But it appears she did not get the memo.
The 69-year-old anatomy research emeritus professor has just been elected as the first New Zealander to become president of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (IFAA) — an umbrella group of 57 anatomy associations across the world, which develops and promotes all anatomical sciences.
She has been a member of the IFAA executive committee for 15 years, editor of the IFAA newsletter Plexus and more recently the chairwoman of the Federative International Committee for the Support of Anatomy Professionals (FICSAP).
Prof Nicholson also led a recent IFAA project, which surveyed anatomists around the world at differing stages in their careers, to gauge the factors that helped develop their pathway, and what support they would find useful.
This led to a pilot programme in collaboration with Flinders University for emerging anatomists in Africa to develop their expertise in educational research.
"It is a real privilege to provide leadership to the IFAA and work to promote the discipline of anatomy.
"Academics and researchers never really retire.
"I still feel young at heart — I’m happy to keep going."
She said she was finding it difficult to go "cold turkey" on her career, and she was in what she called "semi-retirement".
"I’m still doing some research and supervising students — I’m just not working as many hours as I used to.
"Being such a big job, you can’t just suddenly switch off."
She has spent much of her career researching the paracrine control of reproductive processes in the male — in particular, the regulation of prostate growth in health and disease.
Prostate disease is common and affects many men as they grow older, and prostate cancer is now one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in men.
"I’ve got colleagues and I’m working on handing over some of that, but I’m continuing to work closely with people in anatomy.
"I can’t see me stopping doing research for a little while yet."
