Dr. Stokes has been a Registered Nurse for almost 30 years, and a certified Family Nurse Practitioner for 24 years. She worked full time as an Associate Professor of Nursing for 20 years, educating and empowering students to become excellent caring professionals. She is an expert educator and is a nationally certified nurse educator (through the National League for Nursing). She taught and supported students in the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral nursing programs.

Dr. Stokes completed her doctorate in 2013, earning a PhD in Educational Studies (Nursing) and has led and participated in several community based health research projects. Her specialty areas include cardiovascular health, obesity, cancer, and the impact of the environment on health outcomes. In 2021 Dr. Stokes shifted her service back to patient education secondary to her passion for improving patient health outcomes, health equity, and cancer prevention and survivorship.

Dr. Stokes currently works as a Navigator for the Gavini Center for Cancer Prevention, with an emphasis on cancer prevention and the prevention of cancer recurrence. Her personal experience with cancer: close family & friends, developed her awareness of both the fear that can arise with a cancer diagnosis, but also the POWER that comes from developing community and understanding that can be achieved through navigation and support. She has seen tremendous improvements in health outcomes directly related to patient navigation, partnership and support.

She is committed to promoting the role of navigators, as well as contributing to advancing  the sustainability of the role (incl. funding/ reimbursement), and highlighting research that promotes the efficacy of patient navigation in cancer experiences, cancer prevention and the prevention of cancer recurrence.

Dr. Stokes is involved in various partnerships with the American Cancer Society at her home institution, and values policy advocacy and change; especially the work achieved through ACS CAN. She  was selected as a member of the National Navigator Round Table (in 2022), and recently chosen for the NNRT Steering Committee beginning in 2024.  She remains actively involved in several community health projects, including Urban Fit Kidz Inc., which focuses on the nutrition and fitness of children ages 18 months to 12 years, the Healthy Environments Partnership (between the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health & the Metro Detroit Community), as well as community based participatory research.