Dr McNeal is currently the Associate Vice President for Community Affairs in Health at National University. Over the course of her academic career, she has served as a program director and assistant/associate/founding dean for public, private and ivy league institutions of higher education. She is the recipient of significant extramural funding totaling over $16 million. Having been continuously funded for the past 23 years, she currently serves as the PI for the HRSA Simulation Education Training grant and the HRSA Mobile Health Training Program. She has authored over 170 articles, abstracts, books, book chapters and editorials, and has served as editor or associate editor for peer reviewed nursing journals.

Her current research work focuses on improving access to care for underserved communities, for which she has received numerous prestigious awards including: the 1995 Outstanding Alumna Award by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing; the 2022 Pioneering Spirit Award by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses; and, the 2020 Edge Runner Model of Care Award presented by the American Academy of Nursing. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, a former RWJF Executive Nurse Fellow, and a former officer of the US Navy Nurse Corps earning three promotions and two medals of commendation. 

She obtained her BSN at the Villanova University Fitzpatrick College of Nursing; and, MSN and PhD at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and Graduate School of Education, respectively. Her doctoral dissertation, which studied the scholarly productivity of African American women nurse faculty, was awarded with meritorious distinction.