Laura Morton, MD, CMD
Candidate - Vice President
Laura Morton, MD, CMD is a Professor of Geriatric Medicine in the Department of Family & Geriatric Medicine, Director of the Division of Geriatric Medicine, and Director of the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Morton is board certified in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine and is a Certified Medical Director. She has a lifelong interest in long term care and worked as a certified nursing assistant during college. She maintains an active practice delivering care to patients as Medical Director of four local continuing care retirement communities.
Dr. Morton became involved in PALTmed when she attended the Futures Program and the annual conference in 2010. She volunteered to facilitate a Town Hall during the 2015 annual conference in Louisville, KY. Since that time, she has been actively involved in the organization. She served as a board member beginning in 2015 of the American Board of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (ABPLM), and later as the Chair from 2019-2021. She participated in the organization’s Hill Day, which was her introduction to advocacy. She later became a member of the PALTmed State Based Policy and Advocacy Subcommittee.
Dr. Morton has also been actively involved in the KMDA, the Kentucky Chapter of PALTmed, serving on the Board of Directors. She continues to serve as a Kentucky Delegate to the House of Delegates. During COVID 19, Dr. Morton was appointed to Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Long-Term Care Advisory Task Force, which focused on bringing a diverse group of experts together to provide guidance for the post-acute and long-term care setting in Kentucky. This group continues to meet and advocate for frail older adults living in diverse counties throughout the state.
Dr. Morton is an academic geriatrician, who enjoys sharing her passion for care of frail older adults with learners at various stages of training (fellows, residents, and medical students), the interdisciplinary team, as well as the community. She serves as the director for the family medicine continuity nursing home at the University of Louisville, giving weekly lectures about caring for older adults in facilities. Dr. Morton has been involved in grants at the University of Louisville Trager Institute: ECHO National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network, Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Grant Program (GWEP), and served as a mentor on Geriatric Academic Career Award (GACA) projects.
Dr. Morton is pursuing a Master of Health Professions Education (MHPE) through the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago. She is currently working on her thesis project, which is focused on assessing the knowledge gaps of nursing staff in nursing facilities regarding older adult sexuality.
Dr. Morton enjoys traveling and exploring culinary adventures in her free time. She also enjoys gardening and playing in the dirt during the summer months.
Candidate Statement
I am honored to be nominated for the role of Vice President of PALTmed.
PALTmed has been my professional home for my career as a geriatrician. I have served the organization through the ABPLM and am now ready to continue my service to the entire society. I have had a lifelong calling to serve older adults in the post-acute and long-term care settings. I started out volunteering as a teenager and then became a Certified Nursing Assistant at a local nursing home. My clinical career has been as an attending physician and medical director in several long-term care facilities. I am also fortunate enough to serve as the medical director for the same facility where I volunteered at the beginning of my journey in long-term care. I am a Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Louisville, John C. Wright, M.D. Endowed Professor on Aging, Division Chief of Geriatric Medicine, and Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Director. Through these various leadership roles, I have gained valuable skills to multi-task, manage complex situations, and facilitate challenging interpersonal situations.
I am passionate, flexible, and committed to this organization and its continued growth. I am willing to dedicate the time and energy necessary to lead the board into the future. I will collaborate with the board to move the organization forward through external relationships with other organizations, support continued advocacy efforts, and encouraging our members to serve as ambassadors throughout the country.
As experts in post-acute and long-term care, we must work together to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of healthcare. With the aging population and an increased desire to age in place, we must continue to embrace other sites and models of care. PALTmed has so many dedicated member volunteers who help accomplish the mission of this organization.
The greatest strength of this organization is our dedicated members. One of our biggest challenges is decreasing membership, which continues to impact many professional organizations. As we address this obstacle, I am committed to listen to the members to ascertain the needs of this community. Working with the organization’s leaders to prioritize those needs and strategize on ways to accomplish these goals will be a focus as we move forward. My vision is to grow our PALTmed family, increasing our membership and impact on this special area of medicine.
As an academic geriatrician, I’m committed to the education of all learners, including our diverse interdisciplinary teams. The need for workforce development and support of our current workers was heightened by the COVID 19 pandemic. As leaders in this field, our society must continue to demonstrate our value and uniqueness to the rest of the medical community, health systems, and payors. I want to continue to enhance existing and create novel workforce development endeavors.
Serving as Vice President would be the next step in my service to my professional family, the healthcare field, and ultimately, the frail medically complex older adults we serve in our care settings.
I would be honored to serve as the Vice President of PALTmed as we continue to evolve as the premier medical society for those practicing in the post-acute and long-term care settings.
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