Rae K. Walker

Rae Walker (they/them) is an Associate Professor, Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, and the only nurse 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 Associate Director of the Center for Personalized Health Monitoring, a translational science center specializing in critical analysis of A.I., sensors, and mHealth. Following service in the U.S. Peace Corps, they completed their nursing training, PhD, Certificates in Nursing Education and Health Inequities, and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. They teach courses on nursing’s role, data narratives, measurement, and power, and their scholarship focuses on equity-centered and community-directed health innovation and digital defense against technologies that cause harm. In 2023, they co-founded Health Tech for the People, a multi-disciplinary research thrust focused on tech ethics and accountable design. Their advocacy for nurse-led innovation, design justice and more inclusive invention ecosystems has been featured on numerous podcasts, the TEDx stage, and in magazines such as Forbes, Scientific American, Science and on NPR. For more information, see their website: https://www.inventRN.org