Gale Adcock is an FNP in her second term in the North Carolina Senate following 8 years in the state House and 7 years on the Cary, North Carolina town council. Adcock is the first advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) to serve in the NC legislature and the first nurse to serve in the state Senate. 

​

Senator Adcock models collaboration among individuals of different experiences, perspectives, and ideologies, describing her style of bipartisanship as “living in the aisle”. She has championed legislation to expand access to care and remove barriers to practice for pharmacists, physician assistants, therapists, psychologists, and APRNs. She believes clinicians’ skill in patient advocacy is their roadmap for policy influence at every level. 

​

From 1994 through 2020, Adcock was chief health officer for global software company SAS, managing operations of a large onsite primary care center and leading a 68-member multidisciplinary staff. She has a nursing diploma, a BSN from East Carolina University, and an MSN and FNP certificate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go Heels!). She is an adjunct faculty member at East Carolina University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, Wake Forest University, and Case Western Reserve University. Adcock is a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, a Distinguished Policy Fellow of the National Academies of Practice, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.