Background

Full Name: Dawn Marie Adams, DNP, ANP-BC, CHC

Education:

Doctorate in Nursing Practice, Old Dominion University (2013)
Post-Master's Certificate: Nurse Practitioner,
Virginia Commonwealth University (1999)
Masters of Science in Nursing, University of Virginia (1989)
Bachelor of Science, James Madison University (1986)
West Springfield High School (Springfield, VA) (1982)

Family: Margaret "Maggie" Constante, Ferdinand & Sebastian

Residence: The Fan

Delegate Dawn M. Adams is a nurse practitioner originally elected to represent House District 68 in 2017 and re-elected in 2019 and 2021. She was the first Democrat elected to represent the district in three decades and the first openly lesbian member of Virginia’s General Assembly. She has been an incredibly effective representative working across the aisle and across chambers to pass key legislation important to her and her district.

She is a healthcare and environmental champion and served as the Health Professions Chair within the Health Welfare and Institutions Committee in 2020 and 2021. Her other committee assignments include General Laws, and Privileges and Elections. In 2020 she was appointed to the Joint Commission on Health Care, the Disability Commission, the Committee on Coal and Energy, and the Joint Subcommittee on Block Grants. In 2021 she was also appointed to the Cannabis Oversight Commission, the Task Force on Maternal Health Data and Quality Measures, and the Human Services & Public Safety Committee of the Southern Legislative Conference (SLC) of The Council of State Governments (CSG). As of 2022, she remains a member of the Joint Commission on Health Care, the Cannabis Oversight Commission, the Task Force on Maternal Health Data and Quality Measures, the Committee on Coal and Energy, the committee for Reproductive Health Service Coverage, the School Health Services Committee, and the Workgroup to Study Policy Proposals for the Expedited Sales of Cannabis.

Dr. Adams has more than thirty-five years of diverse clinical, administrative, and healthcare policy expertise. From 2014-1019, she designed the curriculum and taught Health Policy in the doctoral nursing program at Old Dominion University. She holds four academic degrees from four Virginia universities and is currently a small business owner and clinician specializing in alternative pain management, medical cannabis, and internal medicine. She is particularly passionate about addressing the crisis in healthcare, specific to aging, mental health, dementia, and physical and emotional pain.