Marilyn Lopez, MA, RN, GNP-BC
Administrative Nursing Coordinator, Geriatric Service

Marilyn Lopez has been working at NYU Medical Center for over 15 years. She was recruited as the first Geriatric Nurse Specialist/Case Manger in l998. Currently, she holds a position as the Administrative Nursing Coordinator, Geriatric Nurse Practitioner for the Geriatric Program at NYU Medical Center.  In collaboration with NYU College of Nursing, Ms. Lopez has implemented and modified a Geriatric Resource Nurse Model on various inpatient units that has expanded to include an interdisciplinary team of health professionals.

This past year, Ms. Lopez has expanded her role to provide clinical expertise to educate nurses, house staff, attending physicians and other interdisciplinary team members in areas such as Geriatric syndrome management and complex nursing care for high risk elders. Additionally, her role has been vital in keeping clinical consistency throughout medical staff Geriatric service rotations in order to maintain seamless care and prevent iatrogenic complications for our most vulnerable older adults. Her efforts have resulted in care improvements such as development of hospitalized protocols and educational programs to staff, patients, and families. Ms. Lopez has also worked extensively with patients and caregivers via the “Focus on Patients and Families” program which offers community lectures on various elder topics as well as support groups to families and individual counseling. 

Ms. Lopez received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Hunter College in l991 and a master’s degree as a Gerontological Nurse Practitioner from NYU in l997. Her experiences include various staff positions in neurological and medical nursing. She has recently published a chapter entitled “At the time of Hospitalization” in Gallo, J., Bogner, H.R., Fulmer, T., et al. (EDs), Handbook of Geriatric Assessment (4th Ed). She has written an article entitled “Implementing a Geriatric Resource Nurse Model” for the Journal of Nursing Administration, November 2002 issue. In addition, she has co-authored and presented several abstracts of research in progress for a variety of national conferences since l997 to the present. Furthermore, she has been the Nursing Project Coordinator at NYU Medical Center for Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders (NICHE) which is a national Geriatric program of the John Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University. Ms. Lopez continues to work closely with the Hartford Institute in national conference presentations, media and video project opportunities as well as contribution to the Geriatric literature.