News Release

2005 DeFriese Award Winners Named

April 4, 2005

The Institute on Aging is pleased to announce the 2005 winners of the Gordon H. DeFriese Career Development in Aging Research Awards. These annual awards honor Dr. DeFriese's thirty-year distinguished career in the conduct and development of research to improve the quality of lives of older North Carolinians, and especially his unwavering commitment to developing and supporting the careers of his colleagues. The awards are given to one junior faculty/staff member and one doctoral student from UNC Chapel Hill who demonstrate commitment to and outstanding promise in aging research.

Sharon Wallace Williams, PhD, is this year's faculty/staff awardee. Dr. Williams is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences of the Department of Allied Health Sciences. She is also a Research Scientist in the Center on Aging and Diversity at the Institute on Aging. Dr. Williams has served as the principal or co-investigator in numerous aging research projects related to family caregiving of institutionalized patients and patients with strokes, end of life and spiritual care, factors affecting physical activity of patients with late stage renal disease, and social support systems of dependent elderly African Americans. She has also been actively involved in publishing in the gerontology and family and human behavior literature and has made numerous presentations at national and state aging conferences. Following her training in audiology, Dr. Williams received her PhD in Human Development and Family Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in gerontology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Jean Munn, MSW, is this year's doctoral student awardee. She is a student in the School of Social Work and is presently one of seven fellows in the national John A. Hartford Doctoral Fellowship Program in gerontology. Ms. Munn is serving as a graduate research assistant and research coordinator at the Program on Aging, Disability and Long Term Care of the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research where she is working on the parent study for her dissertation research. Her dissertation focuses on the development of measures that identify the components of a "good death" for individuals who die in long-term care settings. An experienced social work practitioner in long term care, Ms. Munn is also a graduate research assistant and clinical coordinator for the UNC Memory and Cognitive Disorders Clinic.

Congratulations to both recipients! The award recognition ceremony will be held at a later date.

More information on the Gordon H. DeFriese Career Development in Aging Research Awards, including past winners, is available from our Funding & Awards page.