Dr. Halter honored for distinguished lifetime achievement

ANNN ARBOR, Mich – Jeffrey B. Halter, M.D., director of the University of Michigan Geriatrics Center and Institute of Gerontology, has been named the 2008 Nascher/Manning Award recipient of the American Geriatrics Society. The award will be presented at the society’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on Friday, May 2.

The premier honor of the AGS, the Nascher/Manning Award is given to an individual with distinguished, life-long achievement in clinical geriatrics. Halter was cited by the AGS Board of Directors and the Awards Committee for his significant contributions as “a leader in the field of geriatrics, an educator, and an author,” as well as for possessing the “outstanding qualities and skills the society wishes to honor.”

Halter is U-M professor of internal medicine and chief of the Division of Geriatric Medicine. He is the founding director of the U-M Geriatrics Center, established in 1987 and comprising multidisciplinary clinical, research, education, and community programs on aging and age-related diseases. Under Halter’s leadership, the U-M geriatrics programs consistently rank among the best in the nation for geriatrics care and top medical schools for geriatrics research and training, according to U.S. News & World Report. Halter also established the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center of the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System in 1989, where he served as director until 1998.

Halter is a renowned geriatrician who specializes in the treatment of diabetes mellitus in older adults. His research interests include neuroendocrine regulation of metabolism in aging and in diabetes mellitus, and regulation of autonomic nervous system function. He is author of more than 250 research papers and book chapters, and is senior editor of the 6th edition of “Hazzard’s Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology,” to be published by McGraw-Hill this year. He has held many leadership positions in national professional organizations, and has served on several national advisory panels on aging and geriatrics research. Halter is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The AGS Nascher/Manning Award was established in 1987 to honor Ignatz Leo Nascher, M.D. (1863- 1944), who argued that the diseases and medical care of the aged should be considered a separate specialty, for which he coined the term “geriatrics” in 1909.

Contact: Kathleen Fitzgerald, kmfitz@umich.edu