UAMS Receives $2.1M to Create Distinguished Chair for Geriatric Medicine

Dr. Jeanne Wei (Photo provided by UAMS)

UAMS has received gifts totaling more than $2.1 million to create the Jeanne Wei, M.D., Ph.D., Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Geriatric Medicine, an endowed fund in the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging.

The Willard & Pat Walker Charitable Foundation made a $1 million donation to create the endowed chair, and Jane Lyon donated $1 million to elevate it to a distinguished chair.

Additionally, a $100,000 gift was made by an anonymous donor, and many others have contributed to the new chair.

Each of the gifts were made in recognition of Dr. Jeanne Wei, the executive director of the UAMS Institute on Aging and chair of the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics in the College of Medicine.

Wei, known for her work in geriatrics, has served Arkansans for more than two decades at UAMS. She has authored six books and more than 180 peer-reviewed publications and 70 review articles.

She’s secured six medical-related U.S. patents, received multiple National Institute of Health grants and served as chairman of the Board of Scientific Counselors of National Institute on Aging and as a member of the National Advisory Council on Aging.

She has also received numerous teaching awards.

“I am truly humbled by the continued commitment of the Walker Foundation and Jane Lyon towards the health and wellbeing of seniors in Arkansas, a field of medicine that I’ve devoted most of my professional life to,” Wei said in a press release. “I am very excited about the possibilities that come with this new chair — in this moment, the potential seems abundant and limitless. It will certainly have a profound impact on the work of the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging.”

A distinguished chair is established with gifts of at least $1.5 million, which are invested, with the interest proceeds used to support the educational, research and clinical activities of the chair holder.

The holder of the chair will be a physician, researcher, clinician or faculty member in the Institute on Aging with preference given to the director or someone in a leadership position. The chair will be selected by the dean of the College of Medicine.

“Endowed chairs are a prestigious honor given to the most distinguished faculty members, and provide support for research, education and clinical services,” Dr. Cam Patterson, UAMS chancellor and CEO of UAMS Health, said in the release. “Further, they help us recruit and retain world-class educators, scientists and clinicians.”