Greetings from New Orleans and the 2013 Gerontological Society of America (GSA) meeting. As usual, many John A. Hartford Foundation staff are at the meeting to learn from the experts in the field, to work with our grantees, and to answer questions from anyone interested in improving the care of older adults.
We are particularly excited about the launch of our new Change AGEnts program. Anyone ever associated with a Hartford-funded project is invited to join us at the Change AGEnts Initiative launch event on Friday, Nov. 22, from 6:30-8p.m. (Sheraton Hotel, Grand Ballroom C). Visit our Change AGEnts page to RSVP and learn more!
Of course, we are also very proud of the accomplishments of our current grantees and friends. I’d like to recognize several who are being honored here this week.
Richard M. Allman, MD, director of the Birmingham/Atlanta VA Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), is the recipient of two prestigious honors: this year’s Donald P. Kent Award and Joseph T. Freeman Award. Dr. Allman is a long-time grantee and friend, serving as co-director of the Hartford-funded Southeast Center of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine (SCEGM), a career development and training program for physicians at the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) and Emory University. The Parrish Endowed Professor of Medicine at UAB, Dr. Allman also serves as the director of UAB’s Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging.
Thomas M. Gill, MD, a Beeson Scholar and a professor of medicine, epidemiology, and investigative medicine and the Humana Foundation Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, a Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine, will give the 2013 Freeman Lecture after winning the 2012 Joseph T. Freeman Award.
Nancy L. Wilson, MA, LMSW, is the recipient of this year’s Maxwell A. Pollack Award for Productive Aging. An associate professor in the Department of Medicine-Section of Geriatrics and assistant director of the Huffington Center on Aging at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, Wilson’s ties to the Hartford Foundation through the years include serving as a senior mentor in the Practice Change Leaders program; a Social Work Education Leader in Geriatric Interdisciplinary Team Training (GITT); and support from the Evidence Based Programs for Healthy Ideas through the National Council On Aging (NCOA).
Delivering this year’s Baylor College of Medicine Lecture is 2012 Pollack recipient Mary D. Naylor, PhD, RN, FAAN, of the University of Pennsylvania, a Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence (CGNE). Naylor, a longtime friend of the foundation, will speak on “The Transitional Care Model: A Journey from Evidence to Impact” from 5-7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22, in Salon D (M).
Eileen M. Sullivan-Marx, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean of the New York University College of Nursing, will receive the Doris Schwartz Gerontological Nursing Research Award and will give a lecture on “Feeling Better: Forty Years of Caring for Older Adults” at the Nursing Care of Older Adults Interest Group Meeting from 5:30-7:30 p.m. today in Grand A (S). Sullivan-Marx is a former director and faculty member of the Hartford CGNE at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jahnigen Scholar Ula Hwang, MD, associate professor of both emergency medicine and geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai—one of our Centers of Excellence—in New York City, will receive the Ollie Randall Award this afternoon and will speak on “GEDI WISE: A CMS Health Care Innovation Award Program to Improve Geriatric ED Care” from 1:30-3 p.m. in Grand E (S).
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his year’s M. Powell Lawton Award recipient is Patricia A. Parmelee, PhD, director of the Center for Mental Health & Aging and a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama. On a personal note, I’d like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Pat, who served as my post-doc mentor!
This year’s Lawton lecture will be given by 2012 recipient Cornelia Beck, PhD, RN, FAAN, co-director of the Hartford CGNE at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). She will speak on “Reflections on a Research Journey” from 3-4:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22 in Grand A (S).
Richard BresdineWe are also very pleased to present our own awards and thanks to Drs. Richard Besdine and William Hall for their leadership and vision as co-chairs of the Centers of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine program supported through the American Federation for Aging Research.
William HallAlumni of the Centers of Excellence program are invited to attend a reception from 6:30-8 p.m. tonight at Mariott balcony I/J, but we’re hoping to keep our plans to honor Bill and Richard a surprise. So be sure to offer congratulations to them, but not until after 6 p.m.