HAPPENINGS
Louis Burgio Recognized as Harold R. Johnson Professor of Social Work
TOP: Dean Laura Lein presents Professor Lou Burgio with a glass plaque. BOTTOM: Dean Emeritus Harold Johnson (right) joins Dean Laura Lein in welcoming Lou Burgio as the Harold R. Johnson Professor of Social Work.
U-M Photo Services: Martin Vloet
In his acceptance lecture, “Lost in Translation: Implementing Caregiver Intervention Programs in Community Settings,” Burgio discussed the impending explosion of Social Security-aged baby boomers and Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health (REACH), an NIH-sponsored collaborative study of caregivers of relatives with Alzheimer’s disease. He pointed out that “caregiving is considered a ‘soft problem’ by many federal agencies, lacking a grassroots movement to push the issue to the forefront.” As he puts it, “caregivers—mostly older women suffering silently—spend so much time taking care of their loved ones that they don’t take care of their own health.”
U-M Photo Services: Martin Vloet
On March 4, the School recognized Louis Burgio as the Harold R. Johnson Professor of Social Work. Dr. Burgio is professor of social work, research professor at the University of Michigan’s Institute of Gerontology, and adjunct professor in both the School of Nursing and the LS&A Department of Psychology. His research in applied gerontology focuses on developing interventions for the behavioral complications of dementia in nursing homes and working with dementia caregivers in the community to ease the stress and burden of caregiving.
Dr. Burgio served as a senior research scientist at the Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, from 1984 to 1987. Dr. Burgio received tenure in the Department of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in 1992 and was promoted to full professor with tenure in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1995.
The endowment supports a scholar whose teaching and research address changes in the health care delivery system to older adults in the urban community and/or affect social work services at the hospitals. Dean Johnson’s many years as director of the Institute of Gerontology strengthened the presence of this important area of research on the campus.
The Harold R. Johnson Professorship in Social Work was established by the University of Michigan Regents in 1994 as the first fully endowed professorship for the School of Social Work. It was established in recognition of Dean Emeritus Johnson’s many contributions during his tenure as dean of the School, as well as the School’s important role in education, service, and research at the University Hospital.
The professorship was made possible by the generous contribution of $1 million from the U-M Hospitals. In addition, over $250,000 was generated from other sources. In presenting the professorship to Professor Burgio, Dean Laura Lein honored Dean Emeritus Johnson for stressing “a University-wide need to address gerontological issues—not just social work and medicine, but art, facilities, and a ‘broad-brush’ initiative across campus.” For more information, contact Louis Burgio at lburgio@umich.edu or 734-763-5951. Ongoing Summer/Fall 2009
·
13