AGS honors Boston University professor with Memorial Award for geriatrics education

The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) has awarded Sharon A. Levine, MD, AGSF, with the 2011 Dennis W. Jahnigen Memorial Award, given annually to an AGS member who has provided outstanding leadership in advancing geriatrics education in health professions schools. Dr. Levine will be presented with the award on May 13, 2011, at the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Levine, currently Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the Boston University School of Medicine, received her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and completed her residency in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. After teaching medicine at Yale for two years, Dr. Levine was recruited to Boston University as a faculty member in the Department of Medicine Section of Geriatrics.

Dr. Levine is the winner of the prestigious Metcalf Cup, Boston University's highest teaching award, as well as the Department of Medicine's Robert Dawson Evans Special Recognition Teaching Award. Dr. Levine has served on numerous national education committees and, through her commitment to mentoring, has supported and inspired trainees at all levels, including numerous Geriatric Academic Career Award recipients. In 2004 she received one of three mentorship awards conferred by the Society of General Internal Medicine. Dr. Levine has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications which focused on the dissemination of innovative teaching models.

Among her many significant contributions to geriatrics education, Dr. Levine created Boston University's Chief Resident Immersion Training (CRIT) in the Care of Older Adults program through the support of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. The program focuses on providing chief residents with a combination of training focused on improving their understanding of geriatrics principles and their leadership and teaching skills. Now in its seventh year, the program has been offered at 15 other institutions nationwide, through a national demonstration project supported by the John A. Hartford Foundation of New York.

"Dr. Levine is an exceptional educator. She has created unique medical education programs that have wide appeal to medical students and residents, practicing physicians, and non-geriatrics faculty," remarked Rosanne Leipzig, MD, PhD, one of the individuals who nominated Dr. Levine and a past recipient of the Dennis W. Jahnigen Memorial Award. "Dr. Levine's passion and creativity are precisely the values which I believe are essential to this award."

"It is a privilege to present Dr. Levine with the Dennis W. Jahnigen Memorial Award," said AGS President, Sharon Brangman, MD. "Dr. Levine is one of the nation's leading geriatrics educators and is an ardent and tireless advocate for geriatrics. She fits well alongside the other Jahnigen awardees and in every way lives up to the values that Dr. Jahnigen exemplified."

Dennis W. Jahnigen, MD (1947-1998), was acclaimed as an extraordinary teacher, receiving numerous awards from students and faculty throughout his career. In 1998, the AGS awarded him the Milo D. Leavitt Award to recognize his distinguished career in geriatrics education. Dr. Jahnigen's clinical skills and heartfelt, compassionate concern for older adults continues to flourish in the many health professionals who benefited from his teaching and mentorship.