Nursing graduate receives UC Davis Young Alumni Award

When the UC Davis Alumni Association selects its annual award recipients, it looks for alumni whose service reaches beyond a job title — people who advance their professions, uplift communities and strengthen the university along the way.

This year, the award celebrates someone intimately connected to the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis. Aron King, a 2021 Master of Science in Leadership graduate and fourth-year PhD student in Nursing Science and Health Care Leadership, has been named a Young Alumni Award recipient.

King’s resume spans clinical leadership, community-building and scholarship, including the role of assistant nurse manager at UC Davis Health. Earlier this year, he stepped into a new leadership position as the Magnet Program director at Kaiser Permanente Antioch.

Along the way, he has become a visible advocate for health care representation and mental health. He has been a driving force within the Capitol City Black Nurses Association (CCBNA), an organization he helped grow from a small chapter into a nationally recognized community hub.

“Aron is an exceptional nurse, doctoral student, community member and role model for the profession of nursing,” said Associate Dean Piri Ackerman, who has worked closely with King in his academic and community pursuits. “He has an extraordinary ability to bring people together. He takes risks to open dialogue to accomplish his goal of increasing inclusion in nursing and advancing health equity.”

A leader who ‘calls people in’

King’s leadership is deeply aligned with the School of Nursing’s mission — especially its emphasis on optimal health for everyone, community connection and innovation.

“Aron exemplifies the core values of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing through the relationships he builds in the community, his commitment to health for all people, including underserved populations, and the way he collaborates with people who are too often overlooked by traditional systems,” said Dean Stephen Cavanagh. “His work engaging Black men in wellness conversations reflects deep listening, empathy and collaboration with those directly impacted.”

That work comes to life through programs such as Barbershop Health Talks — a community education effort he helped create. These are spaces designed to meet people where they are and build trust through conversation, peer support and practical health education. King has seen how quickly the right setting can unlock engagement. It led to the focus of his dissertation, “Cut to the Chase.”

“Once you start sharing health statistics, the guys are like, ‘We need to get more information like this out there.’ It’s just a huge disconnect,” he explained.

What began as virtual programming for Black men during the COVID pandemic grew into sustained community momentum in barbershops, including turnout that surprised even him.

“I didn’t know if we were going to get people to come for group therapy at 6 p.m. on a Thursday night,” he recalled. “We had like 30 people show up, and I was like, ‘Whoa.’”

Among the fewer than 1% of Black male nurses in the nation, King shared his experiences on the national documentary, “Everybody’s Work: Healing what hurts us all.” He illustrated how he has taken a collaborative impact approach to diversifying the nursing workforce by demonstrating what can be done beyond the bedside.

‘I do it for the cause, not the applause’

King is quick to connect recognition to responsibility.

“All the awards that I’ve received, I hadn’t applied for. People nominated me,” he said. “It’s recognition of your impact and how you’re making a difference. But I do it for the cause, not the applause.”

That mindset, paired with mentorship and opportunity at UC Davis, helped transform early uncertainty of his professional motivations and personal “why,” into clarity of purpose.

“Health care doesn’t just happen in the hospital,” he said. “Health care is everywhere. I want to be the resource that I wish I had.”

As he prepares to graduate this June from the nursing school’s doctoral program, King is already thinking beyond the dissertation. His long-term vision is bold and, not surprisingly, centered on community.

“Instead of looking at how we could get health into the barbershop,” he said, “why don’t we bring the barbershop into the clinic?”

The award isn’t a finish line for King. It’s a signal that the work matters and that the next chapter should be even bigger. Something the alumni association surely recognizes.

Award winners will be celebrated at a gala on May 7 at the Walter Buehler Alumni Center.