Renee Joiner
Renee is the Clinical Program Director for the Institute for Digital Health & Innovation Stroke Program, a Medicaid funded statewide Telestroke Program serving over 50 hospitals. She also provides leadership to the UAMS IDHI/ Digital Health Sexual Assault Assessment Program. Previously, Renee served as the Trauma Section Chief for the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) at which time the Trauma System became a reality with over 70 designated trauma centers. She has worked in the public health arena for over 30 years in the areas of maternal and child health, women, infants and children, tobacco prevention and cessation, hospital preparedness and injury and violence prevention. She has her BSN degree from the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) in Conway and a BS degree in sociology and health education also from UCA.
Rhiannon Zerbe
Rhiannon Zerbe is a Registered Nurse, SANE-A certified, currently working as a Sexual Assault Nurse Educator with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Institute for Digital Health and Innovation(IDHI) Digital Health Sexual Assault Assessment Program. She began her career as an Army Combat Medic and went on to obtain her RN in her home state of Kansas. Rhiannon has worked in a variety of settings including: ICD-9 coding, medical-surgical, and in the intensive care unit; however, most of her RN career has been within the emergency department. Rhiannon is passionate about the outdoors. She loves to hike, backpack, trail run, float around on the lakes and creeks, paddle board and mountain bike. If she is not outdoors, then you can find her at home relaxing with her wife Catina and her little dog, Ziggy. Because of Rhiannon’s love for life, she is determined to help those who have experienced a sexual assault. She discovered during her first sexual assault forensic examination the care for the patient requires the uttermost specialization. She finds it beyond rewarding to make sure she does the absolute best for the patient in order to aid them through their healing journey.
Ashley Connors
Ashley Connors is a Registered Nurse, SANE-A certified, currently working as a Sexual Assault Nurse Educator with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Institute for Digital Health and Innovation Digital Health Sexual Assault Assessment Program. She began her nursing career in 2015 as part of UAMS’s first Intensive Care Unit Nurse Residency program in the Trauma/Surgery Intensive Care Unit. In 2017, Ashley began working in the UAMS Emergency Department, where she found her passion working with critically ill patients needing immediate, high quality care. This is also where she was introduced to caring for sexual assault victims. Ashley received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UAMS. Ashley is a native of Little Rock, Arkansas and looks forward to bringing awareness to sexual assault in the urban setting and in the black community.
Sherrie Searcy
Sherrie Searcy is the Project Director for University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Institute for Digital Health & Innovation (IDHI) Sexual Assault Assessment Program. Previously, Sherrie filled the role of clinical nurse educator for the IDHI Stroke Program that serves 55 hospitals across the state of Arkansas through digital technology. Sherrie served 12 years as a full time emergency department registered nurse in a level 1 trauma center at UAMS. She continues to serve the sexual assault patient population as a nationally certified sexual assault nursing examiner for adults and adolescents both through direct patient care and remotely through teleHealth technology. In November 2016, Sherrie developed and launched the sexual assault treatment protocol and order set to ensure consistent high standards of care for all patients that arrive at UAMS. Sherrie provides the UAMS emergency department’s annual educational foundation for nurses and physicians to care for patients after sexual assault. She serves on the rape committee for the Arkansas Commission on Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence and is a guest speaker for the annual conference on topics of sexual assault related to evidence collection, treatment options, and hospital protocol. Her peers voted her one of the “Great 100 Nurses in Arkansas” and “Resource Nurse of the Year” in 2017. She has her BSN degree from University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a BA in chemistry from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. As a direct result of empowering survivors to report sex crimes, Sherrie looks forward to the increased conviction rate for these crimes. She aspires to improve the prognosis of mental and physical health for victims while they receive holistic treatment options throughout the state of Arkansas.