SWAG视频 announces 2013-14 Humanism in Aging Leadership Award
Renowned geriatrician, educator and health care leader John W. Rowe, MD, has been named the recipient of the SWAG视频 College of Osteopathic Medicine 2013-14 Humanism in Aging Leadership Award.
The award ceremony took place at noon on December 9, 2013, at the Alfond Center for the Health Sciences on SWAG视频鈥檚 Biddeford Campus. Dr. Rowe discussed the 鈥淢yths and Realities of an Aging Society鈥 in his keynote address.
Dr. Rowe asked, 鈥淗ow are we going to re-engineer the core institutions of our society to deal with the demographic change we鈥檙e seeing in this country and the increased life expectancy?鈥 He outlined and debunked eight myths of an aging society, and later warned that failure to address them could result in wider gaps in opportunity, education and wellness between the haves and have-nots, as well as a lack of capacity to meet societal demand for goods and services.
The annual award recognizes a prominent geriatrician who exemplifies humanism and innovation in his or her approach to improving the lives of older adults. It was originally funded through the support of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation and is now supported through the SWAG视频 College of Osteopathic Medicine (SWAG视频COM) Department of Geriatric Medicine. The award exemplifies one of the many ways the SWAG视频 medical school is committed to innovative educational opportunities for students of all disciplines in the respectful care of older adults.
Co-presidents of the SWAG视频COM student chapter of the American Geriatrics Society Kathryn Kelly 鈥16 and Holly Laird 鈥16 presented Dr. Rowe with the award. In reading the inscription, Kelly said it was鈥溾n appreciation of his transformational leadership and humanistic approach to the care of the 鈥榳hole person鈥 to promote successful aging for older adults and their caregivers.鈥
鈥淚t is a huge honor to be hosting Dr. Rowe as the recipient of the SWAG视频COM Humanism in Aging Leadership Award,鈥 says Marilyn Gugliucci, Ph.D., SWAG视频COM Director of Geriatrics Education and Research. 鈥淗e epitomizes the qualities that this award recognizes. He is highly skilled in the care of older adults, has worked tirelessly on their behalf in the policy arena and with government, has led initiatives to advance geriatrics training in the health professions, and has brought the issues of older adult health and care to an international audience.鈥
During his visit, Dr. Rowe met with SWAG视频COM student chapter representatives of the American Geriatrics Society, as well as with SWAG视频 faculty, administrators, students, residents and special guests.
Dr. Rowe is a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. From 2000 until his retirement in late 2006, Dr. Rowe served as chairman and CEO of Aetna, Inc. From 1998 to 2000, he served as president and CEO of Mount Sinai NYU Health, one of the nation鈥檚 largest academic health care organizations. From 1988 to 1998, prior to the Mount Sinai-NYU Health merger, Dr. Rowe was president of the Mount Sinai Hospital and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.
Before joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Rowe was a professor of medicine and the founding director of the Division on Aging at the Harvard Medical School, as well as chief of gerontology at Boston鈥檚 Beth Israel Hospital. He has authored over 200 scientific publications, mostly on the physiology of the aging process, including a leading textbook of geriatric medicine, in addition to his well-known book Successful Aging (Pantheon, 1998) with co-author Robert Kahn, Ph.D. His recent publications are on health care policy.
Dr. Rowe has received many honors and awards for his research and health policy efforts regarding care of the elderly. He has served as president of the Gerontological Society of America. Additionally, he was director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Aging and currently leads the MacArthur Foundation's Research Network on an Aging Society. He chaired the Committee of the Institute of Medicine on The Future Health Care Workforce Needs of An Aging Population. Dr. Rowe was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences where he is involved in the Evidence Based Roundtable and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Rowe is chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and is a former member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).