News Releases
4/15/05
A University of Kansas professor who seeks to improve the quality of life for older adults has been formally invested with a professorship in community geriatrics at the KU School of Medicine-Wichita.
Doug Woolley, M.D., KU associate professor of family and community medicine, was named the inaugural recipient of the Delos V. Smith Jr. Professorship in Community Geriatrics. Woolley was honored with the professorship at a ceremony today at the Hilton Wichita Airport Hotel.
“Doug Woolley is helping KU answer the critical needs of a growing population in this state,” said Joseph C. Meek, professor of medicine and former dean of the School of Medicine-Wichita. “With the aid of the Smith Professorship, Dr. Woolley is providing the leadership, research, education and compassion needed in this field.”
Woolley, who joined the faculty in 1993, said that his main goal was to bring geriatric research out of the clinical laboratory and into the community.
“To find ways to improve our quality of life and care as we age, especially at the community level, we need to conduct research in community settings,” he said. “We need to take geriatrics research into the primary care practices where most care for the elderly takes place.”
As the Smith Professor, Woolley teaches and mentors students, gives talks to practicing physicians participating in continuing education courses in geriatrics, conducts research in health issues affecting the aged, and talks with community organizations about geriatric health care.
Woolley said there is great need to train health care providers in geriatrics and conduct research that benefits older adults, especially in Kansas. The state ranks fifth in the United States in the percentage of people over the age of 85, and that percentage is expected to double this decade.
“We need to explore what works best for community physicians, for example,” he said. “What’s efficient, effective and acceptable care? We seek to answer these questions.”
Woolley has practiced and taught geriatrics for 25 years. During his tenure at Pennsylvania State University School of Medicine from 1980 to 1990, he organized and directed a nursing home education program for students and residents. After serving as a faculty member at East Carolina University School of Medicine from 1990 until 1993, he joined the KU School of Medicine-Wichita.
In addition to his teaching, research and lecture responsibilities as Smith Professor, Woolley serves as the medical director for the Larksfield Place Continuing Care Retirement Community in Wichita and maintains a clinical practice. He recently completed a two-year research fellowship with the American Academy of Family Physicians. In 2002, he earned a master’s degree in public health at KU and was named outstanding graduate for that year.
The Smith Professorship Fund at the Kansas University Endowment Association provides support for a salary stipend, equipment, supplies, graduate student researchers and travel. The fund was established in 2000 through a gift of $500,000 to KU Endowment from the Delos V. Smith Senior Citizens Foundation.
Delos V. Smith Jr., a 1928 KU alumnus and actor, producer and director, established the foundation in 1977 with the intention of creating and financially supporting a new senior center in Hutchinson, Kan. In 1987, he opened the Delos V. Smith Senior Citizens Center, a community activity center for older adults. Following his death, the foundation received Smith’s estate, increasing its assets from about $1.5 million to $20 million. Since then, the foundation has expanded its grant-making mission beyond the Senior Center.
KU Endowment is an independent, non-profit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management organization for the University of Kansas. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university and one of the largest.
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