U of M Nursing Expert in Aging Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

National Gerontological Nursing Association Gives Highest Honor to Dr. Jean Wyman

Contact: Mary Pattock, School of Nursing, 612-624-0939

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (November 6, 2006) - Dr. Jean F. Wyman has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Gerontological Nursing Association's Board of Directors "for outstanding contributions to the care of the older adults."

Wyman, who holds the Cora Meidl Siehl Endowed Chair in Nursing Research, directs both the Center for Gerontological Nursing and the Minnesota Center for Health Trajectory Research, and is the director of Minnesota Continence Associates. Dr. Shirley Travis, Dean of the College of Health and Human Services at George Mason University, nominated Wyman for the award, which was presented at the National Gerontological Nursing Association's Annual Conference on Oct. 6 in Cincinnati.

"I was deeply honored, overwhelmed, and humbled to receive this award, especially since I followed in the footsteps of several other outstanding nurses who had received the award before me," Wyman said. "I went into gerontological nursing because I enjoyed the challenge and complexity of caring for older adults. I felt that there were tremendous unmet needs in this area, and that I could make a difference."

During her 35-year career, Wyman has become an internationally recognized expert on urinary incontinence outcomes and management, fall prevention, and exercise in the elderly. In collaboration with interdisciplinary colleagues in behavioral management of urinary incontinence, her work has made a difference in the type of treatments that are now recommended as the preferred first-line therapies. Also, her work on fall prevention in older women will have an impact on reducing falls and serious injuries, especially in Minnesota, a state that has twice the rate of falls and fall-related deaths as other states.

Wyman joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota's School of Nursing in 1997. She holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction and a master's degree in physiological nursing, both from Washington State University. She earned her B.S.N. in nursing at Marquette University.

"I feel passionate about making a difference in the health care of older adults to improve their quality of life and independence, and in preparing the next generation of nurses who will be caring for them," Wyman said.

The University of Minnesota 's School of Nursing, ranked among the nation's top nursing schools, is a leader in improving health care through research, education, and service. Its nationally and world-renowned scientists discover practical health care treatments and solutions people can use today to improve their daily lives. The oldest continuing university-based school of nursing in the nation, it now has a combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment of approximately 850 students.

The school educates 55 percent of the faculty in Minnesota's public and private nursing schools, advanced practice nurses, and nurses who can assume leadership positions.

The School of Nursing is part of the Academic Health Center, one of the most comprehensive facilities for health professionals in the nation, fostering interdisciplinary study, research, and education. For additional information on the University of Minnesotaøs School of Nursing, go to www.nursing.umn.edu.

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