Iron Mountain woman pursues Ph.D. at U-M

Graduate school has been a true labor of love for Ann-Marie Frankini. After spending thirty years as a nurse, she decided to pursue her Ph.D. at U-M. She’s interested in pushing the boundaries of the role nurse practitioners can play in chronic diseases in the elderly.

Frankini lives in Iron Mountain. The prevalence of diabetes is high there, and the trends over the last few years are alarming, particularly in children. She says, “I wanted to do research up where I live, where there aren’t many people studied and where I know the system well. I hope my research can result in the use of some simple tests to identify patients at high risk for cognitive impairment and find ways to help them compensate.”

Not only did Frankini return to school, she went to U-M with her son. She adds, “Our plan was to graduate together, but he beat me.”

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