Rae Walker

Rae Walker (they/them) is a white, trans, non-binary, queer, non-disabled settler and associate professor of nursing, Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, and the first nurse to serve as an Invention Ambassador for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They direct the Nursing PhD Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and serve as an Associate Director of the IALS Center for Personalized Health Monitoring, a translational science center specializing in critical analysis and co-creation of A.I., sensors, and mHealth. Following service in the U.S. Peace Corps Mali, they completed their nursing training, PhD, Certificates in Nursing Education and Health Inequities, and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. They teach courses on data narratives, measurement, and power, and their scholarship focuses on community-directed health innovation and digital defense against harmful technologies. Their advocacy for design justice and more inclusive invention ecosystems has been featured in magazines such as Forbes, Scientific American, Science and on NPR. They’ve consulted on policy for the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and industry. They are a co-founder of the digital collective Nursing Mutual Aid and an advisor to TransHealth Northampton, a gender-affirming and trans-led primary care practice located on land stolen from the Nipmuc Nation. Their children describe them as “kind, cute…and big”.