GERONTOLOGICAL HEALTH SECTION

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GERONTOLOGICAL HEALTH SECTION AWARDS
PROGRAM Featuring the Inaugural Philip G. Weiler
Leadership Award Washington Convention
Center November 8, 2004
Awards Ceremony 415 600, Room 101 Reception
Auctions/Raffle 600 930, Room 146C Penny
Hollander Feldman, PhD Awards Chair
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GREETINGS FROM APHAS GERONTOLOGICAL HEALTH
SECTION

• The mission of the Gerontological Health Section
  (GHS) of the American Public Health Association
  (APHA) is to stimulate public health actions to
  improve the health, functioning, and quality of
  life of older persons and to call attention to
  their health care needs. GHS members fulfill that
  mission in part through research and advocacy
  aimed at reforming governmental health care
  programs, particularly Medicare and Medicaid.
  Section members are active in administration,
  direct service, research, and education in
  community health, program development and
  evaluation, and other ways of bringing public
  health innovations to older persons. The Section
  is also concerned with the health and social
  needs of the younger disabled as they make their
  transition into the health care delivery system
  organized for the aged.
• We have assembled an impressive Awards Portfolio
  that gives visibility to the issues of aging and
  recognizes those who have taken positive action
  in public health programs for older adults.
  These awards are associated with the APHAs
  annual call for abstracts. Further information
  regarding these awards, including submission
  procedures and deadline dates are available on
  the APHA website at www.apha.org.

Kathy Sykes, MA Program Chair Office of
Children's Health Protection/Aging Initiative US
Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania
Ave. NWWashington, DC 20460Phone [phone]
Fax [phone] Email sykes.kathy_at_epa.gov
Penny Hollander Feldman, PhD Awards Chair Center
for Home Care Policy Research Visiting Nurse
Service of New York 107 East 70th Street New
York, NY 10021 Phone [phone] Fax (212)
794-6610 Email pfeldman_at_vnsny.org
Lené Levy-Storms, PhD, MPH Program
Co-Chair Assistant Professor, Depts. of Social
Welfare Medicine/Geriatrics Assoc Dir, Borun
Center for Gerotological Research UCLA School of
Public Affairs-Soc Wel BOX 951656, 5226 Pub
Policy Building Los Angeles, CA
90095-1656 Phone [phone] / FAX (310)
206-7564 e-mail llstorms_at_ucla.edu
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• Presider.. Steven P.
  Wallace, PhD Section Chair
• Inaugural Philip G. Weiler Award for Leadership
  in Aging and Public Health
• Winner .. Archstone
  Foundation
• Accepted by Joseph F.
  Prevratil, JD
• Archstone Foundation Award for Excellence in
  Program Innovation
• Presented by... Joseph F.
  Prevratil, JD
• President and CEO, Archstone Foundation
• Winner.. Dignified
  Transportation for Seniors
• Accepted by..... Katheri
  ne Freund Independent Transportation Network
• Honorable Mentions. Making the
  Link-Connecting Caregivers
• 
  with Services
  through Physicians
• Accepted by.. Adrienne
  Dern
• National Association of Area Agencies on Aging
• Palliative Dementia Care
  Program
• Accepted by..... Dr.
  Nancy Hodgson

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• James G. Zimmer New Investigator Research Award
• Recognition of James G. Zimmer, MD, DTPH
  (Lond.).
• Winner... Matthew D. Redelings, MPH, Nolan
  Lee, MPH, and Frank Sorvillo, PhD
• Betty J. Cleckley Minority Issues Research Award
• Recognition of Betty J. Cleckley,
  PhD...
• Presented by Susan Miller, PhD,
  Award Selection Chair
• Winner.. Amresh Hanchate, PhD,
  Yinong Young-Xu, ScD, MS,
• Michael A. Posner, MS, Veeran-Anne S. Singh,
  MPH,
• Ezekiel L. Emanuel, MD, PhD, and Arlene S. Ash,
  PhD
• Honorable Mentions. Kyusuk Chung, PhD,
  Audrey K. Gordon, PhD,
• and Duckhye Yang, PhD

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PHILIP G. WEILER AWARD FOR LEADERSHIPIN AGING
AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Archstone Foundation Long Beach, CA Joseph F.
Prevratil, JD President and CEO

• The Archstone Foundation is a private grant
  making organization whose mission is to
  contribute toward the preparation of society to
  meet the needs of an aging population. Resources
  are used to address the following four areas 1)
  elder abuse 2) falls prevention 3) end-of-life
  issues and 4) the emerging needs of an aging
  population. With an endowment of over 113
  million, the Foundation provided almost 4.4
  million to 112 grantees in 2004.
•  
• The Foundation became a non-profit corporation in
  1985 with an endowment from the conversion
  agreement between the State of California and the
  FHP Corporation, a health maintenance
  organization. The name, Archstone Foundation,
  was selected in 1996 to represent the
  Foundation's values of building for lasting
  change and working in partnership with others.
  The Foundation has nine members on the Board of
  Directors and six staff.

Joseph F. Prevratil, JD, was the chief executive
when Archstone dedicated its focus to aging.
During 1995-1996 the Foundation undertook an
extensive assessment of its first 10 years its
mission and governance.  Consequently, the Board
of Directors determined that the Archstone
Foundation should concentrate exclusively on
issues of aging. While aging had always been a
part of Archstones work, Mr. Prevratil and the
Board determined that a dedicated effort in a
more limited number of areas would allow the
Foundations resources to have a greater impact.
The goals are 1) to keep the frail elderly in
their homes for as long as possible 2) once
institutionalized, to improve their quality of
life and 3) to better understand and to improve
end of life care.
The Archstone Foundation continues to be a leader
in the field of aging.  Examples include
Archstones leadership in building the capacity
of Grantmakers in Aging and the Foundations role
in encouraging other funders to meet the needs of
an aging population.
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•  Philip G. Weiler, MD, MPH
• The Gerontological Health Sections Philip G.
  Weiler Award For Leadership In Aging And Public
  Health recognizes outstanding national leadership
  directed at ensuring the highest quality of life
  for our older population. Those eligible for this
  award include, but are not limited to, public
  officials, policy makers, practitioners,
  teachers, researchers, and organizations such as
  grantors, advocates, providers, or governmental
  entities.
•  
• The scope of Dr. Weilers training reflected his
  dedication to bringing important elements from
  medicine, public health, social sciences, health
  policy to his work in geriatrics and gerontology.
  He graduated in 1965 from Tulane University
  School of Medicine. After completing an
  internship in internal medicine at King County
  Hospital in Seattle and a residency in preventive
  medicine with the U.S. Public Health Service in
  San Francisco, he earned master's degrees in
  public health and public administration. His
  education culminated in postgraduate training in
  geriatrics at Harvard University.
• Dr. Weiler held professional positions in both
  government and academic settings. In 1972, he
  became Commissioner of the Lexington-Fayette
  County Health Department and, in 1977, Professor
  and Chair of the Department of Community Medicine
  at the University of Kentucky. In 1978, Dr.
  Weiler served as the Chief Deputy Director of the
  California Department of Health Services. In
  1981, Dr. Weiler joined the Department of
  Community Health in the School of Medicine at UC
  Davis with a mandate to build a program in
  geriatric medicine.
• Development of health and long-term care services
  was one of Dr. Weilers greatest strengths. His
  efforts improved access to primary care and other
  health services for underserved populations,
  including frail older adults. In the late 1970s,
  he established one of the first adult day health
  care centers in the country in Kentucky and
  co-authored the first book on how to establish
  and manage such centers. In the 1980s, he led in
  the development and funding of Adult Day Health
  Care programs in California. At least 60 such
  centers are now in operation across the state. He
  provided leadership in the establishment of the
  Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic and Treatment
  Centers by serving on the board that shaped their
  direction and promoting the successful campaign
  to provide contributions on state tax returns for
  Alzheimer's disease centers. As director of an
  Alzheimer's disease center locally, he fostered a
  broader vision of what these organizations can
  doprovide services for not only older adults but
  also their families, promote research, and
  provide community-wide education.
• Dr. Weiler deeply valued the expansion of
  geriatric education programs. He was instrumental
  in the development of the Academic Geriatric
  Resource Program, a university-wide program of
  training and research. Because of his leadership
  in this program, students and faculty alike in
  medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacology,
  social welfare and public health are learning
  about the challenges and rewards of geriatrics.
• Dr. Weiler was recognized nationally for his work
  with the Veterans Administration, for his
  leadership in public health, and for his
  involvement with the American Public Health
  Association, especially his pivotal role in the
  establishment of its Gerontological Health
  Section.
• Both Dr. Philip G. Weilers contributions to
  aging and public health and the way he
  contributed demonstrate a model of leadership
  that has and will continue to inspire many. The
  Gerontological Health Section of APHA is proud to
  name its highest award for leadership in aging
  and public health after this visionary leader.

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THE GERONTOLOGICAL HEALTH SECTIONCHAIRS CITATION
Brenda R. Wamsley, PhD West Virginia State
University Institute,WV And Center for Aging and
Healthcare in West Virginia, Inc. Parkersburg, WV

• Brenda R. Wamsley, PhD, is recognized for her
  meritorious service to the Gerontological Health
  Section (GHS) of the American Public Health
  Association (APHA) over multiple years. She has
  consistently contributed to the GHS by working on
  fundraising and annual meeting arrangements. She
  chaired the Archstone Foundation Award selection
  committee for the first four years of the Award,
  conceptualized and wrote the endowment proposal,
  guided the development of the selection criteria,
  and wrote the procedure manual. She co-authored
  the proposal to The Retirement Research
  Foundation to secure the initial ten-year funding
  of the GHS Student Awards. She has been Chair of
  the annual Auction and Raffle for the first three
  years and continues in that capacity. She and the
  Center for Aging Healthcare in West Virginia
  have been major contributors to the GHS
  Enrichment Fund, the Betty J. Cleckley Minority
  Issues Research Award, and to the GHS Rural
  Health Award.
• Dr. Wamsley began her position as Associate
  Professor and Chair of the Social Work Department
  at West Virginia State University in August 2004.
  Since 1995 she has served as Executive Director
  of the Center for Aging Healthcare in West
  Virginia, Inc. (CAH), where she was Co-Principal
  Investigator for a major Medicare study of
  consumer-directed care and Principal Investigator
  for a qualitative evaluation of the Medicare
  study funded by The Retirement Research
  Foundation, Medicare Vouchers for In-Home Care
  A Viable Policy Option? Currently, she is
  Co-Principal Investigator for a project funded by
  the Office of Rural Health Policy to examine
  quantitative and qualitative outcomes of the
  Medicare study data by rural status. Dr. Wamsley
  has authored numerous grant proposals for
  community-based programs and pilot projects for
  older adults and has received funding from many
  other foundations, including The Robert Wood
  Johnson Foundation, and in West Virginia the
  Sisters of Saint Joseph Charitable Fund, the
  Bernard McDonough Foundation, and the Parkersburg
  Area Community Foundation.
• Dr. Wamsley has been the recipient of numerous
  awards, including WV Social Worker of the Year
  (1984, 1988) 1995 Exemplar Award for Social Work
  Management 2003 Rockefeller Stand By You Award
  presented by the West Virginia Alzheimers
  Association and the 2003 GHS Rural Health
  Research Award. She received her BA from West
  Virginia Wesleyan College, her MSW from West
  Virginia University, and her PhD from the Mandel
  School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western
  Reserve University.

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THE GERONTOLOGICAL HEALTH SECTIONAWARD FOR
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Pearl S. German, ScD Professor Emeritus Johns
Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public
Health Baltimore, MD

• Pearl S. German, ScD, has devoted her career to
  health services research and teaching, primarily
  in the areas of aging, chronic illness,
  medication use, and health promotion. She taught
  at the Schools of Public Health, Health Sciences,
  and Medicine at Johns Hopkins University,
  Baltimore, MD for over thirty years. Prior to
  receiving her ScD from Johns Hopkins School of
  Hygiene and Public Health, Dr. German received
  her BS from Hunter College (Phi Beta Kappa) and
  her MA from the University of Chicago School of
  Social Service Administration.
• Dr. German was an early leader in the developing
  field of gerontology at the Johns Hopkins
  Bloomberg School of Public Health. She combined
  her expertise in health services research with
  her knowledge of behavioral sciences to develop
  courses in the principles of gerontology and
  preventive services and in the health behaviors
  of older adults. She developed an
  interdepartmental gerontology program in which
  doctoral students in health services research,
  epidemiology, or mental health could focus their
  work on older populations, complete courses in
  gerontology, and receive a Certificate in
  Gerontology in addition to their doctoral
  degrees. Dr. German has been a mentor to a
  generation of physicians and doctoral students,
  imparting research skills and knowledge of the
  aging process in an engaging, thought-provoking
  yet light-hearted manner. Her ample repertoire
  of anecdotes related to aging not only entertains
  but instills wisdom and sensitizes students and
  colleagues to the richness of the discipline.
•  
• Dr. German has been an investigator on ten major
  research grants from various federal agencies
  including the Womens Health and Aging Study and
  on the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey. Dr.
  German has served on many advisory panels,
  including the Maryland Governors Commissions on
  Womens Health and on Long Term Care, in addition
  to being a member of the Institute of Medicines
  Panel Prevention and Elderly The Second Fifty.
  Dr. German has published more than 100 articles,
  monographs, and book chapters.
• Dr. German is a deserving recipient of many
  awards. She was Gerontological Health Section
  Chair in the mid 80s and received the sections
  Key Leadership Award in 1989. In 1991, she
  received the Stebbins Medal from the School of
  Public Health at Hopkins. In 1992, she received
  a Recognition Award from the Maryland
  Gerontological Association and in 1994 the
  Recognition Award from the Johns Hopkins
  University Student Assembly.

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JAMES G. ZIMMER NEW INVESTIGATORRESEARCH AWARD
Award Winner
Pressure Ulcers More Lethal than We Thought?
Matthew D. Redelings, MPH Nolan Lee, MD, MPH
and Frank Sorvillo, MPH, PhD, Los Angeles County
Department of Health Services, Los Angeles, CA

• Matthew Redelings, MPH, is an Epidemiology
  Analyst with the Los Angeles County Department of
  Health Services. He is currently involved in the
  development of new statistical programs and
  methodologies for vital records data analysis and
  provides statistical support to investigators
  from other county departments. He is also a
  recipient of the Stein Grant for Research on
  Aging and the Dr. Selma Silagi Award for
  Excellence in Research on Aging. He previously
  worked as field manager of a UCLA-based study of
  the effects of environmental exposures on
  Parkinsons Disease.

Nolan Lee, MD, MPH, was an Epidemic Intelligence
Service Officer with the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, assigned to the Los
Angeles County Department of Health Services,
during the time the manuscript was under
preparation. Currently, Dr. Lee is Chief of the
Epidemiology Unit, Office of Health Assessment
and Epidemiology, Los Angeles County Department
of Health Services. His current areas of research
include childhood obesity, chronic disease
prevention, and emerging infectious diseases.
Frank Sorvillo, MPH, PhD, is Chief, Public Health
Records and Research with the Los Angeles County
Department of Health Services and Associate
Professor In Residence in the Department of
Epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health.
His research interests include the epidemiology
and control of parasitic diseases and the use of
vital statistics data to measure the burden of
disease. He has had over 15 years experience in
the surveillance and control of communicable
diseases with the Department of Health Services
in Los Angeles County. In the academic year
1999-2000 he was recognized as Professor of the
Year in the Department of Epidemiology by the
Public Health Students Association.
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BETTY J. CLECKLEY MINORITY ISSUESRESEARCH AWARD
Award Winner
Differences in Medicare Utilization at End of
Life by Race, Sex and Age
Amresh Hanchate, PhD, Yinong Young-Xu, ScD, MS,
Michael A. Posner, MS, Veeran-Anne S. Singh, MPH,
Ezekiel L. Emanuel, MD, PhD, and Arlene S. Ash,
PhD, Boston University School of Medicine,
Boston, MA and National Institutes of Health,
Bethesda, MD

• Amresh Hanchate, PhD, is a Research Associate in
  the Health Care Research Unit of the Section of
  General Internal Medicine at Boston University
  School of Medicine. He received a PhD in
  economics from the University of Wisconsin,
  Madison in 1992 specializing in the application
  of econometric techniques for analyzing
  individual decision-making models. His research
  has spanned the fields of health economics and
  labor economics with particular focus on the
  disparities in health and income. His current
  research interests include racial disparities in
  end of life health care utilization, application
  of risk-adjustment models for predicting health
  care utilization, and relationship between
  surgery volumes and operative mortality rates. He
  is also interested in exploring the widespread
  discrepancies observed in health systems in terms
  of resources utilized and health outcomes. In his
  previous position at the Harvard School of Public
  Health, Dr. Hanchate studied the impact of high
  work burdens of poor parents on health and
  education outcomes of children. His broader
  focus is on understanding the specific pathways
  connecting socioeconomic inequities with health
  disparities commonly observed in many settings.

Yinong Young-Xu, ScD, MS, is an epidemiologist
with the Health Care Research Unit at Boston
Medical Center and also works as an independent
consultant. After completing Haverford College
he received his Sc.D. from Harvard School of
Public Health, with concentrations in
cardiovascular epidemiology and health outcomes
research. He was the Acting Director of Research
at Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation. He
consults for research institutions and
pharmaceutical companies, and tries to develop
sound epidemiological researches in the
developing countries. Dr. Young-Xu has
co-authored more than thirty publications and
received numerous scholarships and research
grants
Continued on next page
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Michael Posner, MS, is a PhD candidate in
Biostatistics at the Boston University School of
Public Health, and is Statistical Manager at the
Health Care Research Unit at Boston Medical
Center, as well as an adjunct instructor at the
Boston University School of Dental Medicine and
College of Arts and Sciences. He serves as the
statistical analyst for the CMSs Research Data
Assistance Center (ResDAC). His expertise
includes statistical computing and analysis of
Medicare data. His current research involves
understanding propensity scores as a method to
adjust for selection bias in observational
studies. Mr. Posner is a member of the Society
for Clinical Trials, APHA, and the American
Statistical Association.

• Veeran-Anne Singh, MPH, is a Trials Officer in
  the Randomized Controlled Trials Unit of the
  Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
  She obtained an Honours Bachelor of Science from
  the University of Toronto in 1999 in the
  Toxicology Specialist Program. Before her
  graduate studies, she worked at CIHR developing
  collaborative research programs and strategic
  initiatives within the Programs Branch in the
  area of Genetics and Infectious Diseases. Ms.
  Singh obtained a MPH degree from the Boston
  University School of Public Health in 2004 with a
  dual concentration in Biostatistics and
  Epidemiology.

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, is the Chair of the
Department of Clinical Bioethics at the Warren G.
Magnuson Clinical Center at the National
Institutes of Health. He is also a breast
oncologist. He received his M.D. and his Ph.D. in
from Harvard University. In 1987-88, he was a
fellow in the Program in Ethics and the
Professions at the Kennedy School of Government
at Harvard. After completing his residency and
oncology fellowship, he joined the faculties of
the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard
Medical School before joining the National
Institutes of Health. Dr. Emanuel has published
widely on the ethics of clinical research,
advance care directives, end of life care issues,
euthanasia, health care reform, the ethics of
managed care, and the physician-patient
relationship. His book on medical ethics, The
Ends of Human Life, has received honorable
mention for the Rosenhaupt Memorial Book Award by
the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Dr. Emanuel
served on President Clinton's Health Care Task
Force, the National Bioethics Advisory Commission
(NBAC), and on the bioethics Pan-American
Healthcare Organization. He has been a visiting
professor at the University of Pittsburgh School
of Medicine and the Brin Professor at Johns
Hopkins Medical School.
Arlene Ash, PhD, is a Research Professor at both
Boston University's Schools of Medicine and
Public Health and a co-founder and senior
scientist at DxCG, Inc., a company that licenses
risk adjustment software. She is an
internationally recognized expert in the
development and use of risk adjustment
methodologies, especially for Medicare, where her
Diagnostic Cost Group models have been adapted
for use in HMO payment. Dr. Ash is a Fellow of
AcademyHealth and of the American Statistical
Association, Co-Chair of the 2005 International
Conference on Health Policy Research and a winner
of the APHAs Statistics Sections 2003
outstanding statistician in industry award.
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Honorable Mentions
Minority Elderly and Timely Hospice Care
Caregiver Status Kyusuk Chung, PhD, Governors
State University, University Park, IL Audrey K.
Gordon, PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago,
Chicago, IL and Duckhye Yang, PhD, University
of Chicago, Chicago, IL

• Kyusuk Chung, PhD, is Professor in the College
  of Health Professions at Governors State
  University, and is a consultant with the Rainbow
  Hospice. He is currently involved with a project
  The need to educate health care professionals
  and the public about end-of-life care funded by
  Chicago Community Trust Fund. He is also
  conducting research involving minority issues in
  hospice care, caregiver issues, and regulations
  on long-term care facilities. Dr. Chung is a
  frequent presenter at national meetings of the
  AcademyHealth and APHA.

Audrey K. Gordon, PhD, is retired from the
faculty of Community Health Sciences of the
School of Public Health at the University of
Illinois at Chicago. She is currently the
Executive Director of the Southeast Lake County
Faith in Action Program, a national volunteer
program sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation. She is Past President of the Board
of Directors of the Illinois State Hospice
Organization and has been affiliated with Rainbow
Hospice, Inc. as founding President, Board
Member, and consultant. Dr. Gordon is co-author
with Dennis Klass of They Need to Know How to
Teach Children About Death (Prentice-Hall, 1979)
one of the first books written for teachers and
parents about children and death and co-editor
and contributor to Hospice Care And Cultural
Diversity (Haworth Publishing, 1994). Dr.
Gordon has trained hospice leaders at UIC for 17
years through a hospice management certification
program and a hospice rotation for medical
residents.
Duckhye Yang, PhD, is a Research Associate with
the Chapin Hall Center at the University of
Chicago. She is currently involved with a mental
health access project to assess the need for
mental health facilities in Illinois. She is
also involved in the project by providing
technical assistance to the Illinois Departments
of Human Services, Child and Family Services, and
Public Aid.  Dr. Yang was previously a Research
Associate with Office of Mental Health at the
Illinois Department of Human Services where she
collected and analyzed data from community mental
health agencies.
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Self-Rated Health and Healthy Aging Behaviors of
Older African-American Women Christine G.
Unson, PhD, Western Connecticut State University,
Danbury Alison Kleppinger, MS, University of
Connecticut Center on Aging, Farmington and
Susan Reisine, PhD, University of Connecticut
Health Center, Farmington.

• Christine G. Unson, PhD, is Assistant Professor
  in the Department of Communication. Dr. Unsons
  research focus is in behavior change pertaining
  to osteoporosis prevention, medication adherence
  and participation in clinical trials of older
  minority women. She was the recipient of the
  Betty Jane Cleckley Minority Issues Research
  Award in 2001 and was a finalist in the AETNA
  Susan B. Anthony Award for Excellence in Research
  on Older Women and Public Health in 2002 and
  again in 2003.

Alison Kleppinger, MS, is currently the
coordinator of data management activities in the
Center on Aging, Clinical Data Core. Ms.
Kleppinger has a MS Degree in Sport Psychology.
Her research projects have focused primarily on
adherence and motivation to exercise. She first
began work as an exercise instructor on an NIH
project to increase bone and muscle through
specific weight resistance exercises. She then
contributed to data management and analysis in
1996 and began leading the data management core
in 2000 for the UCHC, Claude Pepper Older
Americans Independence Center.
Susan Reisine, PhD, is Associate Dean for
Research, and professor and head of the
Department of Behavioral Sciences and Community
Health at the University of Connecticut School of
Dental Medicine. She is also of the Director of
the UConn Center for Interdisciplinary Research
in Womens Health. She has conducted research in
both oral health and in other chronic health
conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis,
fibromyalgia, Sjogren s syndrome and asthma.
She was a contributing author to the Surgeon
Generals Report on Oral Health in America and
she was a panel member on the NIH Consensus
Conference on the Diagnosis and Management of
Caries throughout the Lifetime (2001). She was a
Fellow in the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive
Leadership in Academic Medicine program (1998-99)
and served as the Criticism Editor of Oral Health
Group in the Cochrane Collaboration (1997-2002).
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NOBUO MAEDA INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH AWARD
Award Winner
Informal and Formal Long-term Care for Frail
Older Adults in Cairo, Egypt
Michele A. Sinunu, MPH and Kathryn M. Yount, PhD,
Emory University, Atlanta, GA and Nadia
El-Afifi, MD, Palistine Hospital, Cairo, Egypt

• Michele A. Sinunu, MPH, graduated in May with a
  MPH degree from the Department of International
  Health at Emory University. This summer she is
  working with the Prevention Research Branch in
  the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doing
  qualitative and quantitative data analysis to
  identify risk factors associated with recent HIV
  infections and recognize missed prevention
  opportunities. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in
  Turkmenistan, she focused on community health
  education and worked with village women to
  improve maternal and infant health.

Kathryn M. Yount, PhD, Assistant Professor in
International Health and Sociology and Affiliated
Faculty, Department of Women's Studies. Dr.
Yount is a social demographer specializing in the
measurement of morbidity and mortality in
non-Western settings and in the integration of
qualitative and quantitative data in
socio-demographic analysis. Her research focuses
on gender and health over the life course in the
Middle East and includes multi-method case
studies and comparative analyses of the
determinants of disparities in health status and
access to care. She is a Core Faculty member of
the Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life
at Emory University.
Nadia El Afify, MD, graduated from medical school
at Cairo University in 1975 and received her
masters degree in general medicine 1981. She is
the founder and director of the Geriatric
Department of Palestine Hospital in Cairo, the
first long-term care unit for elderly patients in
Egypt. She is a member of the Alzheimer's Society
Egypt concerned with raising the general
awareness about dementia in the community. She
is a founder of the New Woman Research Center
whose mission is to address womens issues in the
national agenda. She was selected for the Hubert
Humphrey fellowship in public health for
2001-2002 at Emory University. Dr. El Afify has
authored many Arabic publications about womens
health and culture. She is currently writing a
book about women and healthy aging.
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NOBUO MAEDA INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH AWARD
Award Winner
Carolyn A. Mendez-Luck, PhD, MPH VA Health
Services Research Development Service,
Sepulveda, CA And UCLA Center for Health Policy
Research Los Angeles, CA

• Guardians of Well-Being The Emotional
  Dimensions of Caregiving among Women in a Mexico
  City Suburb
• Carolyn A. Mendez-Luck, PhD, MPH, is an
  Associated Health Professions Postdoctoral HSRD
  Fellow at the VA Center for the Study of
  Healthcare Provider Behavior. Dr. Mendez-Lucks
  primary research interests are aging, and in
  particular, long-term care and informal
  care-giving. Her other research interests include
  health disparities and access-to-care among older
  racial/ethnic minorities. She was a Fulbright
  fellow to Mexico where she studied women's
  experiences of care-giving to older family
  members in a suburb of Mexico City. She is also a
  senior research associate at the UCLA Center for
  Health Policy Research and is currently working
  on a project that applies a small-area
  methodology to estimate rates of health insurance
  coverage and access-sensitive chronic conditions
  at the local level in California. She has worked
  on other projects at the Center that have focused
  on health insurance coverage and access-to-care
  among California's diverse population. She
  received her PhD and MPH degrees at the
  University of California, Los Angeles.

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Honorable Mentions
Ten years follow-up study of death in the
demented elderly in a rural city in Japan
Yuko Bessho, PhD, RN, PHN Yoji Deguchi, PhD
Takiko Hosoya, PhD, RN, PHN Mika Hasegawa, MNS,
RN, PHN Yukiyo Yoshida, BNS, RN, PHN and Yuko
Yasui, MD, PhD, Kanagawa University of Human
Services, Japan Fukui University, Japan Fukui
Prefecture, Japan
Yuko Bessho, PhD, RN, PHN, is Professor in
Community Health Nursing at Kanagawa University
of Human Services, Yokosuka. She is currently
involved with the community programs to promote
living function and life satisfaction of frail or
bereaved elderly. She has associated with the
health department of Fukui prefecture to develop
a community-based rehabilitation program for
elderly with dementia. She is also collaborating
with researchers at Kobe University to innovate
professional skills of public health nurses in
the changing health environment in Japan, where
the birth rate continuously decreases and the
elder population increases. She is a board member
of Japan Academy of Community Health Nursing and
the editor of their Journal.  
Yoji Deguchi, PhD, is Professor of Environmental
Health Science in the Faculty of Medicine at
University of Fukui, and the councilor of the
Japanese Society for Hygiene, the Japanese
Society of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the
Hokuriku Association of Public Health. His major
research area is environmental and nutritional
epidemiology of trace elements (especially
selenium) and human chronic diseases such as
asthma and cardiovascular disease. He has been
collaborating with Aarhus University in Denmark
to investigate the health problems of Greenlandic
Inuits and their traditional diet. Both for
Japanese people and Greenlandic Inuits, marine
foods are the major source of selenium intake but
they also contain environmental pollutants such
as PCB, dioxins, and methyl-mercury. He has also
contributed to the Japanese government as an
advisor for monitoring persistent organic
pollutants (POPs) in Japanese people based on the
Stockholm treaty.
Continued on next page
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Takiko Hosoya, PhD, RN, PHN, is Professor of
Community Health Nursing at University of Fukui,
Faculty of Medicine, School of Nursing. She is
currently involved in an evaluation program of
long-term care-management for the elderly in the
community of Okuetsu district, Fukui prefecture.
Her special interest is developing a
care-management evaluation tool for demented
elderly in the community, and promoting their
health.
Mika Hasegawa, MNS, RN, PHN is Lecturer of
Community Health Nursing at University of Fukui,
Faculty of Medicine, School of Nursing. Her
current focus is domestic violence, womens
health, and organizing participatory community
health programs. Her recent research was on the
prevalence and related factors of intimate
partner violence, specifically in relation to
family violence experience. She is a director of
Victims Support Center and Sexual Equality
Promotion Association, one of the nonprofit
organizations in Fukui prefecture. She is also
involved in several community partnerships
supporting domestic violence victims.
Yukiyo Yoshida, BNS, RN, PHN is an assistant
faculty of Community Nursing Division of
University of Fukui, School of Nursing. Her
special interest is supporting health promotion
of elderly people in the community. She is
currently involved in an evaluation research of
daycare programs managed by Fukui District Social
Welfare Association. She formerly worked as a
public health nurse who belonged to Fukui city
government.
Yuko Yasui, MD, PhD, is Chief of the Sakai Health
and Welfare Center at Fukui Prefecture, Japan and
the councilor of Hokuriku Association of Public
Health. She is currently involved in the project
for prolongation of healthy life expectancy among
the elderly persons in Fukui Prefecture. She is
also involved in several community partnerships
to assess and promote mass medical examination in
health promotion. She was previously associated
with Okuetsu Health and Welfare Center where she
assessed public insurance for care of the elderly
and developed a community-based care system to
decrease their risk of physical and mental
impairment.
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Ensuring Equal Access to Refugee Protection and
Services Across the Lifespan Maureen Lynch,
PhD, Refugees International, Washington, DC.
Maureen Lynch, PhD, is Director of Research at
Refugees International, an advocacy organization.
Her current work is focused on the global
problem of statelessness and follows closely the
release of her report Forced Back International
Refugee Protection in Theory and Practice, part
of a series on refugee protection/human rights
issues. Her fieldwork for Refugees International
has included humanitarian assessments in
Azerbaijan, Ingushetia, Georgia, Malawi,
Zimbabwe, Kosovo, Cambodia, Lebanon, and the
Occupied Palestinian Territories. She previously
worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
and the Immigration and Refugee Services of
America, Washington, DC. 
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LAURENCE G. BRANCH DOCTORAL STUDENTRESEARCH AWARD
Award Winner
Laura E. Burleson, MPH Brown University Providenc
e, RI

• The Effect of Preventive Care and Health
  Risk-Taking Behaviors on Influenza Vaccination in
  People Over 65
• Laura Burleson, MPH, is an epidemiology doctoral
  student in the Department of Community Health at
  Brown University.  She is currently conducting
  dissertation research about the relationship
  between preventative health behaviors and
  influenza immunization among elderly people. She
  is also interested in improving instruments to
  ascertain peoples reasons for receiving, or
  failing to receive, vaccinations. In addition,
  she is currently working as a research assistant
  on the STOP DUB project, a clinical trial of
  dysfunctional uterine bleeding treatments.  She
  has previously worked on a variety of community
  health assessment projects and a qualitative
  study about HIV medication adherence programs.
  She has also been involved with several projects
  for the State of Connecticut, including the
  formation of a managed care ombudsman program and
  the creation of several health communications
  pieces. She received her MPH degree from Southern
  Connecticut State University and her BS in
  Psychology from the University of Alaska,
  Fairbanks.

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Honorable Mentions
Home is Where the Heart IsOr Is It? A
Qualitative Exploration of the Meaning of Home
for Older Women in Congregate Housing Katherine
H. Leith, PhD, LMSW, University of South Carolina
(USC), Center for Health Services and Policy
Research (CHSPR), Columbia.

• Katherine Leith, PhD, LMSW, received her MSW and
  MPH degrees, as well as the Certificate of
  Studies in Gerontology, and she completed her PhD
  in health services policy and management, from
  USC. She is a licensed social worker who has
  many years of direct services and case management
  experience in mental health and medical social
  work with older adults with physical and/or
  mental disabilities. She has been conducting
  research primarily in the areas of long-term
  care, consumer direction, and quality of life
  related issues. She also serves as project
  evaluator at USC CHSPR for various projects and
  collaborative efforts between USC, a number of
  South Carolina state agencies, and other
  community organizations.

Implications of Medicaid cuts on Podiatric Foot
Care for Diabetics in Texas Martha Conkling
Tromp, MSPH Aelia Akhtar, MS Patricia Moore,
MEd Margaret Kriegel, MSN, RN, CNS, CCRC Susan
Fenton, MBA Jay Jezerski, MPH, LP Lesley
Magnusson Bita Kash, MBA, FACHE and Graciela
Castillo Texas AM University, College Station,
TX.
Martha Conkling Tromp, MSPH, is a doctoral
student in Health Services Research at the School
of Rural Public Health (SRPH) at Texas AM
University. She is currently part of an
evaluation team in the Department of Health
Policy and Management that is assessing the
impact of an intervention underway in the
colonias (un-zoned, semi-rural communities along
the US-Mexico border) that is implementing an
integrated health outreach model involving
community leaders, health service centers and
promotoras (community health worker, usually
female, who empowers a community by providing
medical knowledge and more) with the hope of
improving access to health services in this
under-served population. Ms. Tromp has an
interest in the relationship between
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and health
services in an international context. She is
collecting data in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe to
investigate the provision of health services for
hospice and HIV/AIDS patients by NGOs in that
environment. She conducted research in Zambia on
the nutritional status of weaning infants in a
rural setting. Following this she was manager
for an HIV/AIDS project conducted in 40 rural
secondary schools in Zimbabwe. A research
component of this project was implemented to
examine the sexuality of teenage girls in
Zimbabwe.  
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Aelia Akhtar, MS, is a Doctoral student at Texas
AM School of Rural Public Health. She received
her MS degree from Penn State University, where
her thesis was on State Regulation of Managed
Care Effects of Regulation on HMO Market
Penetration. Her research focuses on health care
organizations, health law, state and federal
policies and politics. Currently, she works for
the State of Texas, as a consumer advocate,
monitoring rules and regulations of health
insurance and publishing an HMO consumer
satisfaction report card.
Margaret Kriegel, MSN, RN, CNS, CCRC, is a
Doctoral student at The Texas AM University
Health Science Center, School of Rural Public
Health. She is employed full-time as the
Research Education Coordinator in Division of
Research at Scott and White Memorial Hospital,
Temple, TX.
Susan Fenton, MBA is currently a Health Services
Research PhD student in the School of Rural
Public Health at Texas A M University. Susan
has worked in the field of health information
management for 16 years in various positions,
including 6 years as Chief of Health Information
for Veterans Health Administration Headquarters
in Washington, DC
Bita A. Kash, MBA, FACHE, is a third year PhD
student in the Health Services Research Program
at The School of Rural Public Health, Texas AM
University Health Science Center. Her work
background has been as a management consultant,
including strategic planning and marketing
research services, for hospitals, outpatient
surgery centers, physician groups, and long term
care systems. Her area of concentration in the
Ph.D. program is organizational theory, and
health economics, specializing in labor and
workforce issues. Bitas research interests are
in the areas of new emerging health care
professions, health care labor supply and demand,
human resource allocation, and how these factors
influence access to and cost of health care
services.
Graciela Castillo, is a second year PhD student
in Health Services Research at the School of
Rural Public Health at Texas AM University. Her
interests include disparities in the quality and
utilization of health care among underrepresented
populations, particularly children. She is also
interested in the standardization of
racial/ethnic group data collection, and the
development and validation of surveys in Spanish
in order to adequately assess problems among
populations with a language barrier.
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RETIREMENT RESEARCH FOUNDATION MASTERS STUDENT
RESEARCH AWARD
Award Winner
Alyson A. Falwell, MPH University of
Washington Seattle, WA

• Chronic Stress and Psychosocial Factors in the
  Health Services Utilization of Older Adults
• Alyson Falwell, MPH is a Research Coordinator
  with the End-of-Life Care Research Program at the
  University of Washington/Harborview Medical
  Center in Seattle, WA. She is currently
  coordinating a multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted
  intervention to improve palliative care for
  patients in the Intensive Care Units. She was
  formerly the coordinator for clinical and public
  health research studies in the Bipolar Disorders
  Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Her
  research interests include spirituality and
  health services utilization, and the development
  and assessment of parish nursing programs as
  alternative modes of health services delivery.
  She received her MPH from the University of
  Washington.

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AGING AND RURAL HEALTH RESEARCH AWARD
Award Winner
Measurement of Medicare Knowledge Among
Non-Beneficiary Baby Boomers in Rural Western
Kentucky Alan S. Briones, MD, Trigg County
Hospital and Primary Care Clinic, Kadiz, KY
Ariel Sarmiento, MPH, BA, Western Kentucky
University, Bowling Green, KY

• Alan S. Briones, MD, is Medical Director of the
  Trigg County Rural Health Clinic and Director for
  Trigg County Emergency Medical Services in Cadiz,
  Kentucky. Dr. Briones is currently the Chairman
  of the Trigg County Health Council of the Delta
  Rural Network, which is involved with programs on
  preventive care, wellness and healthy aging,
  mental health, discount prescription benefits,
  driver and road safety, Automatic External
  Defibrillator placement, and improvement of
  emergency medical services. He is also Assistant
  Clinical Professor (Gratis Faculty) in the
  department of General Internal Medicine,
  Geriatrics, and Health Policy Research at the
  University of Louisville College of Medicine. He
  is Board certified in Internal Medicine and
  Geriatrics. His areas of research interest and
  expertise include the problems with older
  drivers, emergency medical services in rural
  communities, long-term care administration, and
  diabetes in the elderly.

Ariel Sarmiento, MPH, is the epidemiologist for
the Purchase District and Marshall County Health
Departments, located in the western Kentucky
region. Mr. Sarmiento recently graduated from
Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green with
a Master of Public Health degree. His areas of
interest include community health epidemiology,
gerontology, college health and Geographic
Information Systems applications. His Masters
thesis about alcohol and marijuana use among
college students was also accepted as a poster
presentation in this years annual conference.
He looks forward to many years of service in the
public health arena.
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The Gerontological Health Section would like to
thank the following individuals for assisting
with the review process
AWARD REVIEWERS

• Patricia M. Alt, PhD
• Jane Bolin, RN, JD, PhD
• Laurence G. Branch, PhD
• Paulo Henrique M. Chaves, MD, PhD
• Donna Cox, PhD, MA
• Gerald M. Eggert, PhD
• Connie Evashwick, ScD
• Bruce Friedman, PhD
• R. Turner Goins, PhD
• Allan Goldman, MPH
• K.R. Kaffenberger, PhD
• David Kidder, PhD
• Lené Levy-Storms, PhD, MPH
• Hongdao (Daniel) Meng, MS
• Susan Miller, PhD, MBA

Alison Moore, MD, MPH Dana B. Mukamel,
PhD Maryam Navaie-Waliser, DrPH Marcia Ory, PhD,
MPH Ruth Palombo, PhD, RD Nancy Persily,
MPH Karen Peters, DrPH Tom Prohaska, PhD Sara
Quandt, PhD Joseph R. Sharkey, PhD, MPH, RD Jim
Swan, PhD Kathy Sykes, MPA Helena Temkin-Greener,
PhD, MPH Terrie (Fox) Wetle, PhD
Indicates head of a review sub-committee
Penny Hollander Feldman, PhD Awards Chair
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The Gerontological Health Section gratefully
acknowledges our sponsors
SPONSORS

• Janet Kennedy, MBA
• Long-Term Care Division
• Aetna, Inc.
• Hartford, CT
• Mary Ellen Courtright, MPH
• Archstone Foundation
• Long Beach, CA
• Robert Burke, PhD
• George Washington University
• Washington, DC
• Robert Binstock, PhD
• Cleveland, OH
• Terry Caffery, RN, MS, NP
• Rochester, NY

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• Nobuo Maeda, PhD
• Kagoshima City, Japan
• Nancy A. Miller, PhD
• Baltimore, MD
• Susan Miller, PhD
• Providence, RI
• Robert Newcomer, PhD
• San Francisco, CA
• AtoZ Okamoto, MD, MPH
• National Institute of Public Health
• Saitama, Japan
• The Honorable Barbara Kennelly
• President and CEO
• National Committee to Preserve Social Security
  and Medicare

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SECTION CHAIRS

• 1978 1980 Tom Hickey, DrPH (thickey_at_umich.edu)
• 1980 1981 Anne Wilder Zimmer, MS
  (annenicol_at_aol.com)
• 1981 1982 Stanley J. Brody, JD, MSW (deceased)
• 1982 1983 Philip G. Weiler, MD, MPH (deceased)
• 1983 1984 Laurence G. Branch, PhD
  (lgbranch_at_hsc.usf.edu)
• 1984 1985 Pearl German, ScD, MA
  (psgerman_at_hsr.jhsph.edu)
• 1985 1987 James G. Zimmer, MD, DTPH
  (james_zimmer_at_urmc.rochester.edu)
• 1987 1989 Joan F. Van Nostrand, DPA
  (jvan_nostrand_at_hrsa.gov)
• 1989 1991 David L. Rabin, MD, MPH
  (rabind_at_gunet.georgetown.edu)
• 1991 1993 Marcia G. Ory, PhD, MPH
  (mory_at_srph.tamu.edu)
• 1993 1995 Susan L. Hughes, DSW, MSW
  (shughes_at_uic.edu)
• 1995 1997 Robert H. Binstock, PhD
  (rhb3_at_po.cwru.edu)
• 1997 1999 Gerald M. Eggert, PhD, MSW
  (gmeggert_at_aol.com)
• 1999 2001 Richard Fortinsky, PhD
  (fortinsky_at_nso1.uchc.edu)
• 2001 2003 Connie Evashwick, ScD
  (cevashwk_at_csulb.edu)
• 2003 2005 Steven P. Wallace, PhD (Chair-Elect)
  (swallace_at_ucla.edu)
• 2005 2007 Robert Burke, PhD (Chair-Elect)
  (hsmreb_at_gwumc.edu)

Many Thanks to Penny Hollander Feldman, PhD,
Awards Chair, and Thomas E. Bow, MA, Awards
Coordinator, both from the Center for Home Care
Policy and Research at the Visiting Nurse Service
of New York, NY, whose tireless efforts brought
this awards process for 2004 to a successful
conclusion. Steven P. Wallace, PhD Section Chair
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PREVIOUS GERONTOLOGICAL HEALTHSECTION AWARD
WINNERS

• CHAIRS CITATION
• 2002 Nancy A. Miller, PhD, University of
  Maryland, Baltimore County
• LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
• 2003 James G. Zimmer, MD, DTPH (Lond.),
  University of Rochester Medical Center,
  Rochester, NY
• T. Franklin Williams, MD Professor of Medicine,
  Emeritus, University of Rochester Medical Center,
  and former Medical Director, Monroe Community
  Hospital and Carter Catlett Williams, MSW,
  Rochester, NY
• 2001 Martha McSteen, President CEO, National
  Committee to Preserve Social Security and
  Medicare, Washington, DC
• GERONTOLOGICAL HEALTH SECTION LEADERSHIP AWARD
• 2003 Susan L. Hugues, DSW, Center For Research on
  Health and Aging,
• University of Illinois, Chicago, IL
• Retirement Research Foundation, Marilyn Hennessy,
  President, Chicago, IL
• John W. Rowe, MD, President CEO, Aetna Inc.,
  Hartford, CT
• James J. Callahan, Jr., PhD, Professor, Heller
  Graduate School, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
• 1999 Dennis L. Kodner, PhD, Brookdale Center on
  Aging, Hunter College, City University of New
  York, NY
• KEY PHARMACEUTICAL LEADERSHIP AWARD
• 1998 Robyn I. Stone, DrPH
• 1997 Judith Feder, PhD

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Self-Rated Health and Healthy Aging Behaviors of
Older African-American Women Christine G.
Unson, PhD, Western Connecticut State University,
Danbury Alison Kleppinger, MS, University of
Connecticut Center on Aging, Farmington and
Susan Reisine, PhD, University of Connecticut
Health Center, Farmington.

• Christine G. Unson, PhD, is Assistant Professor
  in the Department of Communication. Dr. Unsons
  research focus is in behavior change pertaining
  to osteoporosis prevention, medication adherence
  and participation in clinical trials of older
  minority women. She was the recipient of the
  Betty Jane Cleckley Minority Issues Research
  Award in 2001 and was a finalist in the AETNA
  Susan B. Anthony Award for Excellence in Research
  on Older Women and Public Health in 2002 and
  again in 2003.

Alison Kleppinger, MS, is currently the
coordinator of data management activities in the
Center on Aging, Clinical Data Core. Ms.
Kleppinger has a MS Degree in Sport Psychology.
Her research projects have focused primarily on
adherence and motivation to exercise. She first
began work as an exercise instructor on an NIH
project to increase bone and muscle through
specific weight resistance exercises. She then
contributed to data management and analysis in
1996 and began leading the data management core
in 2000 for the UCHC, Claude Pepper Older
Americans Independence Center.
Susan Reisine, PhD, is Associate Dean for
Research, and professor and head of the
Department of Behavioral Sciences and Community
Health at the University of Connecticut School of
Dental Medicine. She is also of the Director of
the UConn Center for Interdisciplinary Research
in Womens Health. She has conducted research in
both oral health and in other chronic health
conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis,
fibromyalgia, Sjogren s syndrome and asthma.
She was a contributing author to the Surgeon
Generals Report on Oral Health in America and
she was a panel member on the NIH Consensus
Conference on the Diagnosis and Management of
Caries throughout the Lifetime (2001). She was a
Fellow in the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive
Leadership in Academic Medicine program (1998-99)
and served as the Criticism Editor of Oral Health
Group in the Cochrane Collaboration (1997-2002).
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