Mathy Mezey Excellence in Aging Award

Sponsored by the New York University College of Nursing

Award submission for Scientific Sessions will reopen in spring 2025.

The purpose of this award is to recognize individuals who have distinguished themselves in promoting competence in caring for the elderly cardiovascular or stroke patient through teaching, research, and/or practice.

Mathy Mezey, EdD, RN, FAAN was most recently Professor Emerita, Senior Research Scientist and Associate Director, The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, New York University College of Nursing. Dr. Mezey received her undergraduate and graduate education at Columbia University. She worked as a public health nurse in NY City and taught at Lehman College, City University of New York, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

The Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing (CVSN)’s original award, the CVSN Competence in Aging Award, was established when the Council received a grant to highlight care for older adults; this nation-wide project was led by Dr. Mezey. The CVSN Council has continued to award after funding ended in order to recognized members who were making important contributions to the care of older adults with cardiovascular disease. We sought to re-name this award after this esteemed leader in geriatric nursing who recognized the need for specialty organizations to improve care delivery for older adults.

The award initially was supported by the Nurse Competence in Aging initiative, a 5-year initiative funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies (USA) Inc., awarded to the American Nurses Association (ANA) through the American Nurses Foundation (ANF), that represents a strategic alliance between the ANA, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing, New York University College of Nursing. For the past several years CVSN has been covering the cost of the award, which it will continue to do as additional sponsors are sought.

Award Recipients

2024 Tiny Jaarsma, RN, PhD, FAHA
2023 Niloufar Niakosari Hadidi, PhD, APRN, ACNS-BC, FAHA
2022 Misook Lee Chung, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN
2021 Ruth M. Masterson Creber
2020 Christopher S. Lee
2019 Leanne L. Lefler
2018 Tamilyn Bakas
2017 Harleah Buck

Eligibility Criteria

All applicants for the award must be members of the Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing by the time of application submission. If you need to become an AHA Professional Member, you should do so before submitting your abstract and award application materials. Join or renew today!
Applicant must be actively engaged in research, teaching or practice related to the care of elders.
Applicant may be at any career stage, but must have evidence of sustained contribution to the field of aging.
Applicant must hold a full-time position.
Award recipients are not eligible to compete in subsequent years.
The chosen awardee must agree to attend the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions and the Council on Cardiovascular Nursing annual dinner.

Current CVSN Mid-Career Awards Committee members are not eligible to apply for or be nominated for the award.

Evaluation Criteria

Evidence of nominee's excellence in promoting competence in caring for the elderly cardiovascular or stroke patient in two of the three following areas: teaching, research, or practice

Examples of such evidence include (but are not limited to):

Receipt of extramural grants or fellowships with peer reviewed publications disseminating the results.
Leadership in professional organizations dedicated to aging or in other organizations where the individual has promoted aging.
Publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Presentations at the national or international level.
Awards and recognitions.

How to Apply or Submit a Nomination

Individuals may be nominated an unlimited number of times, but may receive this award only once. Self-nomination is acceptable.

The nomination file (which can be submitted on the nominee’s behalf) should contain the following documents in PDF format:

Nominee’s curriculum vitae, including bibliography.
Reprint of a published, data-based, peer-reviewed article or, if not available, an article that is indexed, peer reviewed, and publicly available. The article should be focused on biobehavioral/physiologic cardiovascular nursing research.
At least two letters of nomination are required, drafted on electronic letterhead with a signature, that thoroughly outline and provide clear support (through examples as mentioned above) of the nominee's excellence in promoting competence in caring for the elderly cardiovascular or stroke patient in at least two of the three following areas: teaching, research, or practice.

Visit the ProposalCentral Council Awards Applicant Instructions page to apply or submit a nomination.

Once logged in, you may apply for the Scientific Sessions Cardiovascular Nursing Awards and select the Mathy Mezey Excellence in Aging Award from the award drop-down list.

For more detailed information on ProposalCentral, also included are additional materials on specific ProposalCentral functionality.