Biography

Jennifer R. Bail, PhD, RN, CNE is a tenured Associate Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). She also serves as an Associate Scientist at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Nurse Researcher with the Birmingham VA, and an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Alabama College of Nursing. Dr. Bail earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (Magna Cum Laude) from UAH before completing her PhD in Nursing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She completed two postdoctoral fellowships at UAB specializing in Nutrition Sciences and Cancer Prevention and Control. Additionally, she holds credentials as a Registered Nurse, Certified Nurse Educator (CNE), Certified Health Coach, and Certified Yoga Instructor. Her background also includes early professional experience as a Systems Analyst on missile defense programs for Teledyne Brown Engineering. Dr. Bail's research program centers on cancer control, health disparities, survivorship, and health behavior interventions. Key pillars of her work include: Cancer Survivorship & Health Disparities: Investigating health behaviors, cognitive changes, and psychosocial well-being among cancer survivors, particularly within underserved populations in the Deep South. Community-Based Interventions: Serving as Subcontract Principal Investigator on NIMHD-funded research implementing community- and home-based weight loss and gardening programs to reduce cardiometabolic disease. Veterans' Healthcare & Screening: Participating in the Veterans Health Administration's Lung Precision Oncology Program as a Nurse Researcher to improve cancer care coordination and screening access for women veterans. Dr. Bail served as the PhD Program Coordinator for the Joint Nursing Science PhD Program (UAH/UA) and currently chairs the UAH Institutional Review Board (IRB). With over 50 peer-reviewed publications and extensive grant funding from the NIH, American Cancer Society, and Veterans Health Administration, Dr. Bail actively mentors undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students. She is deeply involved in service as an Ambassador for the National League for Nursing, a mentor for the Sigma Theta Tau International Global Leadership Mentoring Community, and Secretary for the Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition.

Curriculum Vitae

ORCID iD

Google Scholar

Education

• NIH-funded Postdoctoral Fellowship, Cancer Prevention and Control, University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Ph.D., Nursing Science, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Clinical Expertise

• Cancer Prevention and Control
• Palliative and Supportive Care
• Health Disparities

Expertise

• Cognitive Function
• Lifestyle Interventions
• Mixed Methods Research

Recent Publications

• • Clinical Expertise: Demark-Wahnefried, W., Oster, R., Smith, K., Kaur, H., Fruge, A., Cole, W., Locher, J., Rocque, G., Pisu, G., Bail, J.R., Cohen, H., Moellering, D., Blair, C. (2024).
  • Vegetable Gardening and Health Outcomes in Older Cancer Survivors: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Network Open. 7(6), e2417122. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.17122 Bail, J.R., Wilson, J., Tipre, M., Duck, A., Hall, K., Akinyele, O., Bowman, T., Hardy, C., Garner, M., Demark-Wahnefried, W., Baskin, M. (2023).
  • Harvest for Health in Survivors of Chronic Disease: A Demonstration Project in the Alabama Black Belt and Mississippi Delta Region. Translational Behavioral Medicine. 14(2: 127-137. https://doi.org/10.1093/tbm/ibad062 Bail J.R., Blair, C., Smith, K., Oster, R., Kaur, H., Locher, J., Fruge, A., Rocque, G., Pisu, M., Cohen, H., Demark-Wahnefried W. (2022).
  • Harvest for Health, a Randomized Controlled Trial testing a Home-Based, Vegetable Gardening Intervention among Older Cancer Survivors across Alabama: An Analysis of Accrual and Modifications made in Intervention Delivery and Assessment during COVID-19. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 122(9), 1629–1643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2022.05.005