Title: 2005 GHS AWARDS … Congratulations to All!
Author:
Section/SPIG: Aging & Public Health
Issue Date:
The Gerontological Health Section had a busy summer reviewing abstracts and manuscripts for the annual section awards held during the APHA Annual Meeting & Exposition in the autumn. There were many excellent submissions this year, which made it difficult to choose among the many entrants. Now that we have completed the process, we are pleased to announce our award winners for 2005.
The Award for Excellence in Research on Aging and Rural Health, in recognition of individuals in public health research who have made a difference in the lives of older people who live in rural America, goes to Lisa R. Shugarman, PhD, Melony E.S. Sorbero, PhD, Haijun Tian, Arvind K. Jain, MS, & J. Scott Ashwood, MA, for their paper, "An exploration of urban and rural differences in lung cancer survival among Medicare beneficiaries.” The Honorable Mention goes to Marilyn M. Gardner, PhD, M. Susan Jones, PhD, MSN, and Janelle Peeler, MSW, for their paper “Reaching the rural elderly through health literacy.”
The Retirement Research Foundation Masters Student Research Award, in recognition of students who conducted exceptional research during their training, goes to John D. Prochaska, MPH, for his paper “Fruit and vegetable consumption in older rural adults: Assessing proportions meeting recommended intakes and demographic correlates associated with consumption.”
The Laurence G. Branch Doctoral Student Research award honors outstanding students for exceptional research during their doctoral training. This year’s winner is Christopher B. Rosnick, PhD, for his paper,“Negative life events and cognitive performance in a population of older adults.”
The winner of the James G. Zimmer New Investigator Award, in recognition and support of the careers of future leaders in research, is Christopher M. Kelly, PhD, & Paul Wing for their paper “Nursing home quality: The effect of administrator licensing criteria on regulatory outcomes.”
An overriding goal of the Aetna Susan B. Anthony Award For Excellence in Research on Older Women And Public Health is to recognize individuals who make a significant contribution to research on women’s unique health concerns and the role that public health strategies play in improving the health and well-being of American women. The winner of this award is Linda Cormier, RN, MS, Richard Benfer, MPH, & Douglass Shenson, MD, MPH, for their paper, “Expanding access to mammograms for older women: The role of community shot clinics.” The honorable mention goes to Xiao Xu, PhD, Divya A. Patel, PhD, MPH, Anjel Vahratian, PhD, MPH, Scott Ransom, DO, MPH, MBA, for their paper “Health insurance coverage and near-elderly women’s use of health care services.”
For the Betty J. Cleckley Minority Issues Research Award, which honors individuals in aging and public health who have made a difference in the lives of older people who are members of diverse ethnic and cultural groups, we have selected a winner along with an honorable mention. The winner of this award is Kyusuk Chung, PhD, and Duckhye Yang, PhD, for their paper, “Does the type of caregiving matter for timely hospice care?” The Honorable Mention goes to James H. Swan, PhD, for his paper, “Disparities in physical activity among elderly members of ethnic and racial groups.”
The Nobuo Maeda International Research Award recognizes and supports leaders in international research and policy development. The awards committee has selected the winning paper titled “Social network and support in elderly persons: Impact and determinants of family and friendship ties,” written by Eva Blozik, MD, James Lubben, Gerhard Gillmann, Jan T. Wagner, Matthias Egger, John C. Beck, & Andreas E. Stuck.
The Archstone Foundation Award recognizes excellence in program innovation. This year’s winner is Legacy Corps For Health and Independent Living, designed by Laura Wilson, PhD ,from the Center on Aging at the University of Maryland at College Park. This year two other programs received honorable mention: Active for Life, designed by Marcia Ory, PhD, of the School of Rural Public Health at the Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas; and Georgia’s Mobile Day Care Program designed by Cliff Burt, MPA, and Maria Greene from the Georgia Division of Aging Services in Atlanta .
We extend our congratulations to the award recipients and look forward to the awards ceremony in Philadelphia on Monday, Dec. 12. Thanks also go to members of the Gerontological Health Section who “captained” the various award committees, as well as to those who reviewed papers and abstracts. Susan Miller of Brown University coordinated the review of the Branch Doctoral Student Award and Cleckley Minority Issues Award papers; Joseph Sharkey of the Texas A&M University did the same with the Rural Research Award papers; Dana Mukamel coordinated the review of papers for the Zimmer New Investigator Award; and Marcia Ory coordinated the review of the Aetna Susan B. Anthony Award. We extend our sincere appreciation to Susan, Joe, Dana, and Marcia for their efforts in helping us complete this task.
Penny Hollander Feldman, PhD
Awards Chair