Rate My Professor Marilyn Rantz

Marilyn J. Rantz, PhD, RN, FAAN, serves as Curators' Professor Emerita and University Hospitals and Clinics Professor Emerita of Nursing in the Sinclair School of Nursing at the University of Missouri-Columbia, with affiliation since 1992. She earned her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1992 and holds credentials as a registered nurse with fellow status in the American Academy of Nursing. Her distinguished career spans over 50 years in nursing, beginning in 1970, including a role as nursing home administrator in Wisconsin from 1981 overseeing a 300-bed facility. At the University of Missouri, Rantz held the University Hospital Professor of Nursing position, served as Helen E. Nahm Chair from 2008 to 2015, maintained a joint appointment in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and directed the Aging in Place Project and Sinclair Home Care. A leader in Health Science, she pioneered advancements in elder care through sustained research programs addressing quality measurement in nursing homes, nurse care coordination effectiveness, long-term care models, and technology for aging in place.

Rantz's research has secured over $108 million in funding, including landmark Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services grants of $14.8 million in 2012 and $19.8 million in 2016 for initiatives reducing avoidable hospitalizations among nursing home residents. She developed the Quality Improvement Program for Missouri (QIPMO) in 1999, a statewide partnership enhancing care quality, controlling infections, and minimizing emergency visits, with demonstrated improvements across 510 facilities from 2020 to 2022. Her innovations, including QIPMO and TigerPlace, received Edge Runner Awards from the American Academy of Nursing in 2012 and 2008. Key publications encompass 'Longitudinal evaluation of a statewide quality improvement program for nursing homes' (2024, Journal of the American Medical Directors Association), 'Longitudinal Impact of APRNs on Nursing Home Quality Measures in the Missouri Quality Initiative' (2021, Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging), and over 250 peer-reviewed studies. Rantz's impact extends nationally; she contributed to a 2022 National Academies panel recommending emulation of her programs, was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine in 2012, and earned honors such as Living Legend (American Academy of Nursing, 2020), Nurse of the Year Legend in Nursing (March of Dimes, 2018), Lifetime Achievement (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2017), and Doris Schwartz Gerontological Nursing Research Award (2016). Her efforts have saved Missouri $32 million in hospitalizations and influenced policy on nursing home care.