Nov. 22, 2005 | In recognition of her work in the area of Alzheimer’s disease research and education, Cornelia Beck, Ph.D., R.N., received the Maureen Reagan Award from the Alzheimer’s Association on Nov. 1 at the organization’s Autumn Lights Gala.

Beck is director of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Alzheimer’s Disease Center (ADC) at the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. She is the first nurse to be named director of an ADC. There are 29 such centers across the United States funded by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Beck also serves as professor in the Department of Geriatrics, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and College of Nursing at UAMS.

Among the many boards and councils on which she has served are the Mental Disorders of the Elderly Study Section at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the NIH Nursing Research Study Section and the Medical and Scientific Advisory Council of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Beck earned a doctoral degree in nursing from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Tex. In 2003 she received the National Gerontological Nursing Association Lifetime Achievement Award.