Southeast Alabama Medical Center (SAMC) is pleased to announce Sheri Smith, RN, BSN, has been named director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Sheri comes to SAMC after more than 30 years as nursing director of Critical Care Services at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville, Tennessee. As nursing director of critical care services, some of her responsibilities included the hospital’s 60-bed level 3 NICU and the neonatal transport service. She was also in charge of the 12-bed pediatric intensive care unit and a seven-bed pediatric level 1 trauma intensive care unit.

Sheri is an expert on treating babies who suffer from Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), a condition that means these newborns start life dependent on the substance their mother was taking.

Sheri received her nursing diploma from the St. Mary’s School of Nursing in Knoxville in 1985. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2012 from Chamberlain College of Nursing in Downers Grove, Illinois. During her career at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital she served on numerous local and state committees.

Sheri has two grown children, Amanda, 30, and Cameron, 28, who both currently live in Knoxville. She enjoys spending time with them and her father who resides in Sevierville, Tennessee. She also enjoys spending time at the beach, boating and traveling with her fiancé Carl Simmons.