Skip to main content

Dr. Grant will retire from UNC, after more than 36 years of service, before his term as ANA president begins on January 1, 2019.


Silver Spring, MD – Today, the American Nurses Association (ANA) Membership Assembly elected Ernest Grant, PhD, RN, FAAN, of the North Carolina Nurses Association as the association’s next president to represent the interests of the nation’s 4 million registered nurses. The term of service for Dr. Grant and other newly elected leaders will begin January 1, 2019.

Dr. Grant, the current ANA vice president, 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 (UNC) Hospitals in Chapel Hill. He also serves as adjunct faculty for the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing, where he works with undergraduate and graduate nursing students in the classroom and clinical settings.

ANA’s Membership Assembly also elected four other members to serve on the 9-member board of directors. The newly-elected board members are: Secretary Stephanie Pierce, PhD, RN, CNE, of the Louisiana State Nurses Association; Director-at-Large Tonisha Melvin, DNP, CRRN, NP-C, of the Georgia Nurses Association; Director-at-Large Varsha Singh, MSN, APN, of the New Jersey State Nurses Association; Director-at-Large Staff Nurse Jennifer Gil, BSN, RN, of ANA Massachusetts.

The following ANA board members will continue their term in 2019: Treasurer Jennifer Mensik, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, of the Oregon Nurses Association; Director-at-Large MaryLee Pakieser, MSN, RN, BC-FNP, of ANA Michigan; Director-at-Large, Recent Graduate, Amanda Buechel, BSN, RN, of ANA-Illinois.

Elected to serve on the Nominations and Elections Committee are: Bonita Ball, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, NE-BC, of the Delaware Nurses Association; Rebecca Huie, DNP, RN, ACNP, of the Alabama State Nurses Association; Heidi Sanborn, MSN, RN, CNE, of the Arizona Nurses Association.

For high resolution images of the ANA logo or photos of ANA leadership, please click here.