Skip to main content
Headshot of Ashley Leak Bryant

Frances Hill Fox Distinguished Professor, School of Nursing, UNC-CH
Senior Associate Dean for Global Initiatives, School of Nursing, UNC-CH
Director, PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center in Quality and Safety, School of Nursing, UNC-CH


Ashley Leak Bryant is the Senior Associate Dean for Global Initiatives and serves as co-director of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Collaborating Center in Quality and Safety Education in Nursing and Midwifery. Her mission and vision are centered around service and providing a net public good. For more than 20 years, her passion for global health has led her to engage in short-and long-term immersion experiences in Belize, Canada, Guatemala, Honduras, Malawi, Peru, and Russia, and her work from these experiences have been published in Journal of Nursing Administration, Journal of Community Health NursingNursing Forum, and Cancer Nursing. 

A co-leader of the School’s nursing initiatives for UNC Project-Malawi since 2018, Dr. Bryant has been instrumental in the development and building of oncology nursing capacity in Malawi. Dr. Bryant and her team have received grants to support this project and have data-based publications in Global Public HealthPsycho-Oncology, and PLOS Global Public Health.

The UNC School of Nursing began a collaboration with the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Oskar Jandl Hospital on San Cristobal Island, Galapagos, and Ecuador’s Ministry of Public Health in 2016 to assess and address professional development needs. Megan Williams and Ashley Leak Bryant received a Galapagos seed grant for their Academic-Practice Partnership for Professional Development (ADAPT) study.

Research Projects

Academic-Practice Partnership for Professional Development (ADAPT)