Ashley Akins, MSN, RN, is the new director of the Emergency Department at Cherokee Medical Center. 

Before coming to Floyd, Akins was Director of Heart, Lung and Vascular Services for the Erlanger Health System in Chattanooga. She has worked in health care for eight years. 

Akins earned her Master of Science in nursing, healthcare administration and leadership from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and her Bachelor of Science in nursing from Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Alabama. 

She is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau international honor society of nursing. 

A native of Centre, Alabama, Akins graduated from Cherokee County High School.