ABSTRACT
As a public health nurse educator, I was deeply disappointed when our advanced public health nursing (APHN) master's program shuttered in the late 2010s. I therefore found Harris et al.'s description (p. S231) of the evolution oftheir APHN program and health policy specialty at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) to be an inspiring example that should compel nursing education leaders nationwide to consider how they can garner support for APHN education in their own institutions and communities. As evidence mounts regarding the influence of social determinants of health and our world continues to endure a time of upheaval that has magnified inequities on multiple fronts (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, racial injustice, violent geopolitical conflicts), our moral obligation to prepare a workforce that can effectively address structural drivers of health is stronger than ever. If nursing is to reach its potential in influencing health equity, we must teach nurses how systems outside the human bodywork (e.g., political systems) as well as how systems within the human body work (e.g., the cardiovascular system). We cannot do this without nursing faculty who have advanced preparation in public and population health nursing.1,2Although analyzing the future of APHN education is not their primary purpose, Harris et al. briefly recommend expandingthe number of APHN and policy programs nationwide. Their recommendation-which I wholeheartedly support-compels me to reflect on and amplify what others have said regardingthe state of APHN education, including our struggle within nursing to recognize the value of the APHN specialty.2,3 If nurses are to effectively step up as the systems-level practitioners that this pivotal point in history demands, we must begin by advocating for support for APHN education and the value of the specialty from both within and outside the profession.