Margaret Sebern, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing, is selected as a post-doctoral scholar in gerontologic nursing by the Hartford Institute.

The John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing, part of the New York University Division of Nursing, has named Margaret Sebern, PhD, RN, as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing, to be a Scholar in its 2003 Geriatric Nursing Research Scholars and Fellows Program. Dr. Sebern was selected for having conducted significant research in gerontologic nursing and for her strong leadership potential. She is one of 12 nurses from the Midwest region who were selected for this program, now in its sixth year, which fosters new gerontological nursing researchers with the goal of improving the quality of health care for older adults.

The focus of Dr. Sebern’s research is on relationships between family caregivers and chronically ill older adults. She is working toward an evaluation of an intervention to increase communication, negotiation, and reciprocity skills of home-health-care family dyads delivered using a CD-ROM with interactive multimedia components. She is the author of numerous journal articles and is formerly the director of quality, education, and care management for the Visiting Nurse Association of Wisconsin, Aurora Health Care.

“Our program aims to bring together outstanding new scholars who are conducting significant research in gerontologic nursing and to give them an opportunity to interact with leading experts in the field,” says Terry Fulmer, RN, PhD, FAAN, co-director of the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing. “This unique opportunity to hone research skills helps these individuals to gain the competitive edge they need to attract research funding and publish the results.”

The 12 Scholars and Fellows will attend an intensive week-long seminar, held at New York University from July 7 to 11, 2003, during which they will meet with nationally recognized experts in geriatric nursing, address issues and obstacles in undertaking high-quality research, and receive individual mentoring and critiquing.

Each year, the Scholars and Fellows are chosen from a different region of the United States. Prior programs have focused on the West, South, and East regions. For more information on this and other programs of the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, please visit www.hartfordign.org.