Margaret I. Wallhagen, PhD, GNP-BC, AGSF, FAAN

Margaret I. Wallhagen, PhD, GNP-BC, AGSF, FGSA, FAAN, is a Professor of Gerontological Nursing and a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner in the School of Nursing, University of California San Francisco (UCSF). She received her initial nursing degree from St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing in New York, her Baccalaureate and Master’s degrees from UCSF, and her doctoral degree in nursing from the University of Washington in Seattle. Her prior clinical nursing experience has included critical care nursing and precepting undergraduate nursing students. Since joining the faculty at UCSF in 1988, she has taught gerontological nursing at both the masters and doctoral level. Dr. Wallhagen has conducted a number of research projects in gerontology and chronic care management. Her research and publications have focused on studies of: caregivers; the experience of control; education and self-management in diabetes; successful aging for persons with chronic conditions; self-care and symptom management; cross cultural interventions to support family caregivers with dementia; and family conflict and coping. However, her more recent emphasis has been on impact of hearing loss on older adults. She completed a four year longitudinal study on the experience of hearing impairment in older adults and their partners, and a study on the comparative effectiveness of three protocols to enhance the integration of hearing screening and education into primary care settings. Her current research is exploring the impact of hearing loss in the context of serious illness and the provision of palliative care. In January 2006, Dr. Wallhagen became the Director of the UCSF/John A. Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence as it entered its second five years of funding. The HCGNE has the mission to prepare a cadre of nurses who have the research, leadership, and educational expertise necessary to facilitate the preparation of future nurse leaders and to meet the needs of the growing population of older adults. She is also currently the Senior Nurse Scholar for the Veterans Administration’s Quality Scholars program at the SF VA.

For community service, Dr. Wallhagen is involved with and has served on the Board of Family Caregiver Alliance, a non-profit organization that supports family caregivers and Bread for the World, an organization that works for policies to eliminate hunger worldwide. She has served on the Board of the American Geriatrics Society and is the recent past Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Hearing Loss Association of America.