Jean Wyman, PhD, RN, GNP, FGSA, FAAN, a leader of the Minnesota Northstar GWEP, retired from the University of Minnesota School of Nursing in August 2021. Dr. Wyman offered 24 years of service to the University as professor and Cora Meidl Siehl Chair in Nursing Research, including serving as a co-director for the Minnesota Northstar Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (MN GWEP). She is a member of the University of Minnesota Academy of Excellence in Health Research and a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and Gerontological Society of America. Dr. Wyman received her PhD in curriculum and instruction, MN in physiological nursing, and gerontological nurse practitioner certificate from the University of Washington in Washington state. She received her BSN from Marquette University in Wisconsin.
Dr. Wyman was co-investigator of the Minnesota Northstar Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program and served as key leadership in the administrative core of the MN GWEP representing nursing. She led the creation of geriatric educational resources.
“Dr. Wyman epitomized excellence in geriatric nursing science, and her many, many achievements in education and scholarship elevated both the University of Minnesota School of Nursing and the University as a leader in geriatrics and gerontology,” said Joe Gaugler, PhD, Robert L. Kane Endowed Chair in Long-Term Care and Aging and director of the Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation in the School of Public Health.
In the words of Minnesota Northstar GWEP Program Director James Pacala, MD, MS, geriatrician, professor and head of the University of Minnesota Medical School Department of Family Medicine and Community Health:
“Jean has been a prominent national leader in the field of geriatrics and gerontology, and an inspiring role model for gerontological nurse practitioners (APRNs). Her contributions to the management of falls and incontinence have benefitted countless older adults. Her accomplishments in the education of health professional students is no less impactful.”
Another colleague of Dr. Wyman’s from the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, Kristine Talley, PhD, RN, GNP-BC, FGSA, spoke about Dr. Wyman’s mentorship and legacy:
“Dr. Wyman has been a career mentor to me and so many others. She is highly revered in the gerontological nursing teaching and research community. Her innovative Facilitated Learning to Advance Geriatrics (FLAG) program that ran for over a decade trained a national cohort of nursing faculty on how to teach geriatrics. Her impact in gerontological nursing research will endure as she has been a valuable mentor to many emerging gerontological nurse researchers nationwide. Time and time again, when I meet people who have been influenced by her, I hear the same thing: ‘You work with Jean? She is wonderful, and you are so lucky.’ I wholeheartedly agree and will miss her dearly.”
During her career at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, Dr. Wyman had numerous accomplishments and made many contributions. Her areas of expertise have been interprofessional and geriatric nursing education, urinary continence care, and fall prevention. She was principal investigator (PI) or site PI of 10 research grants or contracts, including PI of the Center for Health Trajectory Research, funded by a P20 grant from NIH. She was also a co-investigator on 19 research grants/contracts.
Dr. Wyman was one of the founding directors of the National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing Excellence. She was director of the Center of Aging Science and Care Innovation and John A. Hartford Center for Gerontological Nursing Excellence, which created the nationally recognized Faculty Learning About Geriatrics (FLAG) Program. FLAG increased the capacity of faculty to teach care for older adults, reaching faculty from over 19 states and the Midwest Geriatric Nursing Education Consortium.
She also led the development of Core Competencies for Gerontological Nurse Educators and the establishment of the Distinguished Gerontological Nurse Educators Recognition for the National Hartford Center for Gerontological Nursing Excellence. Her background as a clinical gerontological nurse practitioner informed her scholarship through funded research, publications, interprofessional education initiatives, and continence care practice. Dr. Wyman co-edited one of the first textbooks for advanced practice nurses in geriatrics, Clinical Gerontological Nursing: A Guide to Advanced Practice.
Dr. Wyman is an author/co-author of more than 100 journal publications and book chapters and co-editor of two books. She has presented at many international, national, and local conferences. Dr. Wyman is a gerontological nurse practitioner and was a co-director of the Deborah E. Powell Center for Women’s Health, UMN Medical School. She has had a part-time continence practice at Wilder Senior Health Clinic, UMP, and Minnesota Continence Associates, UMN Medical School.
Her awards include SUNA Continence Care Champion from the National Association for Gerontological Nursing, Nurse Leader in Aging Award from the American Academy of Nursing, and President’s Award from the Society for Urologic Nurses and Associates. Dr. Wyman's professional service includes being chair of the Council of Nursing Science, president of the Midwest Nursing Research Society, associate editor of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, reviewer for more than 10 journals, and an ad hoc grant reviewer for NIH.
We congratulate Jean on her career and contributions to the field of gerontological nursing and send best wishes for an enjoyable retirement.