Aisha Holloway

Aisha Holloway
Holloway in 2017
Chief Nursing Officer for Scotland
Assumed office
November 2025
Preceded byAnne Armstrong (interim)
Personal details
EducationAbertay University
Glasgow Caledonian University

Aisha Holloway is a Scottish nurse and academic who was appointed Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for Scotland in 2025. She is also chair of nursing studies at the University of Edinburgh, with a research focus on global public health, alcohol-related harm, and political leadership in nursing. Holloway is a fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Surgeons.

Education

Holloway earned a BSc in nursing from Abertay University in 1992.[1] In 2000, she completed a Ph.D. at Glasgow Caledonian University. Her dissertation was an evaluation of self-efficacy and minimal interventions for problem drinkers in a hospital setting.[1]

Career

Holloway's career is based at the University of Edinburgh, where she is as professor, chair of nursing studies, and head of nursing studies.[1] She is an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.[2] Her research program spans over three decades, and she has held advisory roles with Public Health England and served on the board of the Royal College of Nursing Publishing (RCNi).[3] She was a recipient of a Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) Scotland Research Fellowship.[3]

Holloway's research on alcohol-related harm gained media attention in 2012 for highlighting the need for better nurse training, in 2015 for its use of photography to aid recovery, and in 2016 for a project helping male remand prisoners.[1] In 2016, as a Florence Nightingale Leadership Scholar, she visited the U.S. Congress and submitted written evidence to a UK All-Party Parliamentary Group.[1] On March 17, 2017, she provided evidence to the Scottish Health and Sport Committee.[1]

Holloway received the Established Career Research Award in 2017 and a Cavell Star Award in 2019.[1] In 2020, she co-founded the Edinburgh Global Nursing Initiative (EGNI).[1] She joined the Law Society of Scotland as a lay member in May 2022.[3] She played a key role in the Scottish Government's Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce, established in 2023.[2]

Holloway holds the title of Fellow ad eundem of the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (FNMRCSI ad eundem) and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.[2][3] On June 2, 2024, she was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing.[4] In July 2025, the Scottish Government announced her appointment as the next Chief Nursing Officer for Scotland, with Health Secretary Neil Gray offering his congratulations.[5][2] She succeeded the interim CNO, Anne Armstrong, who had held the position since Alex McMahon retired.[5] Holloway is scheduled to begin her term in November 2025.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Aisha Holloway". University of Edinburgh Research Explorer. Retrieved 2025-10-11.
  2. ^ a b c d Anderson, Madeleine (2025-07-28). "New chief nursing officer for Scotland confirmed". Nursing in Practice. Retrieved 2025-10-11.
  3. ^ a b c d "Professor Aisha Holloway". Law Society of Scotland. Retrieved 2025-10-11.
  4. ^ "Scottish nurse awarded RCN Fellowship for unwavering commitment to the advancement of nursing". The Royal College of Nursing. 2024-06-02. Retrieved 2025-10-11.
  5. ^ a b c Macpherson, Frankie (29 July 2025). "Scotland's new Chief Nurse appointed". healthandcare.scot. Retrieved 2025-10-11.