Biography
Ann is the recently retired State School Health Nurse Consultant for the North Carolina Division of Public Health. Currently she is self-employed as an independent school nurse/school health researcher, educator and consultant. She served on the NASSNC Board for five years and is a past president of NASSNC. Ann completed her undergraduate degree at Duke University and while there, through a study abroad experience under the National Health Service in England, developed a life-long passion for population based health issues and community-based practice. Ann completed her MSN at the University of Cincinnati in Family and Child Health with a dual minor in Nursing Education and Nursing Administration. While at Cincinnati she was employed for two years as the research assistant for a nurse epidemiologist, Dr. Barbara Valanis, sparking a career focus on the use of research principles in answering practice related questions. She is co-researcher for three studies using the North Carolina data set, the most recent of which was funded by an NASN research award grant. Ann has enjoyed a 40+ year career in school nursing, child health clinical practice, public health nursing and undergraduate nursing education. Ann’s awards include induction as a 2022 Nursing Fellow in the National Academy of School Nursing, Outstanding State Consultant of the year from the National Association of State School Nurse Consultants, selection as a Distinguished Public Health Nurse in NC for the Centennial celebration of NC Public Health Nursing, and one of the 2020 Great 100 Nurses in North Carolina. She is proud to have mentored, precepted and taught many nurses who practice today in a profession that serves the greater good and that walks with people in their efforts to be the healthiest version of themselves possible.