The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) — the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging — has chosen Thomas M. Gill, MD, of the Yale School of Medicine as the 2012 recipient of the Joseph T. Freeman Award.
This honor, given annually, is a lectureship in geriatrics and is awarded to a prominent physician in the field of aging — both in research and practice — who is a member of the Society's Health Sciences section.
The award presentation will take place at GSA's 65th Annual Scientific Meeting, which will be held from November 14 to 18 in San Diego. This conference is organized to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers, educators, and practitioners who specialize in the study of the aging process. Visit www.geron.org/annualmeeting for further details.
The Joseph T. Freeman Award was established in 1977 through a bequest from a patient's estate as a tribute to a leading physician and one of the Society's distinguished members and past presidents. The winner traditionally presents a lecture at the Annual Scientific Meeting the following year.
Gill is a professor of medicine, epidemiology, and investigative medicine and the Humana Foundation Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Yale University, where he also serves as director of the Program on Aging, the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, the Center on Disability and Disabling Disorders, and a National Institute on Aging-funded postdoctoral training program in geriatric clinical epidemiology and aging-related research.
He is a leading authority on the epidemiology and prevention of disability among older persons, and is the recipient of numerous additional awards, including the Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholars in Aging Research Award, the Robert Wood Johnson Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar Award, the 2001 Outstanding Scientific Achievement for Clinical Investigation Award from the American Geriatrics Society, and the Ewald W. Busse Research Award in the Biomedical Sciences.
Gill has provided compelling evidence to support an emerging paradigm of disability as a reversible, and often recurrent, event, more similar to falls and delirium than to progressive disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. Informed by the results from his epidemiologic studies, Gill successfully implemented a landmark clinical trial, which demonstrated that functional decline among frail elderly persons can be prevented.
He also is a GSA fellow, which represents the Society's highest class of membership.
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 5,400+ members — is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA's structure also includes a policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society, and an educational branch, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.