Leland Waters, Ph.D.
Director, Virginia Geriatric Education Center
Associate Director, Virginia Center on Aging
Associate Professor
Department of Gerontology

Expertise

• Geriatrics Education and Workforce Development
• Post-Acute and Long-Term Care
• Social Determinants of Health

Education

• Ph.D. in Health Related Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University
• M.S. in Gerontology, with a specialization in Health Care Organization and Planning, Virginia Commonwealth University
• BS in Economics, Virginia Commonwealth University

Research Interests

• Interprofessional geriatric workforce enhancement
• Transdisciplinary Team Science
• Food Insecurity

Bio

Leland “Bert” Waters, PhD, is the Associate Director of the Virginia Center on Aging and is the Director of the Virginia Geriatric Education Center, a consortium of six Virginia universities. He is the Project Director for Virginia’s Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP). Dr. Waters is core faculty at VCU’s Health and Wellness Across the Lifespan Convergence Lab, addressing problems of older and disabled adults aging in place within low-income seniors housing apartment buildings and surrounding neighborhoods in urban Richmond, Virginia. He was instrumental in developing and sustaining the Mobile Health and Wellness Program, a care coordination model supporting low-income older adults. He is also the Co-Principal Investigator for the Virginia Long-Term Care Facility Network, a peer clinician network and associated website of free information with a monthly forum through which clinical issues in long-term care medicine can be discussed among peers. He currently serves as Past-President of the Southern Gerontological Society, and Past-President of the National Association for Geriatric Education, the stakeholder organization for GWEPs. 

Highlights

• National/International Recognition Award Scholar, VCU Health System, 2024
• Gordon Streib Distinguished Academic Gerontologist Award, Southern Gerontological
  Society, 2024
• Fellow, Gerontological Society of America, 2022
• Researcher of the Year Award, College of Health Professions, 2021
• Victor W. Marshall Fellow in Applied Gerontology, Southern Gerontological Society, 2020
• VCU Leadership Development Program, (GEHLI) Class of 2018
• Alumni of the Year, Department of Gerontology, 2011

Publications/Projects