Latham is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a Bachelor of Science in nursing. In 1988, she obtained a Master of Science in neonatal-perinatal nursing at Emory University, and began work as a clinical nurse specialist in labor and delivery at Moses Cone Hospital and Women’s Hospital. While continuing to work at Cone Health Women’s Hospital, she obtained her certificate in nurse-midwifery from the Frontier School of Mid-Wifery and Family Nursing.