The Gerontological Society of America announced on July 2nd 2021, that Susan Lane Hughes, PhD, Director of the UIC Center for Research on Health and Aging, Principal Investigator of the Midwest Roybal Center for Health Promotion and Translation, and designer of the Fit & Strong! program for persons with arthritis has been designated the inaugural winner of the Barbara Berkman Award for Excellence in interdisciplinary research with older adults. This new award that will be bestowed by the Social Research, Policy and Practice Section of the Society at its Annual Meeting on Friday November 12, 2021, in Phoenix AZ. The Award recognizes lifetime contributions to outstanding interdisciplinary research in aging. Under Dr. Hughes’ leadership the UIC Center for Research on Health and Aging has grown to encompass 35 faculty, representing 8 colleges and 18 departments across UIC. Her Roybal Center has been renewed by NIH consecutively for five continuous cycles and has provided more than $2.65 million in pilot funding to early-stage investigators from multiple disciplines who are now tenured faculty with distinguished careers in aging research. This investment has leveraged $128.8 million in research funding in aging at UIC. Finally, Dr. Hughes’ Fit & Strong! program was developed by an interdisciplinary team, has received numerous national awards, served more than 10,000 older adults, and is being provided in 32 states at present.
top of page
bottom of page