The award presentation will take place at GSA's 58th Annual Scientific Meeting, which will be held from November 18th-22nd, 2005 in Orlando, FL. The actual conferral will occur on Monday the 21st at 12:15 p.m. at the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort. The meeting is organized to foster interdisciplinary interactions among clinical, administrative, and research professionals who specialize in the study of the aging process.
Blazer currently holds the positions of J.P. Gibbons Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Vice Chair for Education and Academic Affairs at Duke University. His numerous scholarly publications often deal with depression, epidemiology, and consultation liaison psychiatry, especially with the elderly.
He is renowned for his involvement in epidemiological studies of mood disorders in old age, helping researchers to understand risk and protective factors, long-term illness course, and sequelae of depression in later life. Earlier in career, Blazer also played a major role in the MacArthur's Foundation's Network on Successful Aging.
The award was created in 1965 in memory of a former president of the society whose contributions to the quality of life through research in aging were exemplary. The winner traditionally presents a lecture at the Annual Scientific Meeting the following year. The Kleemeier Award Lecture is traditionally one of the conference's highlights.
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA), founded in 1945, is the oldest and largest national multidisciplinary scientific organization devoted to the advancement of gerontological research. Its membership includes some 5,000+ researchers, educators, practitioners, and other professionals in the field of aging. The Society's principal missions are to promote research and education in aging and to encourage the dissemination of research results to other scientists, decision makers, and practitioners.