Edwards receives international leadership award
Nancy Edwards received Sigma Theta Tau International’s 2015 Amy J. Berman Geriatric Nursing Leadership Award in recognition of her work as a champion of interprofessional gerontological education and significant research contributions to the health care of older adults.
Edwards is an associate professor of nursing and the director of the primary care adult gerontology nurse practitioner program. She has cultivated partnerships with the Purdue College of Pharmacy and the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, as well as with the Indiana University School of Medicine Lafayette campus. Edwards led a Health Resources and Services Administration-funded comprehensive geriatric education project to expand geriatric content across health care professional education programs.
Edwards also established partnerships with regional long-term care facilities, statewide area councils on aging, cooperative extension services and federally qualified health centers.
Beyond interprofessional partnerships, Edwards encourages her students to develop their communication skills and broadly share their knowledge. Master’s students she advises regularly publish clinical articles.
Edward’s research is focused on developing efficient and effective nonpharmacological care protocols for older adults with neuroprogressive diseases. She implements interventions that include animal-assisted therapy and exercise programs among patients with dementia in both community and institutional settings.
Edwards is currently developing care guidelines to differentiate the needs related to various types of dementia for both the caregivers and patients.