Looking to the Future with Villanova's Strategic Plan

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Mary D. Naylor ’71 BSN
“Having worked in an
academic environment with
students all my life, I think
I can bring some helpful
perspective.”
It’s not easy to forget Mary D. Naylor,
Ph.D., F.A.A.N., R.N., ’71 BSN.
She even made an immediate
impact in her first job out of college
at Bryn Mawr Hospital.
Last fall, after she gave a lecture at
Villanova’s College of Nursing, a former
colleague approached her. “I remember
you from [floor] 5C, and I wanted to see
you again,” the woman said, extending
her hand with a smile.
“She had been a nurse’s assistant, and
I hadn’t seen her in many, many years,”
Dr. Naylor recalls. “I couldn’t believe she
remembered me. It was wonderful.”
Recently appointed to Villanova University’s
Board of Trustees, Dr. Naylor is
exuberant about her life’s work, and her
enthusiasm inspires all those around her.
Today she is the Marian S. Ware Professor
in Gerontology and director of the New-
Courtland Center for Transitions and
Health at the University of Pennsylvania’s
School of Nursing.
Since 1990, Dr. Naylor has led an
interdisciplinary research program
designed to improve health care and
reduce costs of care for chronically ill
older adults and their caregivers.
“We’re basically trying to change the
care system for them,” she says.
Passionately devoted to the cause, she
testified before the U.S. Senate Finance
Committee on her research findings, and
the evidence from her and her team’s
research formed the basis of the Medicare
Transitional Care Act, introduced in both
the House and Senate in 2009.
Villanova years
It was as a high school student that Dr.
Naylor realized her life’s calling. “I worked
at Bryn Mawr Hospital as a volunteer for a
couple of years and really fell in love with
the opportunity to be part of that world.”
Her four years at Villanova were both
happy and transformative. “I always attribute
a lot of what I’ve accomplished in my
career to the extraordinary foundation I
received at the College of Nursing.”
She said it was “a fabulous time” to
be at Villanova. “I loved the out-ofclassroom
experiences as much as those
in the classroom.”
Her memories include meeting the late
singer/songwriter Jim Croce ’65 A&S in
the old Bartley Hall coffee shop and being
required to wear skirts to class. “By the
time I graduated, we were allowed to wear
slacks,” she laughs.
Dr. Naylor earned her master’s and doctoral
degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.
Her many achievements include
being named national program director for
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundationsponsored
Interdisciplinary Nursing
Quality Research Initiative and her election
to the Institute of Medicine of the
National Academies.
She is thrilled to be elected to the
Board of her alma mater. “Having worked
in an academic environment with students
all my life, I think I can bring some helpful
perspective.”
Her first grandson, Aidan, was born just
a few months ago, and she hopes he will
follow in her footsteps and that of his
mother, Alison Naylor Corter ’01 A&S.
“The next generation of Naylors hopes
to be a VU Wildcat, Class of 2030!”
Dr. Naylor laughs.
8 Villanova Magazine