Annette Wysocki, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNYAM

Dean; Professor

ADDRESS:
School of Nursing
University at Buffalo
102 A Wende Hall
Buffalo, NY 14214-3079

PHONE: 716-829-3596

Annette Wysocki was appointed dean of the School of Nursing in July 2022. Her research focuses on the pathophysiology of delayed healing in chronic wounds. She discovered that fibronectin, the major extracellular matrix adhesive glycoprotein in the body required to heal wounds, is degraded. Her research also showed matrix degradation results from both the activation and overexpression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP2 and MMP9) and an imbalance of urokinase plasminogen activator-plasminogen activator inhibitor (uPA-PAI), and that colonizing bacteria in open skin wounds can express proteinases capable of degrading extracellular matrix proteins required for healing. 

Together, these findings led to the development of dressing products to promote healing, as well as diagnostic tests to detect whether wounds are properly healing. She has authored more than 50 scholarly publications and presented her research findings nationally and internationally. She has been funded by the NIH, National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research and the American Nurses Foundation.

Wysocki previously was the first permanent scientific director of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) and chief of the Wound Healing Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At NINR, she started the Summer Genetics Institute, one of the most successful programs ever established at NINR.

She also served on the board of governors of the NIH Clinical Center, broke ground and was on the design team for the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center, and helped to initiate the NCI-All Ireland Cancer Consortium.

In 2019, Wysocki joined Stony Brook University from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she served as associate dean for research and professor in the College of Nursing. At UMass Amherst, Wysocki was instrumental in establishing the UManage Center, an interdisciplinary research center focused on developing technologies to manage symptoms of chronic illness.

While at UMass, Wysocki also worked with leaders across campus to secure $95 million to establish the Institute for Applied Life Sciences that includes the Center for Personalized Health Monitoring, the Models to Medicine Center and the Center for Bioactive Delivery. She also was on the statewide Life Science Task Force to develop a five-year plan for the UMass system that obtained $300 million in economic development funds.

A fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, she serves on its Bioethics Expert Panel and the Aging Expert Panel. Wysocki is also an active member of the Research Leader Network for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). She has served in many advisory and leadership roles, including as president of the Wound Healing Foundation, and on the board of directors of the Wound Healing Society. She has received numerous awards recognizing the impact of her contributions, including the Distinguished Service Award from the Wound Healing Society.

As a member of the American Society for Cell Biology, Wysocki served on the Congressional Liaison Committee. She is a Harvard Macy Scholar and a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine.

Wysocki holds a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from East Carolina University, all in nursing. She was a postdoctoral research fellow in cell biology at University of Texas Southwestern and Weill Cornell Medical College.

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