The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) — the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging — has chosen Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD, of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health as the 2011 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 64th Annual Scientific Meeting, which will be held from November 18 to 22 in Boston, MA. 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.
Ferrucci is the NIA's scientific director. He served in the Intramural Research Program as chief of the Longitudinal Studies Section in the Clinical Research Branch at NIA since 2002, where he also directed the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA). Findings from this research are aimed at developing ways to reduce the burden of disease and disability for older people.
As a physician-researcher with a doctorate in the biology and pathophysiology of aging, Ferrucci has mentored dozens of scientists and acted as a resource to gerontologists across the NIA and beyond. His teaching extends to adjunct professorships at both University of Maryland School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology.
He has served as editor of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences since 2005 and is an associate editor of the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle, a member of the editorial board of Geriatría y Gerontología, and a reviewer for The Wellcome Trust.
Before joining the NIA, Ferrucci was the assistant director and coordinator of the Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology at the National Institute for Research and Care on Aging in Italy.
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.