PhD, FNP-BC, FAANP, ANEF, FADLN, FAAN
President (October 2025 – October 2027)
Dean of the University of North Carolina Greensboro School of Nursing
president@aannet.org

Dr. Debra J. Barksdale is the Dean at the UNC Greensboro School of Nursing. Dr. Barksdale holds a PhD from the University of Michigan, a MSN from Howard University, and a BSN from the University of Virginia. In addition, she obtained a Post-Masters Certificate in teaching from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Dr. Barksdale is a certified family nurse practitioner (NP) and a certified nurse educator. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and the NLN Academy of Nursing Education. Further, she is a fellow of the prestigious American Academy of Nursing and has completed two terms on the board of directors where she also served as the liaison to the Diversity and Inclusivity Committee and three expert panels and was the 2021 Policy Conference co-chair. In addition, she is a former Department of Health and Human Services Primary Health Care Policy Fellow and a fellow of the Wharton AACN Executive Leadership Program. She also served as a Translational Research Fellow with the Wilder School of Government and Public Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Barksdale is a past President of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF). Additionally, she is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellows Alumnae. Previously, she was appointed to the Veteran’s Choice Act Blue Ribbon Panel which conducted an independent review of assessments of the Veteran Administration (VA) to ensure that the recommendations reported to Congress served our U.S. veterans and to transform the VA into an effective 21st Century model of service.

Dr. Barksdale was one of 19 members appointed to the 21-member Board of Governors for the new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) by the U.S. Government Accountability Office under the Obama Administration. She was the only nurse appointed to the PCORI Board for its first eight years (2010-2018). She chaired the Engagement, Dissemination, and Implementation Committee, one of the organization’s three strategy committees and served on the research proposal selection committee which confirmed which proposals would be brought to the full Board for funding.

Dr. Barksdale has exhibited a sustained commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as evident in her NP practice history, former position in the Office of Multicultural Affairs at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, PhD dissertation, research and scholarship, demonstrated commitment to mentoring, presentations, publications, consultations and other work in various capacities.