image: Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals that has--for more than 75 years--worked to improve the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Its nearly 6,000 members include geriatricians, geriatric nurses, social workers, family practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and internists. The Society provides leadership to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public by implementing and advocating for programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy. For more information, visit AmericanGeriatrics.org. view more
Credit: (C) 2020, American Geriatrics Society
The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today announced that Ellen Flaherty, PhD, APRN, AGSF, an assistant professor at the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine and director of the Dartmouth Centers for Health & Aging, will deliver the society's prestigious Henderson State-of-the-Art Lecture. Following the cancellation of the AGS 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AGS announced that Dr. Flaherty would deliver her talk, Leveraging the Potential of Interprofessional Teams in Primary Care Practice, at the AGS 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS21) in Chicago, Ill. (May 12-15, 2021).
"Across her career, Dr. Flaherty has established herself not only as a champion for geriatrics but also for the diverse roles that all health professionals play in coordinated care," said Sunny Linnebur, PharmD, FCCP, FASCP, BCPS, BCGP, AGS board chair. "Ellen is a model AGS leader-- passionate, thoughtful, and funny--and her lecture is sure to help us model the way toward a bright future for geriatrics."
Indeed, Dr. Flaherty herself is no stranger to the growing power and prominence of interprofessional collaboration. In 2016, she assumed responsibilities as AGS president--the second nurse member to hold the position in the society's 77-year history. Dr. Flaherty now serves as a co-principal investigator for both the Northern New England Geriatric Education Center (NNEGEC)--part of the federally sponsored Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP)--and The John A. Hartford Foundation GWEP Coordinating Center administered by the AGS.
Powered by the Health Resources and Services Administration, the GWEP is the principal federal mechanism for supporting local solutions to the shortage of geriatrics health professionals across the U.S. NNEGEC in particular is helping to improve health and quality of life for older adults in New Hampshire and Vermont, with a focus on training different health professionals to collaborate as an outlet for serving more patients. The GWEP Coordinating Center works to share insights gleaned not just in New England but also among all the country's GWEPs, expanding the scope of a program with local roots but national reach.
Both efforts have interprofessional expertise at their cores--which is no surprise since Dr. Flaherty has spent much of her career advancing the art and science of collaboration in care. Before joining Dartmouth, for example, Dr. Flaherty spent nearly 30 years working to advance clinical practice at the New York University (NYU) College of Nursing/Hartford Institute in New York.
At NYU, Dr. Flaherty directed the Adult/Geriatric Nurse Practitioner program and championed the NYU World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center. Through the center, Dr. Flaherty served as a member of the WHO Task Force on Aging and traveled throughout Central and South America to help embed geriatric content into nursing programs globally.
An AGS member since 1998, Dr. Flaherty earned her doctoral degree in nursing from NYU and her master's in nursing from Stony Brooke University in N.Y. She has published numerous peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and has been a lead editor for the AGS's Geriatric Nursing Review Syllabus.
Edward Henderson, MD, namesake of the Henderson State-of-the-Art Lecture, was a beloved and respected geriatrician who served the AGS in several capacities, most notably as President, Vice President, and Executive Director. For more than two decades, Dr. Henderson's devoted efforts on behalf of the AGS made him an international authority in human aging and geriatric medicine. The Edward Henderson Award is one of several honors conferred by the AGS. The 2020 award recipients--who will be honored at #AGS21 next year--include more than 20 healthcare leaders representing the depth and breadth of disciplines championing care for older adults. For more information, visit Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org.
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About the American Geriatrics Society
Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals that has--for more than 75 years--worked to improve the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Its nearly 6,000 members include geriatricians, geriatric nurses, social workers, family practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and internists. The Society provides leadership to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public by implementing and advocating for programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy. For more information, visit AmericanGeriatrics.org.
About the Edward Henderson Award and the Henderson State-of-the-Art Lecture
The late Edward Henderson, MD, was a renowned geriatrics researcher and physician and an instrumental leader for the AGS. The Edward Henderson Award is conferred upon a distinguished clinician, educator, or researcher who also delivers the Henderson State-of-the-Art Lecture on a topic related to the body of his or her work at the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting.
About the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting
The AGS Annual Scientific Meeting is the premier educational event in geriatrics, providing the latest information on clinical care, research on aging, and innovative models of care delivery. Following the cancellation of the 2020 gathering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 3,000 nurses, pharmacists, physicians, physician assistants, social workers, long-term care and managed care providers, healthcare administrators, and others will convene next year from May 13-15 (pre-conference program on May 12), in Chicago, Ill., to advance geriatrics knowledge and skills through state-of-the-art educational sessions and research presentations. For more information, visit Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org.