News

NW GWEC was honored to have two late-breaking abstracts centered on rural and age-friendly education accepted as poster presentations at the Gerontological Society of America’s (GSA) Annual Scientific Conference in Boston, MA.

The 2025 GWEP-CC Preconference at the Gerontological Society of America’s (GSA) annual scientific meeting brought together leaders in geriatrics education, innovation, and workforce development for a full day of learning, collaboration, and celebration.

A new study—co-authored by Breanne Swanson, MS, and grounded in her early work as a Primary Care Liaison—highlights how partnerships between primary care clinics and Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) can connect older adults with essential social supports such as transportation, nutrition, housing, and social connection. These supports are crucial to overall health and the ability to age in place.

We’re excited to share that Leigh Ann Mike, PharmD was recognized as a Fellow of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists at the organization’s annual meeting last weekend and her poster presentation received 2nd Place for Top Poster.

The Collaborating for a Dementia-Friendly Washington: Building Momentum conference brought together leaders, advocates, and care professionals from across Washington state.

HRSA-funded program connects health sciences students across UW campuses to education on Age-Friendly Healthcare. 

On October 14, Katherine Bennett, MD, will present at the National Academies’ Forum on Advancing Diagnostic Excellence during a hybrid public workshop focused on improving diagnosis in rural America.

Anita Souza, PhD, has spent the past year working with healthcare providers in tribal, rural and underserved communities to help them ensure they can meet the needs of older adults.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Phelan, MD, MS who was named in Seattle Magazine’s Top Doctors list, an annual list of the best doctors in the Puget Sound region. Seattle’s “Top Doctors” and Katherine Bennett, MD, who was named in Seattle Met’s list of Top Doctors. 

In July 2025, our Area Agency on Aging partners shared their work at the national USAging Conference. Their presentation, Bridging the Gap: A Toolkit for Strengthening AAA Relationships with Healthcare Systems, highlighted innovative strategies for building stronger partnerships between healthcare systems and community-based aging services.

Reporting on the quality of care for older patients is essential—but it can be tough for busy primary care practices. That’s why our partner in Family Medicine, WPRN, teamed up with nine primary care clinics to create a toolkit that makes it easier to collect and report age-friendly quality-of-care data.

Over 100 University of Washington physicians were honored in Seattle Magazine’s Top Doctor’s list for 2024. The NW GWEC’s Project Director, Elizabeth Phelan made the list for geriatricians. Congratulations Elizabeth!

Each year, Seattle Met produces a list of the best health care professionals in the region, featuring doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and more in over 90 specialties. The NW GWEC’s Educational Director, Katherine Bennett was among the many UW health professions who made the 2024 annual list! Congratulations Kate!

The UW Northwest Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Center (NW GWEC), led by Dr. Elizabeth Phelan, professor (Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine), is one of 42 programs to receive federal support to improve care for older Americans, including those experiencing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Helping Patients Share What Matters Most. Advance care planning (ACP) helps ensure patients’ voices are heard by encouraging conversations about their health goals and future care. When aligned with the Age-Friendly Health System’s “What Matters” approach, these conversations can be even more powerful

Our Primary Care Liaisons, Felicia Sanchez (ALTC, Yakima, WA) and Breanne Swanson (AAADSW, Vancouver, WA) presented at a W4A or Washington Association of Area Agencies on Aging Conference (June 2024).

Dr. Bennett was part of a team that published a paper describing how the HRSA-funded Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Programs (GWEPs) have created a robust training infrastructure for geriatrics education by using the Project ECHO® model.

Our NW GWEC extends our most heart-felt congratulations to Michael V. Vitiello (our Emeritus Co-Director) for receiving the National Sleep Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award! Dr. Vitiello’s contributions to advancing the field of sleep health is beyond measure.

People of all ages are equally prone to slip on snow and ice, says Dr. Elizabeth Phelan, professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine and medical director of the Fall Prevention Clinic at Harborview Medical Center. In that way, she says, those conditions level the playing field.

We partner with Aging and Disability Services (ADS) of Seattle-King County to create and share Self-Management Plans for patients, family, and caregivers. There are over 25 plans available in multiple languages to help patients, family, and caregivers manage common chronic health conditions. The plans use traffic light flags to help decide when to seek care from a health professional (green = good health, yellow = warnings, red = emergencies).

Our NW GWEC Project Director, Elizabeth Phelan, MD, MS, gave on Updates in Falls Research and Clinical Care at Geriatric Medicine Grand Rounds, Harborview Medical Center

At the first MetaECHO conference since 2019, the global ECHO community joined forces to share, dream, and plan. One presentation was from our NW GWEC and our Medical Director of Project ECHO-Geriatrics, Katherine Bennett, MD.

Elizabeth Phelan, MD, MS, our NW GWEC Project Director presented Friday, April 21st, 2023 at our University of Washington Geriatric Grand Rounds.

Congratulations to our three Primary Care Liaisons (Breanne Swanson, Phung Nguyen, and Felicia Sanchez) and their well-received poster…

Our Project Director, Elizabeth Phelan, MD, MS, delivered an excellent presentation, Age-Friendly Healthcare: What Is It? How Do We Get There? at UW Medicine’s Grand Rounds April 29th, 2022.

New educational resources:

What You Need to Know About Opioid Dependence in Older Patients – 15 min Project ECHO – Geriatrics Didactic

New Guidelines for Opioid Prescribing and What They Mean for Elders with Chronic Pain – 75 min Geriatric Healthcare Lecture

UW’s family medicine residents have monthly access to guidance on managing elder patients’ conditions.

On the third Friday of the month, a team of geriatric specialists lead a teleconference, Project ECHO – Geriatrics, a teleconference that is one of the Pacific Northwest’s most concerted efforts to improve care of elderly people.

We are delighted to announce the publication of our first article, Project ECHO – Geriatrics: Training Future Primary Care Providers to Meet the Needs of Older Adults in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education (JGME).

Our own Katherine Bennett, MD testified February 5th, 2019 at the US senate HELP Committee Hearing about the merits of our Project ECHO – Geriatrics and our NW GWEC’s educational activities to better prepare the primary care workforce to care for older adults and ultimately reduce health care costs.

Our Primary Care Liaison role working to create community-clinic linkages to optimize the care of older adults was 1 of 16 programs accepted for N4A’s Aging Innovation Award. Congratulations Allison and Melissa!

An update from our partners at Aging and Disability Services (ADS):

When Aging and Disability Services (ADS) first announced our clinical-community partnership with the Northwest Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Center (NWGWEC), we could not know how successful it would be and how much we all would learn.

Aging and Disability Services, the Area Agency on Aging of Seattle-King County, is excited to announce a partnership with the Northwest Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Center. This collaboration aims to positively impact the healthcare system for older patients, […]

A Northwest Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Center is being established at the University of Washington to increase the expertise of primary-care providers, trainees and others in caring for older adults. The ultimate goal is to improve healthcare for […]