Jane Potter, MD, AGSF
Jane Potter, MD, AGSF, Chief in the Division of Geriatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), is the recipient of the 2018 Dennis W. Jahnigen Award celebrating work to train more health professionals in the care we all need as we age.
“Over the past 35 years, Dr. Potter’s tireless work has advanced education for thousands of health professionals,” said Ellen Flaherty, PhD, APRN, AGSF, AGS Board Chair. “It would be difficult to locate a geriatrics clinician trained in the last two decades whose education has not been shaped in some way by Dr. Potter’s influence.”
A dynamic force driving geriatrics education, Dr. Potter has not only led medical education at UNMC but also has expanded the scope of her work to lead national efforts aimed at increasing the prestige and prominence of the geriatrics workforce. Dr. Potter is a co-Principal Investigator for the AGS’s Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) Coordinating Center—a strategic resource supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation for 44 organizations in 29 states working through the only federal program focused on increasing the number of doctors, nurses, social workers, and other healthcare professionals trained to care for America’s older adult population.
Across her career, Dr. Potter has led several other impactful education programs through the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA, which also operates the GWEP), including the Geriatric Medicine and Geriatric Dentistry Fellowship Program and the Nebraska Geriatric Education Center.
After completing medical studies at the Creighton School of Medicine, residency at George Washington University, and advanced geriatrics training at the National Institute on Aging, Dr. Potter returned to her home state of Nebraska in 1982, where she has been a local and national champion for geriatrics education ever since. Now the Neumann M. & Mildred E. Harris Professor of Geriatrics and Gerontology in Internal Medicine, Dr. Potter is a past AGS President and Board Chair and Deputy Director for the AGS Geriatrics-for-Specialists Initiative, another John A. Hartford Foundation-funded program which works to ensure all health professionals have a basic understanding of the unique skills needed to care for older people. Across her career, Dr. Potter has published numerous research articles and book chapters, and has worked for the AGS on developing its educational content, including Geriatrics at Your Fingertips and the Geriatrics Review Syllabus.
The late Dennis W. Jahnigen, MD, was a compassionate geriatrician and acclaimed educator who dedicated his life to training future leaders. Today, his namesake award recognizes an AGS member, like Dr. Potter, committed to working with students and advancing geriatrics education in schools of health and medicine. It is one of several honors conferred by the AGS at its Annual Scientific Meeting.
Past Recipients of the Dennis W. Jahnigen Memorial Award
2017 Maura Brennan, MD, AGSF, FACP, FAAHPM, HMDC
2016 Annette (Annie) Medina-Walpole, MD, AGSF
2015 Barbara Resnick, PhD, RN, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP, AGSF
2014 Elizabeth K. Tanner, PhD, RN
2013 Gail Sullivan, MD, MPH
2012 Leo M Cooney, Jr., MD
2011 Sharon A. Levine, MD
2010 G. Paul Eleazer, MD
2009 Samuel C. Durso, MD, MBA
2008 Rosanne M. Leipzig, MD, PhD
2007 Steven R. Counsell, MD
2006 Kenneth Brummel-Smith, MD
2005 Harvey Jay Cohen, MD
2004 Terry T. Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN
2003 William Hall, MD, Rochester, NY
2002 Gregg A. Warshaw, MD, Cincinnati, OH
2001 Evelyn C. Granieri, MD, Pittsburgh, PA
2000 David B. Reuben, MD, Los Angeles, CA
1999 John R. Burton, MD