Lawrenceville resident Terri Lewinson recently received a John A. Hartford Geriatric Scholar Award of $100,000 to conduct health-related research with older adults. Lewinson, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, is one of only three Hartford faculty scholars named from Georgia during it history. Nationwide, she is one of only eight scholars selected to receive this prestigious award in 2012.

During the next two years, Dr. Lewinson will conduct a research project that evaluates and improves the field of geriatric social work. Her research is titled, “Mental and Physical Health Outcomes of Older Adults Residing in Extended Stay Hotels.”

The Faculty Scholars Program is one of five programs funded through the John A. Hartford Foundation initiative to enhance the capacity of social work education to meet the needs of the nation’s older adults and their families. It is administered by the Gerontological Society of America, a professional association dedicated to fostering the use of Gerontological research in forming public policy.

“With more than 76 million Americans turning 65 over the next three decades, having ‘aging savvy’ social workers will be increasingly more important,” the society states in a letter announcing Lewinson’s award.