Dr. Kate McKinney spends three days each week teaching UTC graduate students and two days a week as a family nurse practitioner at CHI Memorial Community Clinic in Hixson. Photo by Angela Foster.
As the Kay K. Chitty assistant professor in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Nursing, Dr. Kate McKinney divides her week between educating future nurse practitioners and caring for patients who otherwise might not receive care.
On Tuesdays through Thursdays, McKinney is on the UTC campus teaching graduate students, while on Mondays and Fridays, she provides patient care as a family nurse practitioner at CHI Memorial Community Clinic in Hixson.
“It’s unique,” she said. “I get to pull stories and my clinical experience into what I’m doing on the campus side of things.”
The Kay K. Chitty Professorship is part of a long-standing partnership between UTC and CHI Memorial—formerly known as Memorial Hospital—established in the mid-1990s to honor Dr. Kay Kittrell Chitty, a former director of the UTC School of Nursing. Memorial endowed the professorship to recognize Chitty’s leadership and to strengthen nurse practitioner education at UTC.
“This was the School of Nursing’s very first shared position,” explained Dr. Chris Smith, director of the UTC School of Nursing and the University’s chief health affairs officer. “Memorial gives the UC Foundation half the salary and the University pays the other half. It’s a nice blend because it keeps our faculty current in practice while they’re teaching.”
Smith, who held the professorship early in her UTC career, said the role was designed to be “boots on the ground.”
“Kate works with students in the clinic,” Smith said. “She serves as a preceptor. The students receive clinical hours, but they’re also exposed to a clinic that serves people from all socioeconomic backgrounds.
“It’s an excellent learning opportunity, and Kate is part of a team that helps the patient be cared for holistically.”
The CHI Memorial Community Clinic operates entirely under nurse practitioner leadership.
“We have, of course, a doctor who oversees us,” McKinney said, “but the four providers here are all nurse practitioners—which is amazing.”
She follows in the footsteps of several UTC colleagues she now works alongside who have held the Chitty Professorship, including Smith, Dr. Amber Roaché and Dr. Priscilla Simms-Roberson.
“It’s really neat that this professorship was created in Dr. Chitty’s name and has continued on,” McKinney said. “So many of us are here because of her legacy and the work she did with community and nursing education.”
Dr. Kate McKinney works with DNP student Brooke Williams in Davenport Hall.
That legacy takes on added meaning this month as National Nurse Practitioners Week—taking place from Nov. 9-15—celebrates more than 385,000 licensed NPs nationwide and highlights the vital role they play in expanding access to care.
The 2025 theme, “NPs: Trusted Voices, Proven Care,” recognizes the increasing influence of nurse practitioners across health care settings.
At the CHI Memorial Community Clinic, McKinney sees firsthand how that impact extends far beyond routine checkups, providing care for the underserved population.
“There’s medical care and human care built into this clinic,” she said.
She shared the story of a patient who couldn’t afford a shower chair.
“We have a special area at the community clinic where we collect items like that and are able to provide them at no cost,” she said. “We collect food and clothing and things like that which we can provide to patients.”
A native of Rome, Georgia, McKinney earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of South Alabama, her Master of Science in Nursing from Vanderbilt University, and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the Medical College of Georgia. Before coming to UTC, she taught undergraduate students at Belmont University and practiced as a nurse practitioner in Nashville and Chattanooga.
McKinney said her decision to become a nurse practitioner was inspired by colleagues early in her career.
“We had nurse practitioners on our floor in the hospital who I really admired,” she said. “They kind of mentored me through the process of going to NP school and what that would look like.”
That mentoring experience helped shape her approach to teaching.
“As I started practicing as a nurse practitioner,” she said, “I thought if I could give back and contribute to students the way I was mentored, it would be really special.”
Dr. Amber Roaché, left, Dr. Kate McKinney and Dr. Chris Smith have all been honored as Kay K. Chitty Professors.
The Kay K. Chitty Professorship requires a faculty member to maintain active clinical practice while teaching.
For McKinney, that balance is both challenging and rewarding.
“At first it can be a little overwhelming,” said McKinney, who came to UTC in fall 2024. “You’re almost in two full-time positions. You have a boss on the campus and at the clinic—and you’re here and there.
“Now that I’m in my second year at UTC, I’m really grateful for this position and what I’ve been able to combine clinically and at an educational level.”
Smith said that mix of responsibilities is precisely what makes the professorship valuable.
“It keeps us current in practice, but we can also relate to students,” she said. “When Kate’s seeing patients, if she sees somebody who’s pretty complex, she can pull the student in with her. It’s real-world learning in action.”
During the upcoming spring semester, McKinney plans to bring graduate students into the clinic for hands-on training.
“I hope it evolves for me and allows me to do more and more of that,” she said. “It’s such an important piece of becoming a nurse practitioner—having a clinical experience and having one like this in the community setting.”
McKinney said the role of a family nurse practitioner is increasingly vital to community health care.
“The data out there shows that nurse practitioners continue to be well-educated providers who provide safe and effective care,” she said. “We can be really well utilized in rural areas and community care clinics like this—especially in family medicine, where we don’t have enough physicians anymore.”
For McKinney, the next step is straightforward: continue building on what she has started.
“I hope to continue and grow here in my role at UTC,” she said. “It’s fun to look back and see the things I’ve accomplished in a little over a year in this position. I hope to kind of evolve this as I continue at UTC.”
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