In Memoriam

Nursing Professor Dies

Hong Li, the Loretta C. Ford Professor of Nursing and an internationally recognized expert in elder care, died October 15. She was 47.

Li, who joined the School of Nursing in 1998, was known for her teaching and scholarship in the field of family care for frail, older adults. While at Rochester, she received a number of awards and honors, including the highly competitive James G. Zimmer New Investigator Award from the American Public Health Association and, most recently, the Distinguished Nurse Researcher Award from the Foundation of the New York State Nurses Association.

A 1978 nursing graduate of Beijing Medical University, Li earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the Oregon Health and Science University.

After completing postdoctoral work at Oregon, she was named to the faculty at Rochester, where she came full circle with research projects that brought her geriatric nursing research expertise back to her homeland. She conducted research in China and the United States aimed at improving patient outcomes by teaching and empowering families to assist in the recovery of ill and hospitalized elders.

Li had planned to continue her work in Iran and other countries, and the Center for Research and Evidence-Based Practice in the School of Nursing will support the completion and dissemination of that effort, including copyrighting the instrument under her name and granting researchers access to the data to ensure her research legacy continues.

Li is survived by her father, Lu Li; mother, Manying Xie; husband, Ping Sun; and son, Henry Sun. Contributions to the Henry Sun Educational Fund are being accepted c/o Miller Funeral Homes, 3325 Winton Road South, Rochester, New York 14623.