Lead On: Ashley Apple, assistant professor and VNA's commissioner of government relations • UVA School of Nursing

Ashley Apple, assistant professor and commissioner on government relations, VNA — Nursing and activism need not live in separate silos, says Ashley Apple, assistant professor and VNA's government relations commissioner. 'They actually go together, and should go together.'

When Ashley Apple (BSN ’18, MSN ’20, DNP ’21) was 16 years old, she chained herself to the front door of a department store

“At the policy table, legislators and policymakers are listening to nurses right now more than I think they probably ever have.”

Ashley Apple, activist, assistant professor, and commissioner on government relations, Virginia Nurses Association

to protest the sale of fur coats. “Activism has always been in my bones,” she said.“I’ve marched on Washington more times than I can count.”

As a graduate nursing student, she took a health policy class and had a revelation: her two loves—nursing and activism—need not live in separate silos. “They actually go together, and they should go together,” she said.

She is now a faculty member in the Accelerated Two-Year BSN program at the School, a practicing family nurse practitioner, and, in her work with the Virginia Nurses Association, works directly with state legislators to provide expertise on drafting legislation supporting nurses and public health initiatives. She also leads the Virginia Legislative Nursing Alliance, and regularly meets leaders from specialty nursing organizations across the commonwealth.

Apple describes herself as “an eternal optimist.” She believes the trauma of the pandemic has lit a fire in many nurses to become more involved in policy and advocacy work. “At the policy table, I will tell you that legislators and policymakers are listening to nurses right now more than I think they probably ever have,” she said, noting her return to Washington, D.C., for the National Nurses March May 12. “I suspect it’s going to be huge,” she said.

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Advice to future nurse leaders: Incorporate public health policy and critical analysis if you’re teaching students. We really need to make sure that the new generation of nurses is empowered to step up and be involved in policy from the start.

University of Virginia School of Nursing — When Hurricane Katrina hit Houston, Apple - then an ER nurse - traveled down to the flood-stricken region to help.

Gorham said she convened the ENACT coalition and each student was a founding member. — As a graduate student, Apple organized ENACT, a two-day policy program that gathered undergraduates and graduate students around activism, policy, and advocacy.

a close up of a squash plant tucked into a bucket. — As a prof, the advocacy continues. Apple and her students created bucket gardens in a city food desert, engaging resident youngsters in lessons about nutrition, health, and food cultivation.

bucket garden harvesting the microgreens — As a graduate student, Apple realized that her two loves—nursing and activism—need not live in separate silos, she said. “They actually go together, and they should go together,” she said.

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Tanya Thomas, clinical instructor and co-creator of UVA Health's COVID-19 monoclonal antibodies infusion clinic
Vickie Southall, award-winning assistant professor and veteran community health and pediatric nurse
Debra Barksdale, dean, UNC Greensboro School of Nursing, mentor, and nurse scientist
Ashley Apple, assistant professor, pediatric nurse practitioner, and the Virginia Nurses Association's commissioner on government relations
David Simmons, clinical instructor and senior clinician, UVA Health Department of Nephrology, Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church, trustee
Becky Compton, UPG's chief clinical officer and Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners' president
Dawn Adams, Virginia State Delegate and nurse practitioner

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