These are truly unprecedented times, and although the staff of the Friedman Center for Aging is disappointed to cancel the Friedman Lecture and Awards annual event for the first time in 20 years, we are excited to announce three award winners as we do each year!
Annual Friedman Awards
Each year, the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging presents several awards to recognize professionals and graduate students providing outstanding service and contributing to research in the field of aging. 2020 marks the 17th year that these awards are given and with it brings a new award – the Mark S. Wrighton Graduate Research Award in Aging.
The Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker Friedman Award for Excellence in Service to Older Adults
2020 Awardee – Joan Denison
The purpose of this award is to recognize an individual who has made outstanding contributions in service to older adults through practice, education, advocacy or research. The award is supported by The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital from the Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker Friedman Fund.
For nine years, Joan Denison has been President and CEO of Covenant Place, an affordable senior living community in mid-St. Louis County. Joan helped to re-envision the potential for the organization and along with the board, has spearheaded the fundraising, planning and development of two residential buildings and the Mirowitz Center – a modern, lively, community hub for area older adults, which features: Washington University Primary Geriatric Care Clinic; physical, occupational and speech therapy, audiology and podiatry services. Joan actively advocates for programs and services that support senior adults and has initiated collaborations to improve older adult access to healthcare.
The Alene and Meyer Kopolow Award for Geriatrics, Psychiatry and Neurology:
2020 Awardee – Sarah Hartz, MD, PhD
The purpose of this award is to recognize stellar contributions to the care of older adults by a resident, post-residency fellow or junior faculty member in neurology, psychiatry, medicine or related disciplines. The award is supported by the Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital from the Alene and Meyer Kopolow Fund for Geriatrics, Psychiatry and Neurology.
Dr. Sarah Hartz is a physician scientist and board-certified psychiatrist with experience treating patients with a variety of psychiatric diagnoses. Dr. Hartz received her MD from the University of Illinois and PhD in statistics from the University of Iowa. She completed her psychiatry residency and a fellowship in addiction genetics at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Hartz joined the Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center (ADRC) in 2014. Since 2016, she has been a Knight ADRC clinician who performs clinical assessments of older adults taking part in ongoing studies of healthy aging and Alzheimer Disease.
The Mark S. Wrighton Graduate Student Research Award in Aging
2020 Awardees –
Judges’ Choice: Christopher Chermside-Scabbo
People’s Choice: Monica Xiong
Christopher Chermside-Scabbo is a PhD-MD candidate in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine. His research and dissertation, Restoring Bone Formation in Aging, focuses on the goal of understanding the decline of the mechanoresponsiveness of bone with aging and then reverse it. Overall, his thesis will help to add another tool – restoring the mechanoresponsiveness of bone – to the toolkit of reducing osteoporotic fracture risk and promoting productive aging.
Monica Xiong is a PhD candidate in Neuroscience (DBBS) in the Department of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine. Her research, A Novel Strategy to Target ApoE to Remove Amyloid Pathology in Alzhiemer’s Disease, aims to understand the underlying mechanisms of monoclonal antibody targeting apoE in amyloid-B plaques that aggregate in the Alzheimer Disease brain, and its ability to ameliorate plaque pathology in the vasculature and to restore blood vessel function that is often compromised in Alzheimer Disease.