Ashley Graham-Perel, MS '18

Ashley Graham-Perel, MS ‘18 is a registered nurse and is triple board-certified in Medical Surgical Nursing, Nursing Professional Development, and as a Certified Nurse Educator.  Graham, EdD, RN, NPD, BC, MEDSURG-BC, CNE, FADLN, is on the faculty at Columbia University School of Nursing as an assistant professor, and she has worked as a clinical instructor at NYU Meyers, and as a clinical nurse educator in an acute hospital setting. Her research has focused on the history of nursing, unveiling the perspectives of nurses whose voices have been overlooked in the conventional portrayal of nursing history. As a nurse historian, she specializes in the history of Lincoln School for Nurses, the first school established in New York City to educate Black women in the arts of nursing. She was honored in 2023 with the Estelle Osborne Award.

Q: What do you believe is Estelle Osborne's legacy, and do you recall when you first learned about her?

A: Estelle Osborne's legacy is one of perseverance, one of trailblazing. And what I mean by trailblazing is that she was the first African American faculty member or what is now NYU Rory Meyers . But it's so much more than that — her earning her master's degree and being able to further her career as a nurse, and then serving as a faculty member, is something that always stood out to me.

When I received the honor, I spoke about when I first “met” Estelle Osborne. That meeting was during one of the first days of me acquiring my master's degree in nursing education at NYU. I walked into this conference room and there was this big, beautiful photograph of an African American woman. I had no idea who she was. I walked in and said, “Hey, Auntie.” That was my first meeting with her. I didn’t know who she was, but I looked at that photograph and thought, “This is someone I will revere. Thank you for looking over me, and I promise I'll do a good job.” Then, after learning about her true legacy and what she did in the nursing profession, I became enthralled with the history. Seeing her as a trailblazer — even the representation of her as a large photograph — inspired me from the very first day I saw her.

Q: How do you feel that your experience at NYU Meyers shaped your career and view of health care?

A: My experience at NYU Meyers shaped my career by allowing me to step into my purpose. I acquired a master's in nursing education as part of the class of 2018, so I still call myself the rookie compared to my peers from the 1970s and earlier years. From a very young age, I knew my calling was to facilitate learning, growth, and development for those joining the nursing profession. In my program, we had modest class sizes — maybe 20 people or fewer — which reinforced my understanding that nurse educators often don't often get the recognition they deserve. Since graduating, I’ve worked as a faculty member at NYU, and I’m currently a professor at Columbia University, where I oversee the Office of Engagement (formerly the Office of Diversity) in the School of Nursing. I’ve become a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the Academy of Diversity Leaders in Nursing. All of this, I attribute to my education at NYU Meyers, which gave me the opportunity to truly embrace the art of education. Later, I earned my doctorate at Columbia University Teachers College — another program with a long legacy connected to nursing education. I treasure that NYU still offers a program dedicated to this art. When students ask me what kind of NP I am, I say, “I’m the practitioner of education — I will teach you to get where you need to be.”

Q: What is your single best piece of advice for a student about to graduate from Meyers?

A: Do not forget the beauty of the institution. Just because you graduate doesn’t mean you should be divorced from it. Remain active in the mission of NYU Meyers. Continue to mentor, look back on your journey, and see how you can impact those going through similar experiences. Students may face silent struggles such as food insecurity, financial illiteracy, or even discovering they are neurodivergent while earning their degree...the list goes on and on. As alumni, it’s our responsibility to support them.

Q: What was your most difficult day as a nurse or nurse educator?

A:  My most difficult moments were when I was tapped on the shoulder during the COVID-19 pandemic ,and I was asked to quickly educate the nurses who were working on other units. It was very clear that we were dealing with a pandemic, and this was during the earlier stages. Folks were frightened and uncertain, and I had to train nurses who had no recent experience in acute care nursing. I’m a med-surg nurse by trade, so I teach in medical-surgical nursing. I had to train nurses to be equipped to jump right in and assist their peers on the front lines. Many of these nurses — let’s say they were from ambulatory care, they were from psych nursing, and from areas that were not as acute — hadn’t hung an IV or taken blood or anything of that nature in years. I was educating them and we did a crash course in one day. I had to pause for a minute because I looked into the eyes of my colleagues, who were so fearful, trying to gain all of this information in a mere day before jumping on the literal front lines to fight a battle that they did not feel equipped to do. In a way, I was arming them with: these are our policies, these are the procedures, this is how we do things, this is the PPE and how you protect yourself — PPE being personal protective equipment: your mask, gown, gloves, and so forth.

There was a moment during all of this crash-course education when I really had to pause, and we all shared a moment of tears. It was a battlefield for the nurses, and looking into the eyes of my colleagues, they were just so fearful, so fearful of this unknown, but stepping up with bravery to say, “I haven’t done this in decades, but teach me what I have to do, and send me out.” It was quite difficult as an educator to face that.

Q: Do you still face barriers as a nurse of color, and have things changed over your career?

A:  Certainly.  Barriers absolutely, definitely still exist. And even saying that sentence is something in this current political climate that is quite turbulent. Some of us may be hesitant to say it out loud - the fact that there are still barriers, there is still racism, and there is still bias. I do say that unapologetically.  I've been a nurse since I was 19 years old and I've climbed the ranks. I've always been the youngest in the room, and I've always been the only person of color, or one of two, or one of three. And what I see is that recognition of one's work and contributions does not come easily in certain spaces. What I see is that promotions aren't given out, as one would hope, based on accolades and experience and one's work ethics. And I see the biases there, and I also see that our students of color still struggle in a way that others can't comprehend. These  are barriers that we cannot be silent about. We need to continue to advocate for equity in our profession. 

Q: What was your favorite place on campus?

A: The conference room where I spent three years during my master’s program. It became home for our small cohort, and it’s also where I first saw Estelle Osborne’s portrait— bringing my journey full circle.

Q: What is the best advice you received from a mentor?

A: 'Let them say no.' Too often, we say no to ourselves before giving others the chance to say it. This advice came from my mentor, nurse historian Sandra Lewenson, whom I met at Teachers College at Columbia University and who inspired my research on the history of Black women in nursing in New York City.  I carried that because I didn't realize how often I was saying no to myself right before even giving myself the chance.