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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Louis Burgio, distinguished research professor in psychology and director of the Center for Mental Health and Aging at The University of Alabama, has been selected this year’s recipient of the M. Powell Lawton award, one of the highest awards given nationally for outstanding contributions in the area of mentorship and innovations in applied gerontology.

Applied gerontology involves the development of interventions that directly improve the lives of older adults.

The Lawton Award is sponsored by the Polisher Research Institute of Philadelphia, the American Psychological Association and the Retirement Research Foundation. It will be presented in August to Burgio in Washington D.C. at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.

“This award has special meaning for me because Powell is the father of modern gerontology and helped me immensely early, and actually throughout my career,” said Burgio. “Most important, Powell was the most decent human being I’ve ever met, and I've tried to emulate his dedication to gerontology and his mentorship style, knowing I could, best, only approximate Powell’s example,” he added.

During his time at UA, Burgio has been the primary project director, co-project director or primary mentor for research grants totaling more than $10 million and awarded by the nation’s top research centers, such as the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute for Mental Health. Burgio has conducted or is conducting research on caregiving and intervention for dementia patients for such agencies/organizations as The Alzheimer’s Association, the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Nursing Research and the Retirement Research Foundation.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y. and later received his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Notre Dame in the areas of developmental psychology and applied behavior analysis

Lawton led the nation’s first symposium on Alzheimer’s disease under the auspices of the Center’s Home for the Jewish Aged and was the first to recognize the importance of designing living environments for the elderly, particularly those with Alzheimer’s disease.