Nancy Falk, PhD, MBA, RN, a 2008 nursing PhD alumna, was named a 2016 fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA). She will be recognized during the organization’s annual scientific meeting, held in mid-November in New Orleans.
GSA is the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization committed to research, education, and practice within the field of aging. The GSA fellow recognition is the highest class of membership within GSA. Recipients are selected based on their continuing work in gerontology, including teaching, research, administration, public service, and practice.
Falk is a founding faculty member of George Washington University’s School of Nursing. Her research focuses on aging nurse faculty and nurse practitioners. She has been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the U.S. Senate, and the National Library of Medicine for her work in practice related to quality, patient engagement, aging/health care policy, and health care informatics.
Falk attributes much of her success in recent years to the support she received from Mason’s PhD program faculty – especially, former program coordinators Ronnie Feeg and Kathy Gaffney, and dissertation chair and Mason professor emerita Jeanne Sorrell.
“Mason’s PhD program was the perfect place to focus on my scholarship passion: the intersection of aging, health care, and employment,” Falk said. “The John Heinz U.S. Senate Fellowship in Aging Policy, completed during my PhD studies, provided a hands-on opportunity to influence and impact the health and well-being of our aging population through legislative activity.”
Falk is one of 23 new fellows in GSA’s social research policy and practice section. The 2016 class of fellows recognizes 94 people across GSA’s four sections: behavioral and social sciences; biological sciences; health sciences; and social research policy and practice.