Meet Jace Anderson, NSRH's Instructional Design Manager!
Jace (she/her) is a Registered Nurse with experience working with inpatient populations in Labor & Delivery, Anterpartum, Postpartum, and Orthopedics. She began her path towards nursing after graduating from the University of Virginia with a degree in Sociology and Women’s Studies. Seeking a second degree, Jace completed UVA’s Clinical Nurse Leader program and graduated with her MSN. Since then, she has found passion in reproductive health as well as educating and training nurses. Jace is currently based in Charlottesville, Virginia and outside of work loves crafting, being outdoors, and spending time with her partner, friends, and family.
Can you tell us a little bit about your background? Where you're from, where you went to school, any interesting tidbits about life you’d like to share?
Regarding education, I have both my undergraduate (BA) and my graduate (MSN) degrees from UVA. I’ve been a nurse since 2014 with the majority of my experience in the labor & delivery setting. For part of my tenure on my former L&D unit I served as the nurse educator which was a transformative experience for me.
I was born and raised in a small town in Virginia. My dad was a teacher and my mom a medical social worker. I went to college not knowing what I wanted to major in but I remember saying “I know that I don't want to work in healthcare and I don’t want to be a teacher.” Well, fast forward almost two decades and I’m a nurse and the majority of my time is focused on educating other nurses.
What brought you to the sexual and reproductive health landscape?
As an undergraduate, I was involved with our student feminist organization. As a part of that group, we had a monthly meeting where someone came and spoke with us about the role of midwives supporting people’s reproductive health. After that meeting, I had a conversation with a friend of mine (who was in nursing school at the time) in which I was trying to convince her to go to grad school to get her CNM degree. She said bluntly, “I don’t want to do that, but if you want to, you should.” I guess I needed it stated plainly to realize I wanted to pursue nursing. I was too far into my undergraduate degree at that point to change majors, so I finished up my BA in Sociology and Studies in Women and Gender. After that, I started my path to nursing school and started working as a nurse in 2014. Through both nursing school and my professional experience I realized there were endless opportunities in nursing to support patients in the ways I wanted, no matter what area of nursing I ended up in.
What brought you to Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health?
In the Fall of 2021, I made the difficult decision to leave my bedside nursing job and take a sabbatical in order to go on a cross-country road trip with my partner. Five days after I told my boss I would be leaving, I saw an NSRH post about hiring a research assistant. When I read the job posting I felt like it was meant for me. My family was confused— hadn't I just decided to take time off of work? But I knew I would regret it if I didn’t apply. So, I applied and got the job and have been working for NSRH since then.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work? Any hobbies, or things you like doing in your free time?
I love to cook and read and be with my dogs. I love anything that gets me outside- hiking, gardening, foraging, bird-watching, etc. I also enjoy crafting and making art and tend to gravitate towards things that are very detail-oriented like cross-stitch and embroidery.
What’s your biggest source of motivation/inspiration?
There are a lot of different things that inspire me and I think depending on the situation or how I'm feeling I draw on whatever source feels right in the moment. A few of the biggest sources of inspiration for me are: Being in community with people who are smart, driven, and challenging the status quo; witnessing growth and learning when I am teaching; the strength and resilience of my patients. Also, I am really privileged to have my family as a constant and continuous source of support and motivation throughout my life.
