School of Nursing

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.