Blog

We at COAH join the thunderous rounds of applause in celebrating that Dr. Sarah Szanton was named as the new Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She began her term on August 25^th to much fanfare. Indeed, “I’m a Sarah Fan” signs were waving at the State of the School speech she delivered on the first day of her term. And there are many reasons to be a fan of Dean Szanton. She co-developed the CAPABLE program, which helps seniors age in the community; CAPABLE received a lot of attention earlier this year under the new White House administration as a model of how communities nation-wide can better respond to the needs of our older adults, and it has now spread to 44 communities in 23 states!

Throughout her career at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and as a Core faculty member of the Center on Aging and Health, Dr. Szanton has been an exemplary mentor, insightful researcher, and a superb gerontologist.  She has a demonstrated commitment to resolving health disparities among minorities, and she treats everyone she encounters with dignity and respect.

We are excited to see Sarah Szanton become Dean of the School of Nursing, and we wish her every success.  Read more about Dean Szanton’s accomplishments throughout her career at the School of Nursing here.

Many congratulations to Dr. Cynthia Boyd, who was named the new Director of the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine at the beginning of August.  She previously held the position as Interim Director after Dr. Samuel Durso became the Director of the Department of Medicine at JHBMC in 2020.

In addition to her appointment as Professor of Medicine, Dr. Boyd has joint appointments in Health Policy and Management and in Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  Beyond being core faculty at COAH, she is also faculty with the Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care, as well as the Johns Hopkins Center for Transformative Geriatric Research.  She is a Multi-Principal Investigator with the US Deprescribing Research Network.  And she co-directs a T32 grant on Health Services Research Outcomes for Aging Populations.  Additionally, Dr. Boyd is a Center for Innovative Medicine Scholar.  Earlier this year, she was inducted into the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

A former Beeson Scholar and Robert Wood Johnson Physician Faculty Scholar, Dr. Boyd earned her MD from Duke University and her MPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She completed her residency at Johns Hopkins and performed a fellowship in geriatric medicine and gerontology at Johns Hopkins.

Known for her affable nature, keen research insights, strong commitment to mentorship, and international expertise in the care of persons living with multiple chronic conditions, we at COAH are confident in her leadership, and wish her all the best in her new leadership role.

The 2021-2022 COAH Scientific Seminar Series starts on October 4^th!

We’re excited to kick off this academic year’s Scientific Seminar Series with Suzanne E. Judd, PhD, on Monday, October 4^th at 3:30pm with a talk on “Diet and Brain Health: State of Science and Next Steps to Address Disparities.”

Dr. Judd is the Director of the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy at the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama.  Dr. Judd leads the data management and analytic team for the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, and she has contributed to research on health disparities, cognitive function, and nutritional intervention.

We look forward to her presentation, and we hope you can join us in person or via Zoom.  Please contact Monique Lee for more information.

The COAH family congratulates the Johns Hopkins Epidemiology and Biostatistics of Aging (EBA) Training Program upon the great news that the National Institute on Aging refunded this remarkable T32 training for another five years! Continually funded since its start in 1996, and led by Karen Bandeen-Roche, PhD, that means the EBA will successfully reach 30 years! This is a remarkable accomplishment.

The EBA Training Program addresses a critical need for the field of gerontology and for older adults through its interdisciplinary training of epidemiological and biostatistical scholars, with emphasis in mental and physical health.

Over the past 25 years, the EBA has trained more than 50 doctoral trainees and 30 postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have gone on to high-ranking academic, research and leadership positions at Johns Hopkins, Harvard University, the National Institute of Aging, Rush University, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, Wake Forest University among many other fine institutions in the field. In their careers, EBA program alumni have received a cornucopia of research grant awards (such as R01, R21 and U grants), as well as a career development grant awards (including K01 and K999/R00 grants).

The EBA Training Program supports eight doctoral students and two postdoctoral fellows each year. For more information about the program, as well as how to apply to it, please visit Graduate Programs and Postdoctoral Training