Dr. Nolan is co-director of the Community Health Clerkship in the Alpert Medical School at Brown University. She is principal investigator for Brown's portion of the CT-RI Public Health Training Center and executive director of the RI Public Health Institute.

Dr. Nolan served as Director, RI Department of Health from 1995 to 2005. She previously served as Executive Director of the CO Department of Public Health and Environment, as Director of the Pima County [AZ] Health Department and later as Medical Director of the AZ Health Care Cost Containment System, and as Associate Director for Health Regulation and Environmental Health in the Illinois Department of Public Health. She holds an MD from McGill University and an MPH from Columbia University, and is Board Certified in Public Health by the Board of Preventive Medicine. She began her public health career in New York City.