2006 Recipient:
Linda Teri, Ph.D.

I am honored to introduce Dr. Linda Teri, this year's M. Powell Lawton Award recipient. Dr. Teri is professor of Psychosocial & Community Health at the University of Washington School of Nursing and adjunct professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the UW School of Medicine. She has also directed the UW Alzheimer's Disease Research Center's Education and Information Transfer Core since its inception. I have worked with Dr. Teri since 1986, and it was she who first introduced me to Dr. Lawton and encouraged me to study his work and to talk to him about my own research. I benefited tremendously from Dr. Lawton's generosity, as he provided inspiration, practical advice, and moral support during my efforts to develop a research program to assess quality of life in individuals with Alzheimer's disease. Nominating Linda Teri for this award, established in his memory, honors two mentors who each greatly influenced my own development as a gerontologist and psychologist.

Dr. Teri's career truly reflects the qualities we admired in Dr. Lawton, including intellectual leadership, breadth of contributions, and commitment to mentorship. Dr. Teri has an international reputation as a distinguished clinical psychologist and researcher in geriatrics and gerontology, particularly in the areas of dementia, depression, and non-pharmacologic treatment of behavioral disturbance in dementia. She has been an outstanding contributor to the scientific literature since the early 1980's, and has five books and over 200 articles in print in gerontological, psychological and medical journals.

Dr. Teri was among the first to identify depression as a co-existent and treatable complication of dementia, and to apply behavioral and social learning theory to the treatment of individuals with Alzheimer's disease. Her National Institute of Mental Health-funded investigation was one of the first controlled clinical trials of a behavioral intervention for individuals with dementia. Subsequently, in addition to treating depression, Dr. Teri applied behavioral principles to treating other difficult behaviors, such as agitation and anxiety, and to encouraging positive behaviors, such as exercise and health promotion for individuals with dementia and their caregivers. Once research studies have demonstrated their efficacy, Dr. Teri has also been committed to disseminating these interventions to professional and family care providers through detailed treatment manuals, videos, and high-quality educational materials.

In addition to her personal research productivity, Dr. Teri is an outstanding teacher and mentor, and is committed to advancing the research and clinical skills of others. She has provided intellectual and financial support to students at all levels and across multiple disciplines, and has mentored junior faculty members from departments of psychology, nursing, psychiatry, social work, anthropology, and medicine. Whether she is addressing university students, physicians at continuing medical education seminars, or nurse s aides in local residential facilities, Dr. Teri s ability to engage audiences at any level is superb. She presents complex information in a way that makes it understandable, and hundreds of health care providers and gerontologists are better clinicians and researchers due to her involvement in their education.

On a national and international level, Dr. Teri's service has been noteworthy. As a promoter of sound, high quality research, she served on grant review boards at the National Institute of Mental Health and the Medical and Scientific Advisory Council of the National Alzheimer's Association. As an advocate of excellence in the care of older adults, she has contributed to numerous national task forces, including the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, and the National Institutes of Health. In recognition of her intellectual leadership and service, her colleagues have honored her as a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Gerontological Society of America.

Having worked with Linda for twenty years now, I can personally attest to her compassion and generosity to others, her dedication to the scientist-practitioner model, and her insistence that clinical practice be informed by rigorous and thoughtful research. More than anyone I know, she is willing to identify areas of profound need, creatively tackle difficult problems, design rigorous scientific investigations, objectively evaluate outcomes, and disseminate results to those who can use the information to improve clinical care. In summary, Dr. Teri s career truly reflects the qualities we admired in Dr. Lawton, including intellectual leadership, breadth of contributions, commitment to mentorship, and respect for others. I can think of no one more deserving of this award than Dr. Teri.

--Rebecca Logsdon, Ph.D.