Olga F. Jarrín Montaner, PhD, RN, FAAN

Hunterdon Professor of Nursing Research; Associate Professor, Division of Nursing Science; Director, Multicultural Nurse Leadership Institute; Director, Community Health and Aging Outcomes Lab; Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research; Lead, Workforce Development, New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science

Division of Nursing Science

Tenured

New Brunswick

110P 101C

Specialty: Gerontology, nursing outcomes, health services research, comparative effectiveness research, patient-centered outcomes research, community health, home health care, health disparities, health policy

  • Advancing Clinical Outcomes Through Innovation
  • Health Systems and Workforce Dynamics
  • Population and Global Health

Research Lab

Community Health & Aging Outcomes Lab (CHAO)

Dr. Jarrín Montaner’s research focuses on how home health, hospice, and other community-based services shape late-life outcomes, with a particular emphasis on people living with dementia and inequities in health care systems. Her work uses large administrative and survey datasets to develop innovative trajectory measures and identify upstream strategies to improve end-of-life care and promote health equity.

  • Home health, hospice, and community-based care and their impact on late-life outcomes, including place of care, place of death, hospital use, and quality of end-of-life care.
  • Dementia care trajectories, including diagnosis, care settings, and end-of-life experiences among Medicare beneficiaries.
  • Differences in aging and late-life outcomes across racial, ethnic, and social groups, including improved measurement of race/ethnicity and environmental and social determinants in large health datasets.
  • Development and application of novel data infrastructures, including care-setting and cognitive trajectories and AI/ML approaches, to inform health services and policy for older adults.

Biography

Olga F. Jarrín Montaner, PhD, RN, FAAN, is a nurse scientist whose research examines how home health and community-based care systems shape late-life outcomes and equity for older adults, particularly people living with dementia. She is the Hunterdon Professor of Nursing Research and an Associate Professor in the Division of Nursing Science at Rutgers School of Nursing, where she directs the Community Health and Aging Outcomes Laboratory and the Multicultural Nurse Leadership Institute. Dr. Jarrín Montaner is also a core member of the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research and leads Workforce Development for the New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science.

Her NIH-funded research program uses large Medicare and survey datasets to understand how patterns of home health, hospice, and other home- and community-based services influence place of care, place of death, and quality of end-of-life care. She develops and applies novel data infrastructures—including national care-setting and cognitive-trajectory files and improved race and ethnicity measures—to examine how health system factors and social and environmental conditions contribute to differences in dementia diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes. As principal investigator and co-investigator on multiple National Institute on Aging awards, she leads interdisciplinary teams focused on “upstream” interventions that improve dementia care and support aging in the community.

Dr. Jarrín Montaner is nationally recognized for her leadership in gerontological nursing, health services research, and efforts to advance equity in aging and dementia care. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, a Distinguished Educator in Gerontological Nursing, and a recipient of honors including the Distinguished Nurse Researcher Award from the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NJ Chapter) and the Marlene Kramer Outstanding Alumni Award for Research in Nursing from the University of Connecticut. She serves on national and international boards and study sections, including as a standing member of the AHRQ Healthcare Safety Quality Improvement Research Study Section and as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Home Care Nurses Organization.

Through the Multicultural Nurse Leadership Institute and her roles in NJ ACTS, Dr. Jarrín Montaner mentors a diverse pipeline of nursing, public health, and interdisciplinary trainees and early-career faculty whose work advances aging, dementia care, and community health. Her teaching and mentorship span undergraduate honors, PhD, and postdoctoral levels, and many of her mentees have gone on to secure competitive NIH and foundation awards and leadership positions in academia, clinical practice, and public health.