Ternus has more than twenty years of experience in health and human services education and professional administration. Lt Col Ternus is also a member of the US Air Force Reserve Nurse Corps and the Commander of the 911th Aeromedical Staging Squadron. She has clinical experience in critical care, trauma, and flight nursing; over 15 years of military experience; and over 10 years of teaching and administration at the university level. Ternus was the Primary Investigator for a TriService Nursing Research Program Grant on Combat Casualty Aeromedical Evacuation (2003-04). Her most recent study, “Military Women’s Perceptions of the Effect of Deployment on their Role as Mothers and on Adolescents' Health,” was awarded the Federal Nursing Services Award by the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States.