcomes, epigenetic aging, and DNA methylation patterns.
A key goal of her scholarship is to broaden chronic pain research beyond vulnerability and risk by identifying factors that support adaptation and preserved functioning despite persistent pain, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of pain resilience.
Dr. Kinnie also has clinical experience in critical care, trauma and burn nursing, and behavioral health, which informs her translational research approach. She is committed to advancing nursing science and mentoring students interested in research, chronic pain, and health outcomes.