NURSING - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Program Director, Compassionate Care Research / Nursing Research
Job Titles:
- Coordinator of the PNP - Primary Care
Dr. Boitnott is the coordinator of the PNP-Primary Care program. As a DNP graduate, she combined both her practice and research, focusing on behaviors contributing to childhood obesity. She is also engaged in interprofessional research throughout UVA, working with School of Medicine faculty, to determine the clinical practice outcomes in collaborative standardized patient scenarios between SOM clerkship students and graduate family and pediatric nurse practitioner students.
Boitnott, an award-winning pediatrics professor, on her triumph over tech, teaching hard stuff online, and the grace, mercy, and humanity of her students
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Operations and Senior Simulation Technology Specialist
Andrew joined the School of Nursing in 2021. He has six years of experience in EMS where he worked as a career Paramedic. During this time he worked in prehospital emergency care and in the emergency department in Augusta County, VA. After leaving EMS he developed a wide array of experience in information technology through owning and managing a web development and design company for many years. After selling his company, he pursued education and taught high school chemistry and biology for five years. Andrew has an Associate's Degree in Paramedicine from Piedmont Virginia Community College, a BS in Chemistry and Biology from Virginia Commonwealth University and a MA in teaching from Missouri Baptist University.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Clinical Excellence Fellow
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Biography
Ashley Apple is a triple 'Hoo, having earned a BSN, MSN, and DNP from UVA School of Nursing. She worked for more than a decade as an emergency department nurse, caring for both adult and pediatric patients, before becoming a board-certified family nurse practitioner in 2020. In addition to her role as an assistant professor for the School's Accelerated Two-Year BSN Transfer program, she remains in clinical practice in a pediatric urgent care setting.
Apple has been involved in numerous health policy and advocacy initiatives at both the state and federal levels. In 2020, she was awarded the Virginia Nurse Advocate Health Policy Fellowship, and received a grant to fund her scholarly practice project. She designed and implemented an evidence-based experiential learning program to coincide with the 2021 legislative session of the Virginia General Assembly, during which graduate nursing students examined health policy and advocacy through the lens of health disparities and social justice. Dr. Apple facilitated interactive sessions with state and federal legislators, leaders from national and international professional nursing organizations, public health experts, legal and fiscal analysts, and nurse-lobbyists, among others.
Deeply committed to advancing equitable public policies, Apple continues to work closely with legislators and stakeholders to address sociopolitical barriers to wellness. She is a member of the board of directors for the Virginia Nurses Association and is currently serving her second term as commissioner on government relations. In this capacity, Apple leads the Virginia Legislative Nursing Alliance, a collaborative thinktank for specialty nursing organizations across Virginia, and she has played a key role in the passage of numerous bills related to professional practice in the Commonwealth.
In the classroom, Apple teaches health policy, public health nursing, and pathophysiology, among others. She is a guest lecturer for both undergraduate graduate students on a variety of topics, including caring for transgender and gender non-conforming young people in the primary care setting, nurse activism and advocacy, and political determinants of health. Apple works with clinical students in various community settings, including low-resourced and refugee communities, public and private elementary schools, a day shelter and resource center for people experiencing homelessness, the Charlottesville Health Department, the Jefferson Area Board for Aging, and the Ryan White HIV Clinic at UVA.
In service to the University, Apple represents health professions on the General Faculty Council, and at the School of Nursing, she serves as chair of the BSN program committee.
ASHLEY APPLE: Hey, there. I'm Ashley Apple. I'm an Assistant Professor of Nursing here at UVA. I'm a Family Nurse Practitioner and I'm the commissioner on government relations for the Virginia Nurses Association.
So what I love about my role here at UVA is all of the aha moments, that moment where learning happens, where new knowledge just clicks, where it makes sense. I came here as a student myself before I was faculty. I was an RN to BSN student and I was in my health policy class when I had probably my most profound aha moment. And at that moment, I realized that social justice is actually within the scope of my nursing practice.
And in fact, I was called by the ethical tenets of our profession to advocate for ethical and equitable public policies to help eliminate health disparities, to stand up for vulnerable populations. And that moment profoundly shaped the person that I am today, the nurse that I am today. And to experience that here as a student and then to get to turn around as faculty and see the eyes of students as they have those aha moments is just incredibly rewarding to see it when it clicks, to see it when it makes sense. And I can't wait to see all of the impact that it's going to have to our future nursing professions, to see all the good that students are going to do in the world as they learn these new and exciting things.
Apple, who teaches health policy, is two-term VNA commissioner on government relations and routinely brings students to Virginia's General Assembly.
Biography
Ashley Hurst, an attorney, former partner at an Atlanta firm where she practiced employment discrimination law, earned a master's of divinity and a master's of religious ethics. Hurst teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on clinical and legal ethics in healthcare to nursing students and others across Grounds. The former Thomas G. Bell Clinical Ethics Fellow in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities in the UVA School of Medicine, Hurst earned degrees from the University of Florida, Yale Divinity School, and the University of Virginia.
Her research focuses on preventative ethics - setting up systems that allow clinicians to assess situations that are likely to become ethics dilemmas, and intervene beforehand - and moral distress. A regular presentor, she has published papers on moral distress and narrative ethics topics.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Dean for Admissions
- Assistant Dean for Admissions / Department
Job Titles:
- Alumni Professor of Nursing ( Endowed
- Dean and Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Department Chair of Graduate Nursing Programs and Associate Professor
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator
- Clinical Research Coordinator / Nursing Research
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing Director of Global Initiatives / Nursing Research
- Professor
Professor Campbell and Baker, University Medical Center's chief nursing officer and the School's associate dean for clinical affairs, become FAANs in fall 2024.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Director of Communications and Marketing
- Director of Communications & Marketing / Dean
- Director of Communications & Marketing / Department / Dean
- Senior Writer and Editor at the School
Christine Kueter is senior writer and editor at the School of Nursing. In that role, she writes stories and produces videos focused on faculty scholarship, remarkable students, alumni, and School events, serves as editor-in-chief of the quarterly print and digital magazine Virginia Nursing Legacy, manages the School's social media accounts, and oversees internal communications and external advertising and marketing efforts in support of student recruitment and to celebrate and raise the profile of the School of Nursing.
Before her appointment at UVA in 2012, she was a health writer, reporter, and columnist for a number of daily newspapers in Greater Boston, including The Lowell Sun, The Fitchberg Sentinel and Enterprise, and The Boston Globe. She's worked at several universities in communications roles, including Harvard, Northeastern University, and the University of Arkansas. She earned the School's Award for Innovation in 2015, served as CASE District III lead judge, and earned, with the VNL team, two CASE Awards for magazine writing and design. She is a correspondent reporter for WVTF/Radio IQ, one of Virginia's largest public radio stations.
Job Titles:
- Simulation Technology Specialist
Job Titles:
- Education Building / UVA School
With 39 academics from across the U.S., Gomes participation in the six-month AACN Institute led to an analysis and revision of the School's holistic admissions.
Job Titles:
- Senior Student Services Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Dean
- Senior Administrative Assistant
Job Titles:
- Advanced Practice Program Manager
Job Titles:
- Senior Contracts and Employee Compliance Coordinator for Academic Affairs
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant for School Initiatives and Support
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Dean and Professor Emerita
Dr. Randy A. Jones - Professor at the School of Nursing. Dr. Jones' research and publications focus on health disparities, prostate cancer, chronic illness, and decision-making. He has received funded research grants from organizations such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, American Cancer Society, and the American Nurses Foundation. Dr. Jones is currently an investigator on several grants, including Principal Investigator on an NIH/NINR-R01 grant that focuses on advanced prostate cancer and treatment decision-making.
Dr. Jones has held a number of leadership roles. He is a member of several boards, and a recipient of numerous honors, including being a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing (AAN), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Nurse Faculty Scholar Alumnus, National Advisory Committee (NAC) member for the RWJF Clinical Scholars Program, NAC member for the AAN's Institute for Nursing Leadership, Southern Nursing Research Society Researcher of the Year in Minority Health, and the National Black Nurses Association Institute of Excellence Scholar.
Dr. Jones earned a Bachelor's of Science in Biology from Hampden-Sydney College and entered the University of Virginia as a second-degree student where he earned his BSN, MSN, a Post-Master's, and a PhD in nursing, making him a triple `Hoo.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Senior Grants Administrator
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Director, Compassionate Care Initiative, School of Nursing / Associate Professor, School of Nursing
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing / Nursing Research
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Development
- Executive Director of Development / Dean
A higher education advancement professional with over 15 years of experience, Erik Williams joined the School of Nursing Alumni and Development Office in April, 2020. He most recently served as the Director of Development for the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), securing private support as a part of their $50 million major gifts campaign.
Prior to joining the VCCS, Erik served as the Director of Development and Chief Development Officer for Jefferson College of Health Sciences in Roanoke, VA. There he developed and led a comprehensive health science advancement office and served as a member of the college's leadership team.
Erik earned his Associate in Arts and Sciences degree from Wytheville Community College, his BA from Radford University, and his MA from Hollins University. Erik is a Certified Fundraising Professional (CFRE) and has served in numerous leadership roles for local, state, and national professional organizations including the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Virginia Fundraising Institute.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emeritus
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director, Compassionate Care Initiative / Partner Development & Engagement
Job Titles:
- Director of Inclusion, Diversity, and Excellence Achievement Initiative
Job Titles:
- Senior Academic Degree Programs Assistant
Job Titles:
- Marketing Manager / Administration
Job Titles:
- Lead Systems Engineer / Administration
Job Titles:
- Student Success Specialist
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Director of Budget and Finance / Administration
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean
- Senior Associate Dean for Administration
- Senior Associate Dean for Administration / Dean
- Senior Associate Dean for Administration / Department / Dean
John Teahan, associate dean for administration at the School of Nursing, has served the University of Virginia since 1998 across a variety of roles. From 2007 to 2014, he worked in the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost. As assistant vice provost for administration under Vice Provost Anda Webb between 2010 and 2014, John oversaw fiscal commitments for 11 schools and 32 reporting units. Before that, he was associate director of the Curry School's Center for Technology and Teacher Education after several years of work in student life, admissions and residential life at UVA, Baltimore-based Loyola and Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY.
John earned a master's degree in counselor education and student affairs (UVA) and a BA in English, writing and media (Loyola), and brings to the School of Nursing a wealth of knowledge and experience in human resources, budget, finance and policy development.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, Darden School of Business
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Dean
- Senior Administrative Assistant
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing / Nursing Research
Job Titles:
- Coordinator for Transfer Admissions
Job Titles:
- Chief of Staff
- Dean
- Chief of Staff / Department / Dean
Lance E. Poston, PhD, serves as chief of staff at the School of Nursing. In this capacity, he supports the dean and overall strategic operations in the School. Before his current role, Poston served as assistant vice president for external relations and operations in the University of Kentucky's Office for Student Success, where he oversaw communications, philanthropy, facilities, and general administration for a division of 28 student-facing units.
During the pandemic, Kentucky tapped Poston to become acting director of UK Health Corps, the primary on-campus pandemic response unit. He also has experience leading multiple inclusion-focused teams in UK's Office for Institutional Diversity.
Poston earned a PhD and MA in history from Ohio University and a BA in history and English from Presbyterian College.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Program Manager, School of Nursing Continuing Education
Fleming, associate dean, was inspired to become a nurse scientist after her son, Joey, was diagnosed with congenital adrenal hyperplasia while an infant.
Job Titles:
- Director of Degree Program Administration
Job Titles:
- Wisdom & Wellbeing Peer Support Training Program Project Administrator / Partner Development & Engagement
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Center Manager / Partner Development & Engagement
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director for Strategic Alumni Engagement
Job Titles:
- Research Program Coordinator
Biography
Melissa Gilbert Gomes, PhD, APRN, PMHNP-BC, FNAP, FAAN, a nurse scientist and psychiatric nurse practitioner, leads the School's Inclusion, Diversity, and Excellence Achievement (IDEA) initiative as associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Dr. Gomes-who earned a post-master's certificate in psychiatric mental health nursing from UVA-came to the UVA School of Nursing from Hampton University School of Nursing, where she was an associate professor and interim chair of graduate studies. She is also the founder of Transitions Empowerment Associates and co-founder, clinical research director, and principal owner of the Empowerment Through Healing Ourselves (ETHOS) project. These mental health practices have, since 2013, earned more than $670,000 in grants to develop and pilot alternatives to suspension programs for at-risk youth with Hampton City Schools.
Dr. Gomes's NIH-, NINR-, and NCI-funded research has focused on youth and intimate partner violence, Black teenagers' attitudes and beliefs about HIV/AIDS, and analyses of the genetic variants in African American women with breast cancer. An experienced mentor for and champion of underrepresented and minority nursing students at Hampton University, Dr. Gomes has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Old Dominion University, and VCU schools of nursing and worked as a clinician at South Baltimore Family Health Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania, Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System, and Portsmouth-based Churchland Psychiatric Associates.
Inducted into the American Academy of Nursing in 2021, she is a Distinguished Fellow in the National Academies of Practice and its nursing academy, a two-time Hampton-Penn Scholar, and a winner of Hampton's Nursing Research Award. She completed an NRSA T32-funded post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Health Equity at Penn's School of Nursing, focusing on vulnerable women and children, and lends her expertise to many national and regional nursing societies and advisory committees, including the American Academy of Nursing's mental health working group, the American Nurses Association's mental health and substance abuse national advisory committee, and the Virginia Nurses Association's nominations and cultural competence and health equity committees.
MELISSA GOMES: Hi. I'm Melissa Gomes. I'm the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion here in the School of Nursing. My favorite part about being here at UVA School of Nursing is that I get to help people think about diverse perspectives. And that really just helps to grow our profession and it's going to help us on our journey to health equity. Because when we have a variety of thoughts, we have a variety of solutions, but also learn about how much more we are alike than different
Why wouldn't you choose UVA for your nursing? UVA has a great history. But along that historical perspective, we are also growing. And we're learning from the past. And we are on a journey to inclusivity. The time is ripe, actually, to be here because we are really embodying this philosophy. And if you come here as a student, I believe that you will feel your place here.
Job Titles:
- Visiting Assistant Professor of Nursing / Nursing Research
Job Titles:
- Project Associate for Operations / Dean
Yeo - a former ballerina and a die-hard Mets fan - is a PhD in nursing student studying male uptake patterns of the HPV vaccine under mentor Emma Mitchell.
Job Titles:
- Senior Data Analyst / Nursing Research
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Research
Job Titles:
- Administrative Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Finance Associate / Administration
Job Titles:
- Clinical Research Coordinator / Nursing Research
Jones, an NIH-funded nurse scientist who studies interventions for diverse patients with cancer, earned the Armstead Robinson Faculty Award for 2024.
Job Titles:
- Facilities Coordinator / AV Coordinator / Administration
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emeritus
Job Titles:
- Research Award, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA ( 2011 )
Job Titles:
- Clinical Instructor in Nursing / Quality & Safety
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Nursing, Emerita
DR. SHELLY SMITH: I'm Dr. Shelley Smith. And I'm a Professor here at UVA School of Nursing. And I also currently serve as the Interim Associate Dean for Academic Programs, as well as the Program Director for our Master's Level APRN programs.
So I'm a double who. And I have always been super excited to say that I chose nursing. When I first came to UVA as a traditional undergraduate student, I came in as a non-nursing major. And I had the opportunity to volunteer at the hospital, and watch a really excellent nurse. And I thought, well, that's what I want to do. And so then I was able to transfer into the nursing program.
I think that being a nurse allows you to partner with patients, to achieve their own health outcomes. And I can't think of any better career than that, being able to help bring about positive change in a way that a person wants to experience it. And I think that's how we model our education here. We are rooted in nursing, and nursing science, and all that means.
So while we're faculty members, many of us are nurses. And we're trained in that way. We understand the importance between patient-centered care. And I think that really transfers into student-centered learning.
With a nod from Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Smith earned a spot on the 14-member Virginia Board of Nursing through 2025.
Job Titles:
- Senior Program Manager, Nursing Research / Nursing Research
Job Titles:
- Grants and Contracts Administrator / Nursing Research
Job Titles:
- Help Desk Analyst / Administration
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita
Job Titles:
- Senior Faculty Appointment Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Professional Development Award, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions ( 2012 )
Job Titles:
- Assistant Dean for Academic and Student Services
Job Titles:
- Director of Compliance, Accreditation, and Enhancement
Job Titles:
- Professor of Nursing, Emerita