Title: More on This Year's Awards....
Author:
Section/SPIG: Aging & Public Health
Issue Date:
The Gerontological Health Section has had a busy early 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 2004.
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 Alan S. Briones, MD, of the Trigg County Hospital and Primary Care Clinic and Ariel Sarmiento, MPH, BA, of Western Kentucky University, for their paper "Measurement of Medicare Knowledge Among Non-Beneficiary ‘Baby Boomers’ in Rural Western Kentucky."
The Retirement Research Foundation Masters Student Research Award , in recognition of students who conducted exceptional research during their training, goes to Alyson A. Falwell, MPH, Peter P. Vitaliano, PhD, Jack R. Thompson, MSW, and Heather M. Young, PhD, of the University of Washington , for their paper titled “Chronic Stress and Psychosocial Factors in the Health Services Utilization of Older Adults.”
The Laurence G. Branch Doctoral Student Research Award honors outstanding students for exceptional research during their doctoral training. This year the awards committee has selected one winner and two honorable mentions. The winners are Laura E. Burleson, MPH, and Kate Lapane, PhD, of Brown University , for their paper "The Effect of Preventive Care and Health Risk-Taking Behaviors on Influenza Vaccination in People Over 65 ." The honorable mentions go to Katherine H. Leith, PhD, LMSW, of the University of South Carolina for her paper “Home is Where the Heart Is…Or Is It? A Qualitative Exploration of the Meaning of Home for Older Women in Congregate Housing ;” and to Martha Conkling Tromp, MSPH, Aelia Akhtar, Patricia Moore, Margaret Kriegel, Susan Fenton, Jay Jezerski, Lesley Magnusson, Bita Kash, MBA, FACHE, and Graciela Castillo, of the Texas A&M University, for their paper “Implications of Medicaid Cuts on Podiatric Foot Care for Diabetics in Texas.”
The winners of the James G. Zimmer New Investigator Award, in recognition and support of the careers of future leaders in research, are Matthew D. Redelings, MPH, Nolan Lee, MPH, and Frank Sorvillo, PhD, who are from the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, for their paper titled “Pressure Ulcers: More Lethal than We Thought?”
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 winners of this award are Debra A. Heller, PhD, Carol H. Gold, PhD, Frank M. Ahern, PhD, Kristine E. Pringle, MS, all from Pennsylvania State University, Theresa V. Brown, MPA, (Pennsylvania Department of Aging) and Margaret R. Glessner, PharmD, also from Pennsylvania State University, for their paper titled “Changes in Elderly Women’s Health-Related Quality of Life Following Discontinuation of Hormone Replacement Therapy.” The honorable mention goes to Ruth Palombo, PhD, RD of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for her paper titled “Aging Successfully--How Does Gender Affect Psychological Well-being Among Elders With Functional Limitations?”
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 two honorable mentions. The winners of this award are Amresh Hanchate, PhD, Yinong Young-Xu, ScD, MS, Michael A. Posner, MS, Veeran-Anne S. Singh, MPH, (Boston University School of Medicine), Ezekiel L. Emanuel, MD, PhD, James Flory, BA (NIH), and Arlene S. Ash, PhD (Boston University School of Medicine) for their paper “Differences in Medicare Utilization at End of Life by Race, Sex and Age.” The first Honorable Mention goes to Kyusuk Chung, PhD (Governors State University), Audrey K. Gordon, PhD (University of Illinois at Chicago), and Duckhye Yang, PhD (University of Chicago) for their paper titled “Minority Elderly and Timely Hospice Care: Caregiver Status .” The second honorable mention is awarded to Christine G. Unson, PhD, Alison Kleppinger, MA, and Susan Reisine, PhD from the University of Connecticut Health Center for their paper titled “Self-Rated Health and Healthy Aging Behaviors of Older African-American Women.”
Finally, for the Nobuo Maeda International Research Award in recognition and support of leaders in international research and policy development, we have selected two winners and two honorable mentions. The first winner is Michele A. Sinunu, MPH, Kathryn M. Yount (Emory University) and Nadia El-Afifi (Palistine Hospital, Cairo) for their paper titled “Informal and Formal Long-term Care for Frail Older Adults in Cairo, Egypt .” The second winner is Carolyn, A. Mendez-Luck, PhD, MPH of the VA Health Services Research & Development Service and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research for her paper titled “Guardians of Well-Being: The Emotional Dimensions of Caregiving among Women in a Mexico City Suburb.” The first honorable mention goes to Yuko Bessho, PhD, RN, PHN (Kanagawa University of Human Services, Japan), Yoji Deguchi, PhD, Takiko Hosoya, PhD, RN, PHN, Mika Hasegawa, MNS, RN, PHN, Yukiyo Yoshida, BNS, RN, PHN (Fukui University, Japan), and Yuko Yaui, MD, PhD (Fukui Prefecture, Japan), for their paper titled “Ten years follow-up study of death in the demented elderly in a rural city in Japan.”The awards committee also extends an honorable mention to Maureen Lynch, PhD of Refugees International in Washington, DC for her paper titled “Ensuring Equal Access to Refugee Protection and Services Across the Lifespan.”
We extend our congratulations to the award recipients and look forward to the awards ceremony in Washington in November. 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 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 Anthony/Aetna 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