A proud native of the Mississippi Delta, Dr. Gentry is a graduate of the BSN and MSN programs at Mississippi University for Women and the Doctor of Nursing Practice in Administration and Education Program at Samford University where she was honored with the Arlene Nash Hayne Excellence in Nursing Administration Endowed Award. 

Lacey has been a nurse educator and administrator since 2000 and is currently the Director of the Accelerated BSN Program at UMMC School of Nursing-Oxford Campus. She previously served as faculty and Director of Associate Degree Nursing Instruction at Northwest Mississippi College. Before that time, Dr. Gentry was a home health nurse in north Mississippi and a family nurse practitioner at Ear, Nose, and Throat Consultants of North Mississippi. She serves as an Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) site visitor, was selected as a Bower Leadership Fellow in 2021, and completed the Mississippi Nurses Foundation Nurse Leadership Institute in 2023. 

Dr. Gentry was appointed to the Mississippi Board of Nursing by Governor Tate Reeves in 2021. She is passionate about increasing student and faculty retention in our state’s nursing education programs. This will ensure that Mississippi continues to develop exceedingly competent nurses who compassionately minister to the needs of their patients for generations to come. She and her family reside in Courtland.