Senator Gale Adcock - District 16, North Carolina

Gale Adcock is a Democratic state senator representing District 16 in the North Carolina General Assembly. She is the first nurse elected to the state Senate, known for bipartisan collaboration, and has a background in nursing leadership and public service.

Gale Adcock was born in Martinsville, Virginia, and raised in a small southwestern Virginia town, where she attended public schools, played flute in the high school band, worked at the local library, and volunteered as a Candystriper at the community hospital. She moved to North Carolina for her education and built a career as a family nurse practitioner since 1987. Adcock served as Chief Health Officer at SAS Institute for over 26 years until retiring in 2020. She is married to Kevin and lives in Cary, with two children. Notable achievements include serving as president of the North Carolina Nurses Association, chair of the North Carolina Center for Nursing, a two-term member of the North Carolina Board of Nursing, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and American Association of Nurse Practitioners . She has been an adjunct faculty member at universities including Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, East Carolina, Wake Forest, and Case Western Reserve.

Education and Political Experience

• Education: Nursing diploma from Virginia Baptist Hospital; BSN from East Carolina University ; MSN from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; certified Family Nurse Practitioner .
• Political Experience: Served on Cary Town Council , including three years as mayor pro tem; elected to North Carolina House District 41 , defeating a two-term incumbent; elected to state Senate District 16 ; previously appointed to the Legislative Study Commission on Access to Health Insurance, Blue-Ribbon Task Force on the State Health Plan, and State Health Coordinating Council. In the House, she was Deputy Democratic Leader .