The John A. Hartford Foundation announced that Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, University Distinguished Professor and Dean of the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University, will become its new President.
Dr. Fulmer, who is also Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Northeastern, succeeds Corinne H. Rieder, EdD, who has led the Foundation since 1997. Dr. Fulmer will officially join the Foundation in May 2015.
“We are extremely pleased to have Terry Fulmer at the Foundation’s helm,” said Norman H. Volk, Chairman of the John A. Hartford Foundation. “She is an incisive thinker and passionate advocate for older adults. She has been a champion of geriatrics throughout her career. She will be a charismatic leader, not only for the Foundation, but for new ideas that drive real improvements in how our nation delivers health care to older people and their families.”
“I am honored and thrilled to take on this role,” said Dr. Fulmer. “Throughout my career, the John A. Hartford Foundation has been a central and dynamic force for better geriatrics care and education. I look forward to guiding Hartford’s efforts to change practice and policy and continuing to amplify our voice on behalf of older adults.”
Leading Expert in Geriatrics
Dr. Fulmer, who received her PhD at Boston College, is a leading expert in geriatrics and is best known for her research on elder abuse and neglect, which has been funded by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute for Nursing Research. She is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, and currently serves as the Chair of the National Advisory Committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellows Program. She has served as the first nurse on the board of the American Geriatrics Society and as the first nurse to serve as president of the Gerontological Society of America.
Previous to her role as Dean of the Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Dr. Fulmer served as the Erline Perkins McGriff Professor of Nursing and founding Dean of the New York University (NYU) College of Nursing. For 15 years, she also served as Codirector of the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at NYU, which the Foundation began supporting in 1996. She has also held faculty appointments at Boston College, Columbia University, Yale University, and the Harvard Division on Aging.
Dr. Fulmer will build on the contributions of Dr. Rieder, the first woman to lead the Foundation and to serve as its President. During Dr. Rieder’s tenure, the Foundation expanded its efforts to build academic capacity in geriatrics in schools of medicine, nursing, and social work, creating a lasting impact in all these disciplines. Additionally, she led efforts to build major funding partnerships with the National Institute on Aging to continue the Foundation’s long-running Paul B. Beeson Career Development Awards in Aging Research program, the Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) program, and the Grants for Early Medical/Surgical Specialists’ Transition to Aging Research (GEMSSTAR) program. Most recently, she has overseen the Foundation’s strategic shift towards direct influence on practice change and the more immediate determinants of the quality of health care for older adults.
About the Foundation
The John A. Hartford Foundation is a private philanthropy working to improve the health of older Americans. After 3 decades of championing research and education in geriatric medicine, nursing, and social work, the Foundation pursues opportunities to put geriatrics expertise to work in all health-care settings.
The Foundation was established by John A. Hartford. Mr. Hartford and his brother, George L. Hartford, both former Chief Executives of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, left the bulk of their estates to the Foundation upon their deaths in the 1950s. To learn more, visit www.jhartfound.org. ■
