Ms. Purnell is currently a licensed Family Nurse Practitioner who serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Memphis, Loewenberg School of Nursing and a Sub-Investigator for the University of Tennessee Preventive Medicine, Clinical Trials Department.  She also practices at Stern Cardiovascular Center on a part-time basis where she has functioned as a NP in both acute care and clinic settings. 

She received her BSN from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and her MSN, FNP at the University of Memphis.  She is an active member of Sigma Theta Tau, American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, Greater Memphis Association of Advanced Practice Nurses and Desoto County Nurse Practitioner Association.  She is currently licensed in both Tennessee and Mississippi as an Advanced Practice Nurse.  She is also credentialed and maintains current privileges to practice as a Nurse Practitioner at Baptist Memphis and Baptist Desoto Hospitals. 

Ms. Purnell is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Nursing at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center with a research focus on Bioenergy.