Amy Williams, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC
Amy Williams grew up in a family dedicated to service. Her paternal great-grandparents were Italian immigrants pursuing the American dream as farmers, and, although they didn’t have much, they always donated food to those in need. One grandmother volunteered for Head Start and the Boys & Girls Clubs and the other at a local hospital. Sometimes Williams joined her.
“That’s when I came into contact with nurses for the first time,” Williams said. “It seemed like an amazing profession – getting to help people – and that really spoke to me.”
Williams is similarly service-focused, with a nursing career dedicated to caring for others, first at the bedside on a pediatric-infant-toddler med-surg unit and later as a nurse practitioner in a pediatric neurology practice. After working with critically ill children, having difficult end-of-life discussions with teenagers and counseling parents of sick newborns, she joined a primary care medical home practice through MUSC’s Department of Pediatrics.
“Getting to have those really deep and rich and meaningful relationships with patients and families in a medical home setting is really something very special, and something that has informed. … and motivated me to do a lot of the work that I’ve done as a result of that role,” she said.
Today, Williams teaches advanced health care policy and advocacy in MUSC’s College of Nursing graduate program while dedicating her professional efforts to improving early childhood health care services for families in need. She leads grant-funded projects, holds state board appointments and serves on a national think tank working alongside key leaders.
Her message shines through in her service work. “There’s a natural evolution in academia when you pair clinical practice with really looking at, day in and day out, what scientific evidence shows is most important for the populations,” she said. “It’s all about zooming out from the exam room and really understanding what patients and families and larger community needs exist so that we can leverage legislators, stakeholders and those with decision-making and spending capacity to be able to provide some of these routine things that all children and families need to be healthy.”
