National Advisory Council
The Framework National Advisory Council was co-chaired by Joanne Handy and Dr. Mary Naylor.
Joanne Handy, R.N., M.S.
President and Chief Executive Officer Aging Services of California
Joanne Handy is the President and CEO of Aging Services of California, which represents the nonprofit senior living field of CCRCs, assisted living, senior housing and community-based services. Until 2009, she was the President of the Visiting Nurse Association of Boston, the nation’s oldest and one of the largest VNAs on the east coast. She is the former President of the Goldman Institute on Aging, an affiliate of the University of California San Francisco, known for its pioneering work in developing community-based services for older adults. She is active nationally in the aging and home care fields, currently serving on the national Board of Directors of AARP, representing 36 million Americans 50 years and older. She is also on the national Board of the AARP Foundation. She is the former Chair of the American Society on Aging, the largest gerontological professional association in the country. She is also the immediate past Vice Chair of the Board of the Visiting Nurse Associations of America. She is a former Board member of the National Association for Home Care and Hospice and Chair of their 2005 Annual Convention. She is a former Chair of the California Association for Home Care at Home and served on the National Chronic Care Consortium. She was a Kellogg International Leadership Fellow and is the author of several publications spanning the areas of geriatrics, home care, management, and marketing.
Mary D. Naylor, PhD, RN, FAAN
Marian S. Ware Professor in Gerontology
University of Pennsylvania – School of Nursing
Dr. Naylor is the Marian S. Ware Professor in Gerontology, and Director of the Center for Transitions and Health at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing. Since 1990, Dr. Naylor has led an interdisciplinary program of research designed to improve the quality of care, decrease unnecessary hospitalizations and reduce health care costs for vulnerable community-based elders. To date, Dr. Naylor and her research team have completed three National Institutes of Health funded randomized clinical trials testing the Advanced Practice Nurse Transitional Care Model, an innovative approach to addressing the needs of high-risk chronically-ill elders and their caregivers. With the support of The Commonwealth Fund, the Jacob & Valeria Langeloth Foundation and the John A. Hartford Foundation, this research team has recently partnered with a major insurance organization and health care organization to promote widespread adoption of this proven model of care coordination. An ongoing clinical trial funded by the Marian S. Ware Alzheimer Program and the National Institute on Aging has expanded testing of this model of care with hospitalized cognitively impaired elders and their caregivers. Currently, Dr. Naylor and colleagues are engaged in a study funded by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute for Nursing Research that will examine over time the natural history of changes in health and quality of life among elders newly admitted to long term care settings or services. In recognition of her research and leadership, Dr. Naylor has received numerous awards. In 2004, she was the first nurse selected as a McCann Scholar, the only national award by a private foundation that recognizes outstanding mentors in medicine, nursing, and science. In 2005, Dr. Naylor was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine. Dr. Naylor is also the National Program Director for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program, Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI). The primary goal of the INQRI program is to generate, disseminate and translate research to understand how nurses contribute to and can improve the quality of patient care. The program supports interdisciplinary teams of nurse scholars and scholars from other disciplines to address the gaps in knowledge about the relationship between nursing and health care quality.
To view a list of the NAC members and their biographies click here.