Ory named 2016 American Academy of Health Behavior Research Laureate

Regents and Distinguished Professor Marcia Ory, PhD, at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health, has been named the 2016 American Academy of Health Behavior (AAHB) Research Laureate in Health Behavior Research.

The Research Laureate is the highest member award bestowed by AAHB to honor an individual who has made a significant and inveterate contribution to the understanding of health behavior change through research.

Currently serving as Associate Dean of Research at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, Ory has authored or co-authored 10 edited books, 40 book chapters, served as guest editor for 20 journal issues and published over 350 peer reviewed articles. Additionally, she is engaged in a variety of research projects at the local, state and national level that have generated more than $1 million annually in expenditures for research and service.

She serves as director of the school’s Program on Healthy Aging and most recently, she has assumed responsibility as the Texas A&M Health Science Center lead for the legislatively mandated Healthy South Texas Initiative. In this capacity, she is working with a diverse group of academicians, clinicians and community stakeholders to identify and evaluate innovative programs in chronic disease management with the goal of improving the health of residents at the Texas-Mexico border.

Ory is known for her excellence in mentoring the next generation of scholars and practitioners. Last year she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Aging and Public Health Section of the American Public Health Association.

Previously, she served for 20 years as a program director at the National Institute on Aging, guiding the development of the emergent field of healthy aging by defining research gaps, identifying a national research agenda and recruiting scholars to the field. Her research synthesis helped define how aging processes interact with social and behavioral influences to affect the health and functioning of individuals throughout their life-course.

Ory will receive the award at the 16^th Annual Scientific AAHB meeting in February 2016 in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.