Vickie R. Fairchild, RN, BSN, joined the Northeast Kentucky Area Health Education Center’s community-focused research team in July 2020. In this role, she coordinates the NE KY AHEC’s involvement in the NCI-funded Accelerating Colorectal Cancer Screening and follow-up through Implementation Science (ACCSIS) Appalachia project, as well as the NIH-funded Radon on the RADAR project, both of which are in collaboration with the University of Kentucky. 

Vickie has worked for the NE KY AHEC’s host institution, St. Claire Healthcare, since July 2002. As St. Claire’s Research Coordinator, Vickie does study-specific training for each new protocol, screens patients for the studies, consents the volunteers appropriately, determines who is eligible for clinical trial studies, enters study data into various data bases, assesses how the study volunteers are doing, provides patient education, and keeps up with rapidly changing regulations for studies that involve human subjects.

Much of Vickie’s time with St. Claire was spent in the outpatient Oncology Clinic as the Oncology Patient Coordinator. She became a nationally certified nurse in 2004 by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). She has served on St. Claire’s Cancer Care Committee since June 2010. 

Vickie serves on the Kentucky Rural Health Association’s Legislative Committee and is a member of Oncology Nursing Society.

Vickie earned an associate degree in nursing from Morehead State University in 1982, then returned to MSU to complete her bachelor’s degree in nursing in 2009.  
Fun fact: Vickie has been interested in renewable forms of energy for years, but recently took the plunge and became the only solar energy-powered home in her Morehead neighborhood.