Claire Fagin, left, and adventurous dining partner Rachael Watman. Claire Fagin, left, and adventurous dining partner Rachael Watman.

I had lunch with Claire Fagin, PhD, RN, Dean Emeritus of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, a few weeks ago. I love meeting with Claire and getting her perspective on the world of nursing, aging, and health care.

I also love eating with Claire. She is among the precious few who will split foie gras with me for dessert. She is always game and thinks outside the plate.

It was this big-picture, rule-bending, status-quo-challenging behavior that in the late 1990’s compelled the John A. Hartford Foundation to commission Claire and a number of nurse leaders—including Drs. Mathy Mezey, Neville Strumpf, Angela McBride, and Basia Belza—to survey our country’s doctoral nursing programs and author four white papers on a range of aging and nursing topics. From the intellectual contributions of Claire and her colleagues came Hartford’s Building Academic Geriatric Nursing (BAGNC) Initiative.

Claire was anointed BAGNC’s first director in 2000, overseeing its pre- & post-doctoral geriatric nursing scholarship program, centers of excellence in geriatric nursing, and coordination of all components of the initiative. (For more on Claire, see her profile in our 2013 Annual Report.)

In 2005, Patricia G. Archbold, DSNc, former director of the Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence at Oregon Health & Science University, assumed the BAGNC mantel from Claire.

In acknowledgement of the enduring programmatic impact of these BAGNC leaders, the scholarship awards were named in their honor—The Patricia G. Archbold Predoctoral Scholar Award and The Claire M. Fagin Postdoctoral Fellow Award.

At the time, Claire said, “The naming of the fellows will give me lifelong pride. My friendships with colleagues, board members, and the extraordinary staff members of the Hartford Foundation have made me part of the leadership in geriatric nursing. I could not be happier than through my collaborations with this farseeing group. I am lucky.”

Over the past 14 years, the initiative has thrived. Together with our funding partners The Atlantic Philanthropies and The Mayday Fund, we have supported 255 Archbold Scholars and Fagin Fellows who are generating the science, translating the research, and educating the next generation of nurses to care for our aging society.

Success is evident in our outcomes. According to a 2013 evaluation of 241 alumni, these awardees have reached over 54,000 students in undergraduate, master’s-level, and/or doctoral courses and have mentored more than 4,000 students. Additionally, these awardees have participated in more than 460 professional leadership activities and have leveraged over $116 million in funding for efforts to improve the care of older adults.

Moreover, the Hartford Gerontological Nursing Leaders (HGNL)—formerly known as the BAGNC Alumni Association and now comprised of Hartford-supported nurses and members of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA)—have mobilized to form seven committees to enhance and sustain the capacity of gerontological nurses.

We captured some of the inspiring stories of the pioneering research conducted by the scholars and fellows on the 10th anniversary of the BAGNC Initiative in the 2010 Hartford Foundation Annual Report. And I have bragged about our nurse leaders on numerous occasions. (See Measured Success: The Hartford Gerontological Nursing Leaders, Our Fearless BAGNC Leaders, Under the Influence: BAGNC Inspires Nurses, and BAGNC 10th Anniversary: Developing Leaders, Enhancing Careers.

Last month, GSA , home of the scholarship program which is now part of the National Hartford Centers of Gerontological Nursing Excellence, announced $1.2 million in awards in the final Hartford-funded cohort of Archbold Scholars and Fagin Fellows. (More on that in a minute.) Five Claire M. Fagin Fellows will each receive up to $120,000 to support post-doctoral research training, mentorship, leadership and career development. Six Patricia G. Archbold Scholars will receive grants of up to $100,000 to support their doctoral training and launch careers in academic gerontological nursing.

The 2014 cohort of Patricia G. Archbold Scholars and Claire M. Fagin Fellows are a diverse and impressive group of dedicated gerontological nurses who will improve the care of older Americans though their research on family caregiving, home health and hospice care, care for persons with stroke, and critical illness in elders.

2014–16 Claire M. Fagin Fellows
Kristin Cloyes, University of Utah
Andrea Gilmore-Bykovskyi, University of Wisconsin
Corey Nagel, Oregon Health & Science University
Marci Nilsen, University of Pittsburgh
Melissa O’Connor, Villanova University

2014–16 Patricia G. Archbold Scholars
Nancy Dudley, University of California San Francisco
Daniel Mick, Oregon Health & Science University
Scott Emory Moore, Clemson University
Darina Petrovsky, University of Pennsylvania
Tina Sadarangani, New York University
Ayasha Stewart, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

In addition to this august group, we are supporting Rachel Roiland, PhD, RN, as a Fagin Fellow/Health & Aging Policy Fellow—a new fellowship we joined with The Atlantic Philanthropies to create.

Reflecting on the scholars and fellows, Executive Director of the National Hartford Centers J Taylor Harden, PhD, RN, states: “This program furthers the important recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s report on the future of nursing that the nation provide more leadership training and opportunities for nurses and that we increase the number of doctorally prepared nurses who are deeply committed to improving health care for aging adults.”

As noted, the 2014 cohort represents the last Hartford-funded group. In recent Health AGEnda posts, current HGNL Chair Dr. Bill Buron and former Chair Dr. Casey Shillam wrote about the transition and plans for the future. As part of that, the HGNL, in partnership with the National Hartford Centers and the GSA, are currently raising funds to support a pre- or a post-doc in 2015. You can donate here.

The alumni of the geriatric nursing initiative have accomplished much and will continue to contribute to better care for our aging population. Claire, herself, stated, “Building academic geriatric nursing was a labor of love. We have seen the amazing results of this initiative in the productivity of our scholars, the involvement of faculty, and the extraordinary friendships, both professional and personal.”

The fact the scholars and fellows want to give back speaks volumes about the alumni, the initiative, and its leadership. And I know Claire would consider this even richer than pâté for dessert.