Kristin B. Ashford, PhD, WHNP-BC, FAAN, is the Dean at Frontier Nursing University. She comes to FNU from the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Nursing, where she was a professor and Endowed Good Samaritan Chair for Community Nursing. She is the founder and director of the UK College of Nursing Perinatal and Research Center, leading an interprofessional team to translate research into practice while informing policy makers on maternal and child health issues. She is also the co-director of UK’s BREATHE (Bridging Research Efforts and Advocacy Toward Healthy Environments). Her extensive administrative experience at the UK College of Nursing includes serving as the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Health Policy (2022-2024), Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Interprofessional Education (2017-2022), and Assistant Dean of Research (2015-2017). 

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Dr. Ashford received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Washburn University, her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Louisville, and a PhD in nursing from the University of Kentucky. Among her many accomplishments, she is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and was selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Medicine in 2021. She received the Florence Nightingale Outstanding Nurse of the Year Award from the University of Louisville in 2016.