Dr. Barker is a Family Nurse Practitioner and is the Director of the Masters Program at The Ohio State University College of Nursing. Before her retirement from 36 years in the Navy, she was the Commanding Officer (CEO) of Naval Hospital Corpus Christi Health Care System, a wellness-based full service health care system for eligible military beneficiaries. She was instrumental in creating the advanced practice guidelines for nurse practitioners in the Navy.

In addition to promoting the role of nurse practitioners, she is actively involved in research and teaching. She has a particular interest in Global Health and the furthering ofthe role of the Family Nurse Practitioner in areas of scarce resources in developing countries. Her focus has been health in rural villages in southwest Honduras.

She has held faculty positions at several universities, served as adjunct faculty at three universities, and teaches nurse practitioner students in clinical practice. Her clinical work focuses on Family Practice and is particularly interested in issues of reproductive families.