Grant to be first man to lead the American Nurses Association

Courtesy The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education / July 13, 2018

Ernest J. Grant has been elected president of American Nurses Association. When he takes office on January 1, he will be the first man to serve as president of the organization that represents nearly four million registered nurses in the United States, about 90 percent of whom are women.

Dr. Grant is an internationally recognized burn care and fire safety expert and oversees the nationally acclaimed North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at the University of North Carolina Hospitals in Chapel Hill. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing, where he works with undergraduate and graduate nursing students in the classroom and clinical settings. Dr. Grant, who has been affiliated with the University of North Carolina Hospitals for 36 years, will step down from his posts at the University of North Carolina in order to devote his attention to his duties as president of the American Nurses Association.

A native of Swannanoa, North Carolina, Dr. Grant completed the licensed practical nurse program at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing at North Carolina Central University in Durham. Dr. Grant also earned a master’s degree in nursing education and a Ph.D. in nursing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.