Cheryl Parker, DNP, CRNA, RNC-OB, FAANA, FAWHONN

Dr. Cheryl Parker is the Director of the Nurse Anesthesia Program at the University of Louisville in Kentucky and a practicing obstetric anesthetist with NorthStar Anesthesia at Norton Hospital’s Labor & Delivery Department in Louisville.

With over 30 years of nursing experience, Dr. Parker has devoted her career to women’s health, specializing in postpartum care, labor and delivery, and neonatal intensive care. For the past 17 years, her clinical focus has been obstetric anesthesia. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Eastern Kentucky University and both her Master of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice from Murray State University.

In her role as an educator, Dr. Parker is deeply committed to advancing the next generation of nurse anesthetists. She has taught across undergraduate and graduate nursing programs, with a particular emphasis on obstetric anesthesia, evidence-based practice, and clinical decision-making. As Director of the Nurse Anesthesia Program at the University of Louisville, she leads curriculum development, mentors doctoral students, and fosters interprofessional collaboration. Her teaching philosophy centers on clinical excellence, patient safety, and compassionate care, and she is widely respected for her ability to bridge academic rigor with real-world application.

Dr. Parker is an active member of several professional organizations, including the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA), the Kentucky Association of Nurse Anesthetists (KyANA), the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP), and the Kentucky Perinatal Quality Collaborative (KyPQC). A long-standing member of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), she served two years on its Public Policy Committee. In 2020, she played a pivotal role in the passage of KY-HR73, legislation that established January 23rd as Women’s Health Awareness Day, making Kentucky the fifth state to adopt a Maternal Health Awareness resolution.

In recognition of her contributions to the field, Dr. Parker was inducted as a Fellow of both the AANA and AWHONN in 2023.

Her scholarly work includes a 2015 case report in the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing (JOGNN) titled An Innovative Nursing Approach to Caring for an Obstetric Patient with Rape Trauma Syndrome (RTS). She also contributed to AWHONN’s 2019 Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline Analgesia and Anesthesia in the Intrapartum Period, and authored an AWHONN Practice Brief and podcast in 2020 on Lower Extremity Nerve Injury in Childbirth.