Who We Are

Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders (NICHE) imparts principles and tools to stimulate changes in clinical practice to achieve patient-centered nursing care for older adults in healthcare facilities. The vision of NICHE is that all older adults, age 65 and over, receive age-friendly, exemplary nursing care.

NICHE is headed by Mattia J. Gilmartin PhD, RN, FAAN.  Mattia Gilmartin is the Executive Director of the Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders Program (NICHE) of New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing, a 500-member organization whose mission is to create age-friendly healthcare services for 48 million older adults in the U.S. 

Dr. Gilmartin’s research, published in high-impact journals, spans the boundaries of nursing and management, and advances understanding of leadership competencies for planned organizational change, voluntary turnover, innovation, and entrepreneurship.   She brings 20 years of firsthand experience with organizational and management forces that drive performance improvement. Her background as a clinician, researcher, and teacher makes her particularly skilled in analyzing complex problems and translating theory into practice. She favors entrepreneurial approaches and thrives in complex environments that require creative and flexible solutions. 

She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in nursing and an MBA from the University of San Francisco, and a PhD degree from the University of Virginia School of Nursing, which named her its 2018 Distinguished Alumna.  In 2020, she was a Health and Aging Policy Fellow and an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow, contributing her expertise on care coordination and change management to senior leaders at the Administration for Community Living and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.  She is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the National Academies of Practice, and the New York Academy of Medicine, as well as a past chair of the Academy of Management Healthcare Management Division.  In 2022, she was named an American Academy of Nursing Edge Runner for her contributions to improving nursing care for older adults.  

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