Lichtenberg Earns GSA’s 2024 Donald P. Kent Award
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) — the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging — has chosen Peter Lichtenberg, PhD, ABPP, FGSA, of Wayne State University as the 2024 recipient of the Donald P. Kent Award.
This distinguished honor is given annually to a GSA member who best exemplifies the highest standards for professional leadership in gerontology through teaching, service, and interpretation of gerontology to the larger society. It was established in 1973 in memory of Donald P. Kent, PhD, for his outstanding leadership in translating research findings into practical use.
The award presentation will take place at GSA’s 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting, which will be held from November 13 to 16 in Seattle, Washington. This conference is organized to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers, educators, and practitioners who specialize in the study of the aging process.
At Wayne State University, Lichtenberg is the director of the Institute of Gerontology (IOG), founding director of the Wayne State University Lifespan Alliance, and a distinguished professor of psychology. A statewide and national leader in gerontology, Lichtenberg has served as a clinician, researcher, faculty member, clinical geropsychologist, and administrator throughout his career. His professional roles underscore his commitment to growing gerontology programs and promoting environments for colleagues and students to flourish.
“Receiving this award is precious to me,” Lichtenberg said. “I admire all of the previous winners, and to know my nominators thought I was deserving of joining them touches me deeply.”
His award nomination letter outlined numerous examples of Lichtenberg’s leadership being “impactful and impressive,” including 27 years co-directing the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research and prioritizing the IOG’s trainings in aging to reach more than 20,000 health care professionals annually. “Importantly,” the letter stated, “he has maintained this level of service and impact over the entire arc of his professional career.”
Lichtenberg also helped create and lead the university’s Lifespan Cognitive Neuroscience research program, a pre-doctoral training program in urban aging and health and launched the IOG’s first endowment campaign, which now stands at $3.1 million.
Lichtenberg’s work has been instrumental in interpreting the significance of research in aging for society at large. For example, Lichtenberg obtained funding and led a study using the Statewide Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey to document the prevalence of households where a person with dementia lived. Two years later, the Center for Disease Control had him assist with the development of a national Perceived Cognitive Impairment module, now used in nearly 40 states.
His service to the State of Michigan’s Adult Protective Services (APS) staff has been extensive. After an APS review noted the state’s lack of standardized assessments, Lichtenberg created new financial decision-making scales that can be used across multiple professions including APS.
Over the past two decades, Lichtenberg has concentrated his research on understanding financial decision-making and identifying vulnerabilities in older adults that increase their risk of financial exploitation. Thousands of older adults, caregivers, and financial and health services professionals have used his no-cost Older Adult Nest Egg tools (olderadultnestegg.com) to better understand issues of decision-making and risk of exploitation.
This work has led to his numerous education presentations for the National Adult Protective Services Association, state APS conferences, banks, credit unions, and wealth management firms. Lichtenberg has been interviewed about his work by The New York Times, AARP Magazine, Forbes, NPR’s Marketplace Morning Report, The Economist, MSN, and U.S. News & World Report, among others.
Lichtenberg received his BA degree from Washington University in St. Louis and master’s and doctorate degrees in clinical psychology, with a concentration in aging, from Purdue University. Throughout his career, his clinical and research work has focused on the intersection of geriatric medical rehabilitation, dementia assessment, late life depression, financial decision-making, and financial exploitation. The author of several assessment instruments, he has authored 200 peer reviewed publications, and written and edited seven books.
Lichtenberg is a GSA fellow, which represents the highest category of membership within the Society, and is a past GSA president, board chair, and chair of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Section.
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The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is the nation's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society — and its 5,500+ members — is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA’s structure includes a nonpartisan public policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society, and GSA is also home to the National Center to Reframe Aging and the National Coordinating Center for the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research.