Megan Huisingh-Scheetz, MD, MPH is the recipient of the Terrie Fox Wetle Rising Star Award in Health Services and Aging Research from the American Federation for Aging Research and the Mid -Career Innovation Award from the Gerontological Society of America.
Dr. Huisingh-Scheetz was awarded the 2024 Terrie Fox Wetle Rising Star Award in Health Services and Aging Research. This award is given to a candidate that has made important contributions with work that respects the value of multidisciplinary health services science and that is likely to be highly influential in shaping practice and research for decades to come. This award is named to honor Terrie Fox Wetle, PhD, who has devoted her professional career to improving the lives of older persons.
Dr. Huisingh-Scheetz is also the recipient of the Mid-Career Innovation Award from the Gerontological Society of America (GSA). This award acknowledges outstanding contributions of an established mid-career GSA member of the Health Science Section to an innovative and influential area of the field in research and/or practice.
Dr. Huisingh-Scheetz will be presented with both awards at the GSA’s 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting in November 2024.
Dr. Huisingh-Scheetz is Associate Professor in the Section of Geriatrics. Her research is focused on understanding how objectively measured activity and sedentary behavior patterns, resting metabolic rate, and body composition relate to frailty progression and frailty-related outcomes. Through her work, she analyzes accelerometry data to assess and trend activity patterns as markers of frailty and to inform frailty activity interventions using the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project dataset, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey dataset, and local data. In partnership with NORC and Orbita, Inc, Dr. Huisingh-Scheetz also developed and is studying the impact of EngAGE, a technology-based tool utilizing a voice assistant to deliver exercise programming to older adults in their home to reduce frailty. The program leverages caregivers to provide social motivation to the older adult to simultaneously combat loneliness.