April 30, 2001

Richard H. Fortinsky, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and a social scientist whose research focuses on the health and functional status of older adults and their families, has been appointed to the Physician Health Services Endowed Chair in Gerontology at the UConn Health Center.

His appointment for a three-year term was approved by the university's Board of Trustees at its April meeting.

Fortinsky graduated from the Pennsylvania State University, and received his Ph.D. in medical sociology and gerontology from Brown University. His work, which has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Annals of Internal Medicine, and the Journals of Gerontology, among others, has shed new light on more effective and efficient ways of delivering health care to older patients. He is a faculty member in the UConn Center on Aging, a multidisciplinary program of research, clinical practice and education in geriatrics and gerontology.

"Both the focus and the quality of his research make him an excellent choice for this chair which was established to enhance the health of older individuals," says Dr. Peter J. Deckers, dean of the School of Medicine. "He is extremely effective at bridging the separate worlds of the social scientist, health policy researcher and the practicing physician."

Fortinsky joins the Health Center from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland.

Kristina Goodnough