Tonya Moore, PhD, RN
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow | Executive | Nurse Leader | Educator

Dr. Tonya Moore is a nationally recognized healthcare executive, nurse, educator, and health policy advocate with more than 30 years of leadership across clinical, academic, and public health sectors. In 2024, she became the first nurse from Mississippi to be selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow to advance policy on health equity, rural health, and workforce development.

Dr. Moore is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of MooreNOW, LLC, a boutique leadership consulting firm focused on leadership development, systems transformation, and organizational effectiveness. She also serves as faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing.

Previously, at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Dr. Moore led community health services, designed institution-wide leadership development for over 10,000 employees, and established an after-hours outreach clinic in the Mississippi Delta featuring the first Tele-Urgent pilot program of its kind.

Dr. Moore was elected as the First African American President of the Mississippi Nurses Association, providing leadership during an unprecedented period marked by a global pandemic, economic uncertainty, a growing nursing shortage, social injustice, and a historic Mississippi flag change.

In 2022, Dr. Moore established The Dr. Tonya Moore Endowed Scholarship for Servant Leadership at Alcorn State University School of Nursing, becoming the first endowed nursing scholarship in the institution’s history. 
 
Dr. Moore’s impact extends beyond the United States with past international medical missions in Honduras, Central America, and Blantyre, Malawi, Africa, reflecting her commitment to global health, service, and workforce empowerment. 

Dr. Moore's leadership has earned national recognition, including the UAB Visionary Leader Award, the Myrlie Evers-Williams Minority Health Leader Award, and Modern Healthcare's Up and Comer honor – an elite distinction awarded to only eleven leaders nationwide that year.

Dr. Moore’s commitment to service is shaped by her family’s legacy - her grandfather, the late Honorable James Charles Evers, made history in 1969 as the first elected African American mayor of a biracial town in Mississippi since Reconstruction – a legacy that continues to influence her leadership and public service.

Among her greatest personal achievements, Dr. Moore proudly celebrates her son’s service as a Naval Aviator and graduate of the United States Naval Academy, reflecting a shared family commitment to service, discipline, and leadership.
 
A Leadership Philosophy Grounded in Nursing
Nursing is not only the beginning of Dr. Moore’s professional journey – it is the foundation that continues to shape how she leads, make decisions, and serves organizations and communities.

In this video, Dr. Moore shares her perspective on nursing as a profession rooted in leadership, critical thinking, accountability and systems-level impact.