Two faculty members of the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing are being inducted into the National Academies of Practice.
Assistant Professor Aliza Ben Zacharia and Associate Professor Christine Anne Ganzer have been selected for induction as distinguished fellows into the academies, a nonprofit organization founded in 1981 to advise government bodies on healthcare. The high honor recognizes outstanding achievements in the profession and in interprofessional care.
Drs. Ben Zacharia and Ganzer join the inaugural Evelyn Lauder Chair in Adult Gerontology, Dr. Sherry Greenberg, and the Joan Hansen Grabe Dean of Hunter’s Nursing School, Dr. Ann Marie Mauro, as distinguished fellows of the academies.
The honor underscores Hunter’s position as an anchor institution and high-impact training ground for the state’s best nurses and promoter of health equity for all populations. Hunter was ranked third out of 210 nursing schools in New York and in the top 10% nationally by nonprofit news site RN Careers. Our master’s program is also ranked 43rd in the United States by U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools.
“We congratulate Drs. Ben Zacharia and Ganzer for this honor,” said Dr. Mauro. “This important recognition highlights their significant contributions to interprofessional education, research, and practice.”
Dr. Ben-Zacharia works toward improving the care of patients with neurological diseases. She has worked as an adult-acute nurse practitioner, a clinical nurse specialist, and a staff nurse. She has been the past president of the International Organization of Multiple Sclerosis Nurses and the associate director of the Center for Nursing Research and Innovation at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Dr. Ganzer researches the role of risk reduction as a key strategy in promoting and prolonging healthy cognition as we age. As part of a multidisciplinary team from Weill-Cornell Medical College and funded through the Clinical Translational Science Center, she has explored the effects of Type 2 diabetes, cognition and its effect on amyloidosis, the clumping of proteins that block signaling in the brain in Alzheimer’s disease. The team also examined how diet, physical activity, and vascular risk affect memory, executive function, and language.
About the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing
The Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing’s mission is to cultivate collaborative nurse leaders promoting wellness and championing health equity in diverse local and global communities through excellence in education, research, scholarship, and advocacy. Its vision is to shape nurse leaders advancing health equity for a thriving, healthier world.
