Assistant Professor
The University of Texas at El Paso College of Nursing
Dr. Melissa Wholeben is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso's School of Nursing. Research interests of Dr. Wholeben include Trauma Mitigation, Emergency Preparedness, and Disaster Management. Examples include the validation of Trauma-Informed Care tools, geospatial research on Intimate Partner Violence, and the training of healthcare professionals in Trauma-Informed Care. Dr. Wholeben has over sixteen years of emergency nursing/trauma experience. Prior to becoming a nurse, Dr. Wholeben was a licensed paramedic. Dr. Wholeben has direct service experience in trauma as a nurse, having worked as an emergency room nurse, taught trauma nursing courses for ENA (Emergency Nurses Association), and been a member of local community organizations discussing trauma preventative care. With her current role as Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, Dr. Wholeben possesses expertise in simulation, management, and teaching/training at the university level. Trauma is the primary focus of research in her current position as Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso and she works closely with the Trauma Prevention and SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners) department at the University Medical Center Hospital of El Paso. In 2004, Dr. Wholeben obtained a BSN from the University of Texas in El Paso. She earned an MSN from the University of Texas at Tyler in 2007 and a PhD from New Mexico State University in 2013.
