The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) -- the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging -- has chosen Marilyn Rantz, PhD, RN, FAAN, of the University of Missouri (MU) as the 2016 recipient of the Doris Schwartz Gerontological Nursing Research Award.
This distinguished honor, presented by GSA's Health Sciences Section, is given to a member of the Society in recognition of outstanding and sustained contribution to gerontological nursing research.
The award presentation will take place at GSA's 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting, which will be held from November 16 to 20 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This conference is organized to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers, educators, and practitioners who specialize in the study of the aging process. Visit http://www.geron.org/2016 for further details.
Rantz has been affiliated with the MU Sinclair School of Nursing (MUSSON) since 1992. She holds the named position of University Hospital professor emerita of nursing, has an appointment as a professor emerita in the Department of Family and Community Medicine in the university's School of Medicine, was designated as a Helen E. Nahm Chair with the School of Nursing in 2008, was awarded the prestigious University of Missouri curators' professor title in 2010, and elected to the National Academy of Sciences (formerly Institute of Medicine) in 2012. She also serves as executive director of the Aging in Place Program at TigerPlace and associate director of the Interdisciplinary Center on Aging.
Her pioneering work in nursing home care quality spans thirty years, first in practice then as a leading researcher in the Midwest, and establishes her as a premier international expert in quality measurement in nursing homes and research programs to improve quality of care of older people. Rantz and her interdisciplinary research teams have been funded for nearly $60 million to conduct research in long-term care, new delivery models of care for older adults, and most recently, for technology development to enhance aging in place of community-dwelling elders. Much of this research is conducted at TigerPlace, a new model of independent housing to enable older people to age in place through the end of life, maximizing independence and function.
In 2005, she received both the MUSSON Faculty Award for Excellence in Research and the National Gerontological Nursing Association Lifetime Achievement Award. She was awarded the MU Alumni Association Faculty Alumni Award in 2006 for outstanding contributions to her profession, community, and MU; was inducted as a GSA fellow in 2007; and her Aging in Place Program won the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) Edge Runner Award in 2008. In 2010, she received the Midwest Nursing Research Society's Distinguished Contribution to Research in the Midwest Award and was awarded the 2011 AAN Nurse Leader in Aging Award. In November 2012, she became the only individual to be twice named as an Edge Runner for two different innovations, securing her second for her long-running Quality Improvement Program for Missouri (QIPMO) project. Most recently in April 2013, she received the UM System President's Award for Economic Development.
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The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is the nation's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society -- and its 5,500+ members -- is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA's structure also includes a policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society, and an educational branch, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.