Richard M. Allman, MD
Richard M. Allman, MD, Chief Consultant for Geriatrics & Extended Care Services, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), was presented with the 2017 Edward Henderson Award and delivered the prestigious Henderson State-of-the-Art Lecture at the AGS 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting (May 18-20; San Antonio, Texas). Dr. Allman’s lecture, “Building, Sustaining, and Promoting Age-Friendly Health Systems,” focused on the role of leadership, research, education, and quality improvement in developing and maintaining better systems for older adult care.
“The VA has played such a critical role in advancing geriatrics care and research for those who have served our country, and Dr. Allman has been integral to that legacy,” notes AGS President Ellen Flaherty, PhD, APRN, AGSF. “As we work to shape the context of care for all older adults, exploring how better health outcomes are tied to better health systems has never been more important—which is why we so value Dr. Allman’s expertise.”
As Chief Consultant for VA’s Geriatrics & Extended Care Services since 2014, Dr. Allman is responsible for developing policy and planning programs and services to meet the needs of Veterans facing the challenges of aging, disability, or serious illness. Nearly half of the more than 9 million Veterans enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration, the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system, are age 65 and older. Dr. Allman’s career has focused on improving care for older adults at the local, state and national levels. His research has informed these efforts as he has focused on a multitude of pressing issues that face us all as we age, particularly with regard to mobility, cardiovascular health, and health disparities among older adults. In this context, Dr. Allman has witnessed first-hand how health systems can change to provide care that is supportive of older adults’ overall health, function, and well-being.
“I am honored and humbled by receiving the Henderson Award. I have had the privilege of being part of healthcare teams committed to improving the care of older adults for more than three decades, but there is an urgent need to accelerate changes in our approaches to care. The application of the knowledge gained in geriatrics is essential to ensuring age-friendly health systems that will promote more person-centered care, improve health outcomes, and decrease costs by reducing hospitalizations, nursing home stays, and unwanted and unnecessary tests and procedures,” observed Dr. Allman.
Before his current role, Dr. Allman was founding director of Birmingham/Atlanta VA Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC). He also was the Parrish Endowed Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care and the Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Allman served as the principal investigator for the National Institute on Aging-funded UAB Study of Aging, the Deep South Resource Center for Minority Aging Research, and the UAB component of The John A. Hartford Foundation-funded Southeast Center of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine. Dr. Allman received his medical degree from West Virginia University School of Medicine, where he also completed a residency in internal medicine. He did a post-doctoral fellowship and received training in clinical epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. He now joins a prestigious group of colleagues who have delivered the Henderson State-of-the-Art Lecture at AGS Annual Scientific Meetings.
Edward Henderson, MD, namesake of the Henderson State-of-the-Art Lecture, was a beloved and respected geriatrician who served the AGS in several capacities, most notably as President, Vice President, and Executive Director. For more than two decades, Dr. Henderson’s devoted efforts on behalf of the AGS made him an international authority in human aging and geriatric medicine. The Edward Henderson Award is one of several honors conferred by the AGS at its Annual Scientific Meeting.
Past Recipients of the Edward Henderson Award
2016 Christopher Callahan, MD
2015 Robert M. Palmer, MD, MPH
2014 Michael W. Rich, MD
2013 Diane E. Meier, MD
2012 David B. Reuben, MD
2011 Mary E. Tinetti, MD
2010 Sharon K. Inouye, MD, MPH
2009 Mary Naylor, RN, PhD
2008 Linda P. Fried, MD
2007 Joseph T. Hanlon, PharmD, MS
2006 Walter Willet, MD
2005 Jeffrey Cummings, MD
2004 Edward Wagner, MD
2003 Vincent Mor, PhD
2002 David T. Felson, MD
2001 Mahlon R. DeLong, MD
2000 Bruce Vladeck, MD