Dr. Cory joined the faculty in 2004. She teaches in the undergraduate and graduate programs. Her area of expertise is in Maternal Child Health. Currently she serves as a child care health consultant to local early care and education settings in Valparaiso. She serves as a school health consultant on several coordinated school health advisory councils. Finally, she serves as a nurse consultant on maternal-child health, public health, and global health issues for health care providers and health profession students who engage in international service work. Dr. Cory has experience as a staff nurse in pediatric intensive care, pediatric acute care, pediatric home care, postpartum, wellborn nursery, and neonatal intensive care. She also has experience in community education with an emphasis in prenatal and newborn care as well as health and safety in early care and education settings. In the Advanced Practice Nurse role, she has worked as a Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Pediatric Critical and Acute Care; and as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, she has worked in a federally qualified health center. Dr. Cory is a frequent speaker at national and regional conferences. She is currently editing Staff Health in Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards: Guidelines for Out-of-Home Child Care (3^rdEdition). She has published several chapters in textbooks, most recently The Student’s Family in School Nursing: A Comprehensive Textbook.

Dr. Cory is an active member of Sigma Theta Tau, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, American School Health Association, and American Public Health Association. For the American School Health Association, Dr. Cory serves on the board of directors and the advocacy committee. For the American Public Health Association, she serves as the secretary for the School Health Education and Services section. In addition to her service to professional organizations, Dr. Cory has also served as a member of the board of directors at the Valparaiso Family YMCA where she chaired the Child Care Task Force.

Her research interests are in community-based participatory action research in health in underdeveloped, developing, and developed countries. Currently she is engaged in an interprofessional community-based participatory action research project in rural Nicaragua. She is also a community-based participatory action research consultant for Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health in the United States (REACH, U.S.) in Lake County, Indiana. She continues to pursue her research interests related to early childhood obesity prevention through family, school, and community health.