LITTLE ROCK – The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has named Jeanne Y. Wei, M.D., Ph.D. executive director of the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics in the College of Medicine. 

“Our national search turned up many qualified candidates but it was obvious Dr. Wei was very highly qualified and in addition, she had the full support and enthusiasm of the faculty and staff at the institute as well as the patients, volunteers and board members from across the state,” said UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D.

Since 2002, Wei has served as professor and executive vice chair of the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics and staff physician of the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System (CAVHS). Wei sees patients in the Thomas and Lyon Longevity Clinic in the Institute on Aging and the VA.

As a geriatrician, cardiologist, scientist, teacher and academic administrator, Wei has more than twenty years of experience in developing academic programs as well as clinical initiatives.  She has supervised the research training of more than 60 pre-doctoral and postdoctoral students and fellows, many of whom have received national recognition.

“Dr. Wei’s vision for improving the health of Arkansas’ senior citizens is inspiring and will include provision of clinical services, translation of research findings, and education of geriatric providers in addition to advocacy for older Arkansans,” said College of Medicine Dean Debra H. Fiser, M.D.

Wei is the Dillard Professor of Geriatrics at UAMS. She is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine and in the subspecialties of cardiovascular medicine and geriatric medicine.

Wei obtained a Bachelor of Science, medical degree and doctorate from the University of Illinois. She completed an internal medicine residency and a Cardiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. She also completed a National Institutes of Health (NIH) staff fellowship in gerontology at the National Institute on Aging (NIA). She then joined the full-time faculty at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, and later became director of the Division on Aging at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Gerontology Division in the Department of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Wei received the Outstanding Clinical Educator Award from Harvard Medical School in 2000 and the Outstanding Woman Faculty Award from the College of Medicine at UAMS in 2005. 

Wei has received NIH research funding for more than 20 years. She has served on many peer review study sections at NIH, the National Advisory Council on Aging for the NIA and advisory boards of research foundations, pharmaceutical companies and the FDA. She served as chairman of the board of Scientific Counselors of the NIA and as president of the Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs and the Society of Geriatric Cardiology.

Wei has more than 200 publications in leading scientific journals and has authored six books. She has served on the editorial board of and/or as editorial consultant to 34 peer-review scientific journals.

Wei was recognized by Boston Magazine as one of the Best Geriatricians in Boston. She also has been recognized nationally as one of America’s Top Doctors in cardiology and geriatric medicine. She served as a guest speaker and visiting professor at many universities and medical centers around the nation and the world, including Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Japan, and Taiwan.

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, six centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has 2,652 students and 733 medical residents. Its centers of excellence include the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. It is one of the state’s largest public employers with about 10,000 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $5 billion a year. Visit www.uams.edu.