Ruth Anderson

Ruth Anderson, Ph.D., MSN, MA, RN, FAAN
Recipient of 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award

Dr. Ruth Anderson is the Virginia Stone Professor of Nursing, a senior fellow in the Center for Aging and Human Development, and director of ADAPT Center for Cognitive/Affective Symptom Science, all at Duke University School of Nursing. Her scholarship is dedicated to improving management of nursing homes, an area of rapidly growing need. As a long-time advocate for improving the care of the elderly, Dr. Anderson has worked to improve system operations of nursing homes. Her research has helped improve patient outcomes through optimizing organizational structure to meet elderly residents’ needs, enhancing patterns of staff communication as well as interpersonal relationships between staff and families, and in strategies to address falls in nursing homes. Her studies showing the relationships between patient outcomes and organizational structure, interpersonal relationships and communication, and employee turnover have given researchers new tools for implementing evidence-based changes in the care-delivery practices in long-term care facilities.