Kathey Avery, founder and owner of Avery Health — Education and Consulting, has more than 35 years of experience in healthcare and community activism. She is dedicated to raising awareness about, and helping in the prevention of, chronic diseases and preventable cancers through individual and public education and personal accountability.

Born in Bat Cave, N.C., at Valley Clinic and Hospital in 1953, Kathey graduated from Western Carolina University in 1983 with a B.S. in Nursing. She worked at Mission Hospital System for over 30 years where she specialized in oncology nursing and neurology. In 1995, she was instrumental in helping form the hospital’s first Diversity Committee, and she served on the committee until 2011. She was given the prestigious Martin Luther King Award by Mission Health in 2011.

UNC Asheville and Buncombe County Health & Human Services recognized Kathey in 2016 with an Unsung Heroes award, celebrating her commitment to shouldering movements by lifting up ideals, giving wisdom, and providing guidance to the community. She received the Lillian Carter Award for Exemplary Nursing from Modern Healthcare Magazine in 2017. The publication presents the awards in partnership with the Lillian Carter Center for Global Health & Social Responsibility at the Emory University School of Nursing.

Kathey worked with, and served as a co-chair of Building Bridges, a program founded in 1994 to address racism. One of the founders of Building Bridges, the late Dr. Charles Blair, also started the Asheville Buncombe Institute for Parity Achievement –ABIPA, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating health disparities. As ABIPA’s contracted nurse from 2008 to fall 2020, Kathey also served as its Director of Clinical and Community Connections. During her tenure at ABIPA, Kathey helped serve more than 7,200 clients and played a key outreach and education role in its popular PRAISE program with area churches.