Tatiana Sadak PhD, PMHNP, RN, FAAN

Dr. Sadak synergistically dedicates her effort to administration, clinical work, education, research, and policy, focusing on identifying and applying innovative methods for optimizing care for people living with dementia and their families. She is a pivotal member of the UW School of Nursing team, The WA Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission, and WA State Dementia Action Collaborative, which is charged with developing and implementing a plan to address Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Tatiana’s mission is to transform the clinical care, research, policy, and education of healthcare professionals by fully integrating and leveraging specialized knowledge that too often exists in isolated silos. “The impact of dementia is personal, emotional, economic, and systemic. Yet health care for people with dementia and their families has changed remarkably little. We have for too long approached a complex and inherently multidisciplinary problem with fragmented care methods in which clinicians with minimal to no formal specialized training work independently of other disciplines.”

Dr. Sadak is leading the UWSON Excellence in Long-Term Care Externship Program – an innovative initiative directed at inspiring nursing students to see themselves as having a career in long-term care, which has the greatest workforce deficit of any nursing sector. The program model is low-cost, effective, easily disseminated, and easily duplicated, dissipating misperceptions about LTC.

Tatiana is leading UWSON, national, and international initiatives to develop a dementia-capable healthcare workforce and improve older adults’ outpatient and Long Term Care (LTC) through rigorous research, education, and policy. Dr. Sadak is a primary investigator on the National Institute of Health, HRSA, Foundations, and State-funded grants that generated over 10 Million in funding for geriatric and education-related initiatives.

Education

• BA, Seattle Pacific University, 1997
• BSN, University of Washington, 2006
• PMHNP-BC, University of Washington, 2008
• PhD, University of Washington, 2011

Career development awards

• John A Hartford Foundation Claire M. Fagin Fellow, 2011-13 
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar, 2013-17 
• Cambia Health Foundation. Sojourn’s Scholar, 2017-20 
• Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Faculty Scholar, 2020-22 

Awards and accolades

• Regional Geriatric Nursing Education Award, Western Institute of Nursing, 2022
• Professional Nursing and Health Care Council Nurse Educator Award, Washington State Nurses Association, 2021
• Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, 2020
• National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing Excellence Distinguished Educator in Gerontological Nursing, 2019
• Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, 2018

What classes do you teach?

I teach graduate and undergraduate psychiatric nursing, psychotherapy, and geriatrics. I oversee the accreditation, compliance, and implementation of all programs and students’ experience in partnership with the Program Directors, Curriculum Committee Chairs, and other key stakeholders.

What do you love about the UW School of Nursing?

I love the supportive and nurturing environment that empowers me to be the best teacher, researcher, administrator, and clinician I can be. I am genuinely inspired by my students, colleagues, and community partners.

Department

Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics

Research Areas

• Innovative Interventions
• Symptom Science
• Health Equity
• Lifespan Health

Research Centers

• de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging