Charleen McNeill is the Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of Southern Mississippi. As an experienced leader and researcher, Dr. McNeill’s primary areas of impact are in Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP), providing critical insights into PHEP of vulnerable populations, enhancing resilience among underserved communities, and ensuring that homebound patients have access to medical countermeasures, such as getting homebound patients access to the COVID-19 vaccine after it became available. Dr. McNeill has written extensively on nurse surveillance of, and preparedness to respond to, disasters and other public health emergencies. Dr. McNeill’s work has informed nursing practice during public health crises and influenced preparedness strategies for infectious diseases like Zika and Listeria. Her research was integral in understanding the prevalence of COVID-19, reinfection rates, and social impacts. She has advanced nursing competencies in PHEP through empirical tools and frameworks. Notably, the household emergency preparedness instrument, which is now globally utilized, providing a standardized empiric approach for evaluating PHEP among individuals and households. Dr. McNeill earned her BSN from the University of Arkansas, her MSN from the University of Texas at El Paso, and her PhD from the University of Texas at Tyler.