Dr. Barbara Welcher

A native of Timmonsville South Carolina, Dr. Welcher spanned a fifty-year history of active nursing practice. She began her career as a nurse in 1970, at one of the major medical centers in Florence S.C. She spent twenty-one years at that facility prior to relocating to Charleston South Caroline where she worked as a Clinical Nurse Specialist, providing counseling to patients with eating disorders, specifically Bulimia and Anorexia. Dr. Welcher relocated to Augusta GA in 1992 and remained employed at the Veterans Administration Hospital until her retirement in January of 2020. 

Dr. Welcher entered the United States Army Reserves in 1993 and moved up the ranks, reaching Lieutenant Colonel and Commanding the Health Services Brigade in Jacksonville Florida. During her tenure in the Reserves, she helped to stand up the 91 Charlie (LPN) Program throughout the Southeast Region, a National League for Nursing (NLN) accredited program. She was one of the Program’s educators and graduated two classes. She further established the Military Training Program for the Basic Life Support Program and provided oversight for the National Registry Emergency Medical Technician (NREMT) program until she retired from the USAR in September 2013. 

Dr. Welcher is an educator beginning her teaching career at the Florence/Darlington Technical College where she taught Psychiatric Nursing. She later joined the University of Phoenix in 2007, where she taught courses in Health Care Administration. With the closure of the local UOP facility, she began teaching Nursing courses online. She continues teaching at the UOP. Dr. Welcher published “Generational Conflict Between Nurses in the Workforce: A Phenomenological Study” in 2011 and co-authored “Developing a Leadership Institute” in 2021. In 2023, she co-authored “Developing a Leadership Institute: Beginning, Middle, and Rollout”. 

Dr. Welcher is the proud mother of one son, Terrence Sansbury, who works at the YMCA, ministering to members as they enter.