University of Vermont Provost David Rosowsky and Larner College of Medicine Dean Frederick Morin, M.D., have announced the appointment of Michael LaMantia, M.D., M.P.H., as director of the UVM Center on Aging. LaMantia, who is currently associate professor of medicine and neurological sciences, as well as section head of geriatric medicine, will succeed William Pendlebury, M.D., professor emeritus of pathology and laboratory medicine, who has served as the Center on Aging’s director for more than nine years.

Established in 2008 with support from a generous endowment from Vermont philanthropist Lois McClure, the Center on Aging at UVM has a mission to forge an ongoing collaboration among faculty, students, staff and programs within the UVM, UVM Medical Center, and the Vermont community to promote a sense of wellbeing and a high quality of life for older adults. Over the past more than nine years, the Center has carried out a number of initiatives aligned with its core focus areas of education, research, social science, policy and collaboration, with an overall goal to improve the health and wellbeing of Vermont’s seniors, as well as support research and training in the field of gerontology and geriatrics.

In January 2018, Pendlebury, who is also professor emeritus of neurological sciences, will step down from his role as the director of the Center on Aging, but will continue in his roles as medical director of the Memory Program and director of neuropathology at the UVM Medical Center.

“We are incredibly grateful to Dr. Pendlebury for his leadership in helping to ensure that aging Vermonters enjoy the highest quality of life possible and that our faculty and students have the opportunity to contribute to that goal,” said Rosowsky and Morin.

LaMantia, who joined UVM in 2016, currently cares for patients at the UVM Medical Center’s Memory Center on the Fanny Allen campus in Colchester, Vt. Prior to joining UVM, he worked for five years as an assistant professor of medicine and a research scientist at the Indiana University School of Medicine, the Indiana University Center for Aging Research, and the Regenstrief Institute, and served as medical director of the Eskenazi Health Aging Brain Care Medical Home. Board certified in both internal medicine and geriatrics, he received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and completed an internal medicine residency at University of North Carolina Hospitals and received a master’s degree in public health from UNC Chapel Hill. He then completed a fellowship in geriatrics at University of North Carolina Hospitals and a postdoctoral fellowship in aging at the UNC Institute on Aging. A specialist in the care of older adults, particularly those with cognitive impairment including memory and thinking skills, LaMantia conducts research on the coordination of care for older, vulnerable patients as they transition across sites of health care delivery. He has a particular interest in the care of seniors in the emergency department and especially the care provided to seniors with delirium and dementia.

“Dr. LaMantia has been an outstanding addition to our faculty and our community,” said Polly Parsons, M.D., UVM chair of medicine. “His commitment to clinical care, research and education will serve Vermont’s seniors well in his new role at the Center on Aging.”

Learn more about the Center on Aging at UVM.