News Release

Announcing DeFriese Award Winners

July 21, 2000

The Institute on Aging is pleased to announce and congratulate the recipients of the first annual Gordon H. DeFriese Career Development in Aging Research Awards. These annual awards have been established to recognize Dr. DeFriese' thirty-year distinguished 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 developing and supporting the careers of his colleagues. Recipients for these awards are selected for their demonstrated evidence of research interests in, and
other scholarly and leadership contributions to the field of aging. Two
awards, $5000 for a staff or faculty member, and $3,000 for a doctoral
student were made in June.

The recipient of the faculty/staff award is Sheryl Itkin Zimmerman, PhD, Assistant Professor in School of Social Work, Clinical Assistant Professor in the department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Senior Research Fellow and Co-Director of the Program on Aging, Disablement, and Long-term Care at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. Dr. Zimmerman has a distinguished record of federally-funded large studies of the characteristics and outcomes of care in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. She also has received numerous grants to study osteoporosis, hip fracture, dementia, advanced directives and other health-related issues of older adults. In addition, she has amassed an impressive record of publications, conference presentations and service on journal editorial boards focused on aging-related issues. On this campus, Dr. Zimmerman has demonstrated her leadership capacity in aging through her work in the development of an interdisciplinary graduate course in aging and health and in the creation and coordination of an interdisciplinary Certificate in Aging program for graduate students. Dr. Zimmerman's teaching and mentoring of students is highly praised. She has been an advocate for aging issues at the national level by leading the newly-formed Assisted Living Special Interest Group of the Gerontological Society of America and she contributed to state level policy-making through her participation in the North Carolina Long-term Care Task Force.

The recipient of the student award is Joseph R. Sharkey, MPH, RD, doctoral student in the department of Nutrition, School of Public Health. During the course of his doctoral studies to date, Mr. Sharkey has not only completed an impressive core of aging-related coursework and internships, but he has also acquired extensive and highly-praised experience in university-community collaborative service and research projects. He directed a project with Chatham County Council on Aging to identify nutritional risk and functional limitations among community-dwelling older adults in isolated areas of that county. He also has directed applied
aging research projects with Home-Delivered Meals programs in Chatham,
Johnston, and Wake counties. His research activities have included
expansion of nutrition screening instruments to add physical function and
environmental hazards that, in turn, have the potential for targeting and
tailoring community-based services to prevent functional decline and
maintain functional independence for older adults. In addition, Mr.
Sharkey has a growing record of articles, abstracts and conference
presentations and he is a member of numerous professional organizations,
including the Geriatric Health Section of the American Public Health
Association, the Gerontological Society of America, the American Geriatrics
Society, and the Southern Gerontology Society.