the john a. hartford foundation awards $1.7 million in scholarships to geriatric nursing scholars

A m e r i c a n A c a d e m y o f N u r s i n g

AAN News & Opinion

156 VOLUME 49 • NUMBER 3 NURSING OUTLOOK

The John A. Hartford FoundationGeriatric Nursing Scholarship

program has selected 17 nurse scholars toreceive $100,000 ($50,000/year for 2years) to support their studies in the fieldof geriatric nursing. These nurse scholars,10 predoctoral and 7 postdoctoral, werechosen in a national competition as partof a new Hartford Foundation initiativeaimed at building academic geriatricnursing capacity. The scholarship pro-gram is coordinated at the AmericanAcademy of Nursing and is under theleadership of Claire M. Fagin PhD, RN.

Predoctoral scholars:

• Rita A. Jablonski, MSN, RN, CS, ANP,of Midlothian, Va, will study at theVirginia Commonwealth University.

• Anna Song Beeber, MSN, RN, ofPhiladelphia, Pa, will study at theUniversity of Pennsylvania, School ofNursing.

• Tamika R. Sanchez, MSN, MBA, RN,of Norcross, Ga, will study at theUniversity of Miami, School of Nursing.

• Joyce Chan, RN, MS, of San Francisco,Calif, will study at the University ofCalifornia at San Francisco, School ofNursing.

• Valerie Gruss, MSN, GNP, of ParkRidge, Ill, will study at Rush University.

• Diane E. Holland, MS, RN, of Eydta,Minn, will study at the University ofMinnesota, School of Nursing.

• Jennifer A. Hagerty, RN, MSN, CRNP,of Pittsburgh, Pa, will study at theUniversity of Pittsburgh, School ofNursing.

• Karen B. Tetz, RN, MS, of Portland,

Ore, will study at Oregon HealthSciences University.

• Stewart M. Bond, MSN, RNC, ofChapel Hill, NC, will study at theUniversity of North Carolina at ChapelHill, School of Nursing.

• Prudence Twigg, MSN, RN, CS, ofCarmel, Ind, will study at IndianaUniversity.

Postdoctoral scholars:

• Janet C. Mentes, PhD, RNCS, GNP, ofIrvine, Calif, will study at the Universityof California at Los Angeles, School ofNursing.

• Mary G. Bourbonniere, PhD candidate,MS, RN, ONC, of Philadelphia, Pa, willstudy at the University of Pennsylvania,School of Nursing and The Center forGerontology and Health Care Researchat Brown University.

• Charon A. Pierson, PhD, APRN, GNP,of Kaneohe, Hawaii, will study at theUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa.

• Kristine Williams, PhD candidate, RN,CS, FNP, of Lawrence, Kan, will study atthe University of Kansas, School ofNursing.

• Mary A. Dolansky, PhD candidate, RN,of Bricksville, Ohio, will study at CaseWestern Reserve University.

• Lissi Hansen, PhD candidate, RN, ofPortland, Ore, will study at theUniversity of Washington, Seattle.

• Diana Lynn Woods, PhD, RN, ofSeattle, Wash, will study at theUniversity of Arkansas for MedicalSciences.The Trustees of the John A. Hartford

Foundation have mounted this initiative to

help address the challenges of the criticalshortage of nursing personnel in general andgeriatric nurses in particular. Some 50% ofcurrently active nurses will reach retirementage in the next 15 years, and student enroll-ment rates have fallen. In addition, the geri-atric content of nursing education at alllevels is minimal to nonexistent and theproportion of nursing research awards tostudy geriatric issues is less than one-fifth offunded research, despite the fact that nurseswho work with adults spend most of theirtime with seniors.

These problems relate to the lack ofadequate numbers of faculty members whoare well prepared to educate future genera-tions of nurses and improve the health ofolder adults through research on effectivegeriatric nursing care and its translation intopractice. This initiative, which focuses onthe need to produce expert academicians,practitioners, and researchers who will leadthe field of geriatric nursing and grow thenext generation of practitioners and faculty,ultimately will enhance the care of elders inour society. The trustees’ recognition of thecentrality of nursing to the care of olderadults has led to a broadened effort,focusing on increasing academic capacity tohasten and enhance training, research, andpractice.

The initiative also includes funding for 5Centers of Geriatric Nursing Excellence atthe Schools of Nursing at Oregon HealthSciences University, the University ofArkansas for Medical Sciences, theUniversity of California at San Francisco,the University of Iowa, and the Universityof Pennsylvania. The John A. HartfordFoundation has also invested in the Institutefor the Advancement of GerontologicalNursing Practice at New York University. �

The John A. Hartford Foundation Awards $1.7 Million in Scholarships to Geriatric Nursing Scholars