She has been employed by the University of Alabama since Fall 2007. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from the University of Alabama in 1999. Upon graduation she relocated to the D.C. area and worked for five years as a staff nurse and charge nurse for a seventy-bed cardiac telemetry unit. Eventually she returned to Tuscaloosa and continued working as a registered nurse on a Post Anesthesia Care Unit. Dr. Cole returned to the University of Alabama, earning her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) in Rural Case Management in 2006. She earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) from the CCN in August 2010.