A graduate of the University of Alaska Anchorage, Allison S. Walker received her M.F. A. in Creative Writing in 2004 and joined Wake Forest University in 2025 as Director of Community Partnerships and Experiential Learning in the Office of Civic and Community Engagement. She also teaches ACE-designated (Academic Community Engagement) undergraduate courses partnered with the Winston-Salem community. Her poems and photography have appeared in numerous literary journals and her recent scholarly work in the Community Literacy Journal, The Journal of Writing Analytics, and the edited collection, Teaching Writing in the Health Professions: Perspectives, Problems, and Practices, published by Routledge in 2023. Her research interests include narrative medicine, deliberative dialogue, and empathy studies. She also directs LifeLines, a service learning initiative that harnesses the healing power of the creative arts by connecting students with residents of local assisted living and after-school programs. In her spare time, Allison likes to teach yoga and volunteer as a vet tech for the Feral Cat Assistance Program of Guilford County.