Dr. Martha A Dawson

Martha A. Dawson, DNP, RN FACHE is the 13th President of the National Black Nurses Associates, Inc., and represents the voice of over 300,000 African American, Black and other nurses of different races and ethnicities.  She is an Associate Professor in the Nursing and Health Systems Leadership Division, and the Nursing and Health Systems Administration (NHSA) track at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing (UABSON).  Under her leadership, the NHSA track has ranked in the top 10 for the last 10 years. Currently, the NHSA track is ranked #1 among public universities in the US and #3 among all universities. She was a contributing author in the Drive-Thru Flu Shots: A model for mass immunization published in 2002. The first drive-thru flu shot model in the US.  

Dr. Dawson completed her hospital administration residency at Gaston Memorial Hospital at Gastonia, NC.  She has experience in academic medical centers, community hospitals, and academia. She served in senior-level positions such as, Vice President of Clinical Operations and Chief Nursing Officers, and she managed her own healthcare consultant business. 

In 2019, Dr. Dawson was inducted into the Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame. She is a Scholar in the Sparkman Global Health Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Executive Fellow, and a Johnson & Johnson Wharton Nurse Administrative Fellow. In 2004, a mayoral proclamation declared Dr. Dawson a Distinguished Citizen of Louisville.