June 12, 2026
The newest of the Foundation for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care (PALTC) Medicine’s Excellence Awards, Clinician of the Year, was created to recognize interdisciplinary team members in PALTC settings. Specifically, it honors a licensed health-care practitioner who embodies excellence in treating and caring for people in our settings.
The 2026 recipient, Elizabeth Galik, PhD, CRNP, has been providing excellent care to her patients for many years as a nurse practitioner in long-term care and community-based settings through clinical practice with the Sheppard Pratt Health System. In addition, she is a professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, where she teaches in the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program and conducts research to improve care practices for older adults with dementia and their caregivers in long-term care. And despite her extremely busy schedule, Dr. Galik finds time to speak at industry conferences and write for a wide variety of publications, and also served as editor-in-chief of Caring for the Ages from 2020 to 2025.
She was nominated by several current and former members of the PALTmed Board of Directors for exemplifying the high standards associated with the award. As they noted, “Her work has altered the philosophy of care for those with severe dementia from being custodial and propagating disability to a philosophy in which function is optimized, and the quality of life of older adults is maintained.”
“This award is very meaningful to me because it highlights excellence in clinical practice and patient care. I'm deeply honored to be recognized for my clinical practice in the post-acute and long-term care setting,” Dr. Galik says. “And that helps to focus on improving outcomes for individuals living with dementia. My clinical practice has always been the inspiration for my teaching and scholarly pursuits throughout my academic career, and I expect to remain engaged in it until I retire.”
The fact that the Clinician of the Year Award recognizes members of the interdisciplinary team is especially important to Dr. Galik. She explains, “Providing health care in post-acute and long-term care communities is very complex, and one person can't do it or lead it alone. Geriatrics truly takes an interdisciplinary team working together to provide high-quality care for the residents and families that we work with.”
Nominations for the 2027 Excellence Awards—which also include Medical Director of the Year, the William Dodd Founder’s Award for Distinguished Service, and the James Pattee Award for Excellence in Education—will open soon and run through the end of September.