Three researchers in the Yale Program on Aging were honored for their work at the Gerontological Society of American's (GSA) 56th Meeting in San Diego, California.
The GSA meeting is organized to foster interdisciplinary interactions among gerontological health care, clinical, administrative and research professionals. The following Yale researchers were honored:
Sharon K. Inouye, professor of medicine/geriatrics and co-director of the Yale Program on Aging is the winner of the 2003 Ewald W. Busse Research Award in Biomedical Sciences. The Ewald W. Busse Research Awards were established in 1990 with an endowment to Duke University from Gerontology International, Inc. to promote international research and education in the field of gerontology. The purpose of these awards is to recognize the achievements of promising mid-career scientists and to encourage their continued contribution to aging research. Inouye was recognized for her contributions to advancing the scientific understanding of delirium and functional decline, two pervasive conditions for older hospitalized persons. Inouye's overarching goal has been to translate clinical investigation from its theoretical basis to practical applications that will improve clinical care and quality of life for older persons.
Becca Levy, assistant professor of epidemiology and psychology, was honored as the 2003 recipient of the Margret M. Baltes Early Career Award in Behavioral and Social Gerontology. The Baltes award recognizes outstanding early-career contributions in behavioral and social gerontology. This distinguished award is given to a person from any country and from any discipline in the social sciences. The award is presented by the GSA in conjunction with the Baltes Foundation. An international panel selected Levy for her innovative research that examines how psychosocial factors influence aging, which she has done by drawing on methods from social psychology and epidemiology. Levy is the first researcher to demonstrate that older people's stereotypes of aging can influence their cognitive functioning, such as memory, and physical functioning, such as survival.
Susan Hardy, M.D., postdoctoral fellow in geriatric medicine and Ph.D. candidate in Investigative Medicine, was awarded the 2003 Person-in-Training Award. This is one of two cash awards for trainees who are members of the GSA Clinical Medicine Section. Applicants must demonstrate primary responsibility for work resulting in a 1500-word manuscript. Hardy's manuscript, titled "Predictors of Recovery of Independent ADL Function among Newly Disabled Community-Dwelling Older Persons," identifies those characteristics of disabled older persons associated with regaining their independence in basic activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing and walking.
Established in 1991, the Yale Program on Aging is an interdepartmental effort to encourage multidisciplinary aging related research, support junior investigators and build upon collaborative relationships with individuals and agencies in the surrounding communities.
According to Director Mary E. Tinetti, M.D., the Yale Program on Aging aims to identify physical, psychological and social factors that put older persons at risk for geriatric health conditions, as well as those factors associated with successful aging.
"Other goals of the Program on Aging have been to develop and test cost-effective interventions aimed at preventing or reducing functional disability," said Tinetti, the Gladys Phillips Crofoot Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics) and Public Health. "The Program also trains researchers in multidisciplinary study methods, fosters collaborative investigations among researchers throughout Yale University and Connecticut with expertise in aging-related fields and translates research findings into improved quality of life and health for older persons."
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Karen N. Peart
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