(Press-News.org) The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) — the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging — has chosen Peter Lichtenberg, PhD, ABPP, FGSA, of Wayne State University as the 2024 recipient of the Donald P. Kent Award.
This distinguished honor is given annually to a GSA member who best exemplifies the highest standards for professional leadership in gerontology through teaching, service, and interpretation of gerontology to the larger society. It was established in 1973 in memory of Donald P. Kent, PhD, for his outstanding leadership in translating research findings into practical use.
The award presentation will take place at GSA’s 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting, which will be held from November 13 to 16 in Seattle, Washington. This conference is organized to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers, educators, and practitioners who specialize in the study of the aging process.
At Wayne State University, Lichtenberg is the director of the Institute of Gerontology (IOG), founding director of the Wayne State University Lifespan Alliance, and a distinguished professor of psychology. A statewide and national leader in gerontology, Lichtenberg has served as a clinician, researcher, faculty member, clinical geropsychologist, and administrator throughout his career. His professional roles underscore his commitment to growing gerontology programs and promoting environments for colleagues and students to flourish.
“Receiving this award is precious to me,” Lichtenberg said. “I admire all of the previous winners, and to know my nominators thought I was deserving of joining them touches me deeply.”
His award nomination letter outlined numerous examples of Lichtenberg’s leadership being “impactful and impressive,” including 27 years co-directing the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research and prioritizing the IOG’s trainings in aging to reach more than 20,000 health care professionals annually. “Importantly,” the letter stated, “he has maintained this level of service and impact over the entire arc of his professional career.”
Lichtenberg also helped create and lead the university’s Lifespan Cognitive Neuroscience research program, a pre-doctoral training program in urban aging and health and launched the IOG’s first endowment campaign, which now stands at $3.1 million.
Lichtenberg’s work has been instrumental in interpreting the significance of research in aging for society at large. For example, Lichtenberg obtained funding and led a study using the Statewide Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey to document the prevalence of households where a person with dementia lived. Two years later, the Center for Disease Control had him assist with the development of a national Perceived Cognitive Impairment module, now used in nearly 40 states.
His service to the State of Michigan’s Adult Protective Services (APS) staff has been extensive. After an APS review noted the state’s lack of standardized assessments, Lichtenberg created new financial decision-making scales that can be used across multiple professions including APS.
Over the past two decades, Lichtenberg has concentrated his research on understanding financial decision-making and identifying vulnerabilities in older adults that increase their risk of financial exploitation. Thousands of older adults, caregivers, and financial and health services professionals have used his no-cost Older Adult Nest Egg tools (olderadultnestegg.com) to better understand issues of decision-making and risk of exploitation.
This work has led to his numerous education presentations for the National Adult Protective Services Association, state APS conferences, banks, credit unions, and wealth management firms. Lichtenberg has been interviewed about his work by The New York Times, AARP Magazine, Forbes, NPR’s Marketplace Morning Report, The Economist, MSN, and U.S. News & World Report, among others.
Lichtenberg received his BA degree from Washington University in St. Louis and master’s and doctorate degrees in clinical psychology, with a concentration in aging, from Purdue University. Throughout his career, his clinical and research work has focused on the intersection of geriatric medical rehabilitation, dementia assessment, late life depression, financial decision-making, and financial exploitation. The author of several assessment instruments, he has authored 200 peer reviewed publications, and written and edited seven books.
Lichtenberg is a GSA fellow, which represents the highest category of membership within the Society, and is a past GSA president, board chair, and chair of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Section.
###
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is the nation's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society — and its 5,500+ members — is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA’s structure includes a nonpartisan public policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society, and GSA is also home to the National Center to Reframe Aging and the National Coordinating Center for the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research.
END
It might be an exaggeration to claim that “sitting is the new smoking,” but significant research indicates that people who are sedentary face more health challenges than their active counterparts.
Office workers who spend most of their eight-hour workdays seated, for example, more often experience symptoms such as daytime exhaustion, hypertension and musculoskeletal discomfort than those who are less sedentary. Although devices such as standing desks have been found to alleviate physical symptoms and increase worker productivity, questions remain regarding the best use of the primary types of workstations—stand-biased, ...
There’s still much to learn about how doxorubicin, a 50-year-old chemotherapy drug, causes its most concerning side effects. While responsible for saving many lives, this treatment sometimes causes cardiac damage that stiffens the heart and puts a subset of patients at risk for future heart failure. To better understand and potentially control such complications, Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences researchers have isolated the immune cells that become overactive when patients take doxorubicin. The team’s findings appear July 17 in the journal Nature Cardiovascular Research.
Doxorubicin ...
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) — the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging — has chosen Jiska Cohen-Mansfield, PhD, FGSA, of Tel Aviv University as the 2024 recipient of the Robert W. Kleemeier Award.
This distinguished honor is given annually to a GSA member in recognition for outstanding research in the field of gerontology. It was established in 1965 in memory of Robert W. Kleemeier, PhD, a former president of the Society whose contributions to the quality of life through research in aging were exemplary.
The award presentation will take place at GSA’s ...
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) — the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging — has chosen Lisa L. Barnes, PhD, FGSA, of Rush University Medical Center as the 2024 recipient of the James Jackson Outstanding Mentorship Award.
This distinguished honor is given annually and recognizes individuals who have exemplified outstanding commitment and dedication to mentoring minority researchers in the field of aging. It was renamed in 2021 in memory of James Jackson, PhD, FGSA, a pioneering psychologist ...
The Science
Polyphenols are a diverse group of organic compounds produced by plants. These compounds are often toxic to microorganisms. In peatlands, scientists thought that microorganisms avoided this toxicity by degrading polyphenols using an enzyme that requires oxygen. However, when there is little or no oxygen, like after flooding due to climate induced thawing, the enzyme is inactive, and polyphenols accumulate. This inhibits microbes’ carbon cycling. In this study, scientists mined data for thousands of microbial genomes recovered from Stordalen Mire, an Arctic peatland in Sweden. They discovered that these microorganisms used alternative polyphenol-active ...
The risk of developing long COVID has decreased significantly over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an analysis of data led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Researchers attributed about 70% of the risk reduction to vaccination against COVID-19 and 30% to changes over time, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s evolving characteristics and improved detection and management of COVID-19.
The research is published July 17 in The New England Journal of Medicine.
“The research on declining rates ...
The University of Freiburg is establishing a new tenure track professorship in Earth and Planetary Geodynamics at the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, made possible by a 1.71 million euro grant from the Volkswagen Foundation. The new tenure track professorship is part of a comprehensive strategic initiative for combining Earth system sciences with planetary sciences at the University that also includes the establishment of a new Earth System Simulation Lab (EaSySim) and the introduction of an Earth Sciences ...
A research team at the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) has received a $5 million grant from the United States Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency to support the detection and prevention of brucellosis in Armenia.
Brucellosis, which is caused by several bacterial species of Brucella, is a zoonotic disease that can spread to humans from dogs and major livestock species, including cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats. It can have a major impact on a country’s public health and agricultural economy.
The team of Texas A&M researchers, led by VMBS Associate Professor Dr. Angela Arenas, will ...
MINNEAPOLIS – For people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study has found that the drug ofatumumab is more effective than teriflunomide at helping people across racial and ethnic groups reach a period of no disease activity. The study is published in the July 17, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Ofatumumab, a monoclonal antibody, is a newer drug for treating MS. Teriflunomide, an immunomodulatory agent, has been available for over a decade.
MS is a disease in ...
MINNEAPOLIS – Insurance coverage, ethnicity and location may all play a role in a person’s ability to receive care after a stroke, according to a study published in the July 17, 2024, online issue of Neurology® Clinical Practice, an official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
“Receiving the right care after a stroke is crucial to recovery and minimizing disability,” said study author Shumei Man, MD, PhD, of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. “Unfortunately, decisions about care may be influenced by factors such as race, insurance, and geographic location. Our study ...
