Archive of news articles about Center for Aging and Health/Division of Geriatric Medicine faculty and staff
Quarter 2 of 2007

Carol Woods Residents Partner with Students
June 10, 2007 - from the Chapel Hill News - "It has been a win-win situation in the sense that the residents feel like they are helping an elderly person in the community, and they also get to have interaction with graduate students." Read the article.

Division of Geriatric Medicine's Nurum Erdem, MD, at the AGS Presidential Poster Competition, Seattle, Washington

Dr. Nurum Erdem displayed her research on the treatment of incontinence in nursing homes based on race at the May 2007 meeting of the American Geriatrics Society in Seattle, Washington. Her poster produced much interest from the conference attendees, many of whom commented that more investigation into how elderly people are treated in institutional settings based on their race should be done.

Senior Center a Place for Meeting, Art, Learning, Growth, Resources
Sarah Madry - June 12, 2007
On May 30, 2007, Chapel Hill, North Carolina's new Seymour Senior Center conducted its first National Senior Health & Fitness Day on the new site, Homestead Road.

At left, Certified Nurse Practitioner John Gotelli takes blood pressure measurements at the May 30, 2007 National Senior Health & Fitness Day. Also at the table behind John from the UNC Hospitals Acute Care of the Elderly Unit (ACE) are (L to R) Stacey Cowhig, Recreational Therapist and Sue Kent, Geriatric Pharmacist.

Dr. Gene Cohen, MD, Phd, an expert on the connections between artistic endeavors and healthy aging, spoke in the afternoon and in the evening about his findings in a scientific study that show that seniors retain vitality of mind and body better if they are involved in art projects. Many community agencies had tables stacked with information on services and medical matters. The Division of Geriatric Medicine's table, where certified nurse practitioner, John Gotelli, took blood pressure and informed the fair goers about our Acute Care for the Elderly unit (ACE) at UNC Hospitals, was very popular (see photo).

A riot of orange ballons decked out the middle of the building where a living room offered a chance to talk and rest and led to the downstairs area with the 85-seat theatre and a large auditorium. There are many art and physical activity classrooms on both levels. There is also a kitchen, a ballroom with a half court basketball area, and a shuffleboard pad. The huge wall of windows on the lower floor has doors that allow you to easily access the large, shaded patio with chairs and tables.

The center was in augurated on May 24, 2007, by the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

If you wish to contact Janice Tyler, Orange County Senior Centers Administrator, her email address is jtyler@co.orange.nc.us, her telephone number is 919-968-2070. The website of the Senior Centers is http://www.co.orange.nc.us/aging/chapel.htm.

Eva Salber-Harry Phillips Awards Presented to Two Students Who
Gave Community Service to North Carolina

Sarah Madry - April 26, 2007
Andrew David McWilliams, MPH, third-year medical student, and Julie René Thibodeaux, second-year student, received 2007 Eva Salber-Harry Phillips Awards from the Program on Aging, Division of Geriatric Medicine at UNC-CH on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 from Dr. Cheryl McCartney, UNC-CH Executive Associate Executive Associate Dean for Medical Education at the School of Medicine. The awards are presented annually to one or more medical students who have or are planning to conduct work in under-served communities to provide health care, a community service, or to research administrative or clinical aspects of health care.

Andy McWilliams received a $750 award to honor him for a revamping and enlarging of Mobile SHAC, a student-led organization that sends interdisciplinary groups of health care students into homes of disadvantaged people who have been found to be in need of home visits. McWilliams is from Davidson, North Carolina, and Knoxville Tennessee. He received his master’s degree in public health in 2006 from UNC-CH. He is a 1999 graduate of Charlotte Catholic High School and received his bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University in 2003, summa cum laude, majoring in biochemistry.

Julie Thibodeaux received the Eva Salber-Harry Phillips Award Honorable Mention and $250. Her research project in Haywood County, NC, addressed problems of matching patients’ prescription lists to an appropriate Medicare Part D plan. It produced data and results that are now helping elders and health care providers in Haywood County to more adeptly assign Medicare Part D plans. She holds a bachelor’s degree from UNC Chapel Hill in Biology and has a master’s degree from North Carolina State University in Comparative Biomedical Science with a concentration in cell biology.

Ms. Rosalie Phillips, one of the children of the deceased Eva Salber and Harry Phillips, was present at the award ceremony to congratulate the student winners. Each year the Program on Aging within the Division of Geriatric Medicine awards the Salber-Phillips Student Award to one or more medical students of any level whose submitted projects carry out the ideals of Drs. Eva Salber and Harry Phillips, who were physicians who practiced in London, South Africa, and Boston and who lived in Chapel Hill at the end of their lives. Dr. Phillips was the first director of the Program on Aging, which was created in 1979. Drs. Salber and Phillips were passionately committed to the health of all people, particularly those who are disregarded and underserved. They firmly believed that health care should be community-based and lived their personal and professional lives in the spirit of that belief.

Tiffany Shubert, PhD, MPT, Awarded Gordon H. DeFriese Career Development in Aging Research Award

April 3, 2007 - Tiffany Shubert has been awarded the 2006 DeFriese award by the Institute on Aging at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The annual award was established at UNC-CH's Institute on Aging to recognize Dr. Gordon DeFriese's thirty-year career in the conduct and development of research to improve the quality of lives of older North Carolinians, and especially to his unwavering commitment to development and supporting the careers of his colleagues.

Last updated 5/15/2008.