Aging on My Mind: Real-world Implications of Aging Research.
The Gerontology Institute had the pleasure of having Marie A. Bernard as our distinguished speaker for the 2020 Barbara Payne Lectureship in Gerontology.
Marie A. Bernard, MD is the Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As NIA’s senior geriatrician, she serves as the principal advisor to the NIA director, overseeing more than $3 billion in aging and dementia research conducted and supported annually by the Institute. Dr. Bernard is a strong advocate for programs that address the range of issues, challenges, and needs of older adults. Across HHS, she co-chairs two Healthy People 2020/2030 objectives, one on Older Adults and the second on Dementias - the first time that the Healthy People framework has formally recognized the needs of older adults as a separate topic area and national health priority. Across NIH, she co-leads the Inclusion Governance Committee, that facilitates responsiveness to 21st Century Cures Act provisions to ensure appropriate inclusion of individuals in clinical studies, including by sex/gender, race/ethnicity, and inclusion of children and older adults. Her national leadership in geriatrics research, teaching, and clinical practice has been recognized by the Clark Tibbits award from the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (2013), and the Donald P Kent award from the Gerontological Society of America (2014). Her work within NIH has been recognized with NIH Director’s awards (2018 and 2019).
Until October 2008 she was the endowed professor and founding chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, and Associate Chief of Staff for Geriatrics and Extended Care at the Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She has held numerous national leadership roles, including chair of the Clinical Medicine Section of the Gerontological Society of America, chair of the Department of Veterans Affairs National Research Advisory Committee, board member of the American Geriatrics Society, president of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, and president of the Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs. She has lectured and published widely in her area of research, nutrition and function in older populations, as well as related to geriatric education. She was a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee that wrote the 2008 groundbreaking "Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce."
She received her undergraduate education at Bryn Mawr College and her MD from University of Pennsylvania. She trained in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, where she also served as chief resident. She has received additional training through the Association of American Medical Colleges Health Services Research Institute, the Geriatric Education Center of Pennsylvania, and the Wharton School Executive Development program.
