Aging gracefully

Dr. David Lipschitz is chairman of the University of Arkansas medical school's geriatrics department. He's also an author, columnist, public speaker and TV personality, and a celebrity in Little Rock, Arkansas. His first book, Breaking the Rules of Aging,' was a regional best-seller, and he's at work on a second. He writes a Sunday column for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He created a series of programmes, Aging Successfully with Dr. David, that appeared on public TV stations in 49 states. He's a weekly guest on a Little Rock morning TV show and will soon start his own statewide radio programme, as well as launching a Web site, www.drdavidhealth.com. He still makes house calls and he gives his patients his cell phone number.

The geriatrician, born in 1943 in Johannesburg, is to old age what Dr. Spock was to parenting. The geriatrics programme Dr. Lipschitz has built at the University of Arkansas has captured the interest of experts. They believe that its emphasis on preventive medicine and its treatment of chronic conditions make it a model for an aging America.

He received an M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Witwaterstrand in Johannesburg. He immigrated to the United States in 1972. He has 3 children from his first marriage, Andrea, Elan and Howard. In 1977 he married Dr. Frances Wilson, an ENT Specialist. They have 3 children, Riley, Forbes and Evan. They have lived in Little Rock, Arkansas, since 1978.