Mary Naylor, PhD, RN, FAAN, is Marion S. Ware Professor of Gerontology and Director of the NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Dr. Naylor is a pioneer in the design, evaluation, and spread of health care innovations that have significantly improved the outcomes of at-risk older adults and their family caregivers, while reducing health care costs. Her efforts, in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of clinical scholars and health services researchers, have resulted in the Transitional Care Model, a cost-effective advanced practice nurse-led model consistently demonstrated to improve the care and outcomes of older adults who must navigate complex and often fragmented systems of care.

She also has worked tirelessly to advocate for evidence-based changes in health care practices and policies across the globe. As a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, for example, she advised the U.S. Congress on policies designed to offer a more promising future for Medicare beneficiaries. As a result, the use of evidence-based transitional care is now included in multiple policies designed to foster health care delivery and payment reforms.
She earned her BSN from Villanova University and her MSN and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.