LITTLE ROCK--When Jeanne Yichen Wei, MD, PhD, was a medical school student excelling in cardiology, she became acutely interested in why heart disease remains the leading killer of men and women over the age of 65. She asked her medical school professors their opinion of specializing in gerontology and they told her not to do it. "It would be academic suicide," they said. "Why would you do that when you're doing so well in cardiology?"

 

Wei was undeterred. "Aging is so fascinating, but it's difficult to understand," she said. "And when you don't understand something, it gets relegated to the back burner. It wasn't a very well respected specialty then, and even now it's not widely accepted, partly because it's not understood, partly because you have to admit that you're aging too, and partly because doctors are taught to restore and maintain life. It's sometimes difficult to deal with reality."

 

Wei's family emigrated from China to the United States, where her dad, George, was a chemist, minister and university professor. Her mom, Alice, also a professor, earned a doctorate from the University of Chicago on Asian studies, focusing on Chinese history. "I didn't appreciate my parents for a while," recalled Wei. "When I was 16, I thought I must be adopted. How could my parents be so unintelligent? Then when I was 19, I didn't know how they did it, but it seemed that my parents had somehow become much smarter. Some nuances in life you don't appreciate until you're in your thirties."

 

Wei was the youngest of five children, all of whom excelled in math, science and the arts. Her oldest brother, Sam, studied chemical physics and is a researcher for a major aerospace firm in Seattle, Washington. Her older brother, Eugene, is a chemist and teacher taking a year off to teach chemistry, math and English in China. Her oldest sister, Irene, now retired, earned a PhD in biology. Her older sister, Eva, also retired, is a math and art specialist and computer programmer. Both of Wei's parents are deceased.

 

"So many people have guided and mentored me, including my family," said Wei. "Many don't realize the impact that they had."

 

Wei's education largely took place at the University of Illinois, where she earned a physics degree, a medical degree, and a PhD in pharmacology. She interned in medicine and completed clinical and research fellowships at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and was a staff fellow in the clinical physiology branch of the cardiovascular section at the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, and Gerontology Research Center.

 

Leading to her move to Arkansas, Wei's impressive resume included academic posts at Harvard Medical School, hospital appointments at Baltimore City Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Brockton/West Roxbury VA in Boston. In addition to directing the Gerontology Research Laboratory at Beth Israel Hospital and the Division on Aging at Harvard Medical School, Wei's visiting professor appointments have taken her all over the world: University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;  Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and McGill University in Montreal, Canada; Clinical Science Institute at University College in Galway, Ireland; University of Sao Paolo in Sao Paolo, Brazil; Department of Molecular Medicine at Chiba University in Chiba, Japan; and National Taiwan University Medical School in Taipei, Taiwan.

 

Domestically, Wei has been a visiting professor at the Huffington Center on Aging at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas; Brown University Medical School and Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I.; Duke University Medical School in Durham, N.C.; Presbyterian Hospital and University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas; and Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago, Ill. She has received dozens of awards, including Harvard's Clinical Educator of the Year in 2000, and has been elected by her peers to various national and international professional posts.

 

Then Wei discovered Arkansas.

 

"The previous director of the institute recruited me seven years ago, after we had served together on several national committees," said Wei, who was recently named chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics, and executive director of the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). "I didn't know much about Arkansas, or really where it was located exactly. When I visited Little Rock, I was so enthralled by the programs and the people. Flying back to Boston, I mulled the pluses and minuses, as one often does with any program that one visits. There were so many pluses. The only minus was the location."

 

After nearly a decade in the South, Wei enthusiastically said, "I'm delighted to be here, so privileged to be part of this fabulous, incredible, and wonderful program. There's so much community support here. Our policymakers and legislators have a longstanding history and appreciation of improving healthcare at the state and national levels, preparing for older Arkansans."

 

If Wei had not chosen a career in medicine, she might have gravitated to research, engineering, or maybe music. "I love classical music," said Wei, formerly a pianist. "It helps to calm and sooth and facilitates the thinking process."

 

Of Wei's two grown sons, Michael is an intern at Johns Hopkins in internal medicine; David recently graduated from Washington University and is a banker in New York.