She works to increase scholarship and research within the College, and ensures that medical students and resident physicians meet their research and scholarship education requirements. She is also collaborating with other disciplines at The University of Alabama to develop and evaluate inter-professional models of care to decrease re-hospitalization rates of patients with congestive heart failure. Friend earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree from Clemson University and a Master of Science in Nursing Degree from Louisiana State University Medical Center. She earned a PhD in nursing, with an emphasis on nursing leadership, from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. She has extensive critical care clinical nursing experience in addition to expertise teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.