SON: Connections - Winter 2003

Headlines | Briefly | From the Deans Desk

Heather Young New Director of de Tornyay Center on Healthy Aging

Heather Young, whose doctoral thesis on resilience and change in older adults led to her involvement in the design of retirement community environments that promote healthy aging, is the new director of the de Tornyay Center on Healthy Aging. She will replace Interim Director Deborah Ward.

Young began her nursing career in critical care in a small, rural hospital. "I began to notice that most of the people I cared for had gray hair," she says. "I found myself thinking about end-of-life issues and quality of life, but felt I had little preparation to understand these issues." She went on to become one of the first nurses to earn a gerontological nurse practitioner degree at the University of Washington, completing her master’s degree concurrently with her doctorate. While exploring the role of environments in promoting good mental and physical health, Young became involved with the ERA Care organization of six local retirement communities, eventually rising to chief operations officer, a position she held until early this year. Her research has also been instrumental in shaping state and local policies that affect older adults, particularly policies that improve access to care in the face of severe nursing shortages.

Under Young’s direction, the de Tornyay Center on Healthy Aging will continue to offer a wide range of nursing scholarships, mentorships and faculty development opportunities, many in conjunction with the John A. Hartford Foundation of New York.

"For the first time in the history of the world, there are more grandparents than grandchildren," says Young. "I am looking forward to building on the de Tornyay Center’s excellent foundation to increase excitement about the field, to link up with other disciplines dealing with aging populations, and to develop an innovative curriculum that is a model for the future."

Young was named "Nurse of the Year" by the King County Nurses Association in 1999. Additional information about the de Tornyay Center on Healthy Aging is available on their website, http://www.son.washington.edu/centers/de-tornyay/.

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