Prior to her appointment as Acting Chief of Staff, Dr. Nichol served as Deputy Chief of Staff. Previous positions she held with Minneapolis VA Health Care System include Chief of General Internal Medicine, Chief of Medicine/Director of the Primary and Subspecialty Service Line, and Associate Chief of Staff for Research. She is also a Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota.

During her career at the VA, Dr. Nichol has been actively involved in clinical care, teaching, and research, in addition to administration. As a researcher her work has focused on issues relating to adult vaccines with a special emphasis on influenza and pneumococcal vaccination. She has authored more than 100 publications in these areas and has given numerous presentations at national and international meetings.

Dr. Nichol received her MD and MPH degrees from the University of Minnesota and her MBA from the University of St. Thomas. She pursued her internal medicine training at the University of California in San Francisco and the University of Minnesota. Dr. Nichol is boarded in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine.