The Health in Aging Foundation New Investigator Awards are presented to individuals whose original research, as presented in a submitted abstract for an AGS Annual Scientific Meeting, reflects new and relevant research in geriatrics. The award is designed to recognize individuals who are committed to a career in aging research.
2024 Recipients:
- Sandra Shi, MD, MPH
- Snigdha Jain, MD, MHS
- Matthew Growdon, MD, MPH
- Reuben Ng, PhD
Sandra Shi, MD, MPH is a geriatrician, Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and an Assistant Scientist at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute at Hebrew SeniorLife. She researches frailty and post-acute care outcomes in skilled nursing facilities, leveraging large databases, including national surveys and Medicare claims data. Her AGS Annual Meeting abstract entitled “Frailty and Time at Home after PostAcute Care in Skilled Nursing Facilities” investigated the impact of pre-existing frailty on post-acute care outcomes. The study concluded that clinical frailty assessments may provide valuable risk stratification for postacute SNF care. An active member of the AGS, Dr. Shi serves as an Editorial Board Member for the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Question Author for the Geriatrics Review Syllabus, and is a member of the Junior Faculty Special Interest Group. Dr Shi was an NIA Butler-Williams Scholar and currently holds an R03 GEMSSTAR award for studying time at home after post-acute care and Older Adults Independence Center Research Education Core award to design and implement a multicomponent intervention for frail older adults in skilled nursing facilities. Her goal is to improve the quality of life for frail older adults by combining geriatrics and rehabilitation sciences in post-acute rehabilitation interventions within skilled nursing facilities.
Snigdha Jain, MD, MHS, NIA GEMSSTAR awardee and Butler-Williams Scholar, is an Assistant Professor in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at Yale. Her post-doctoral research, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, elucidated socioeconomic disparities in patient-centered outcomes of older adults after critical illness. With 40+ publications, she has established herself as an equity-focused leader at the intersection of Geriatrics and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Her submitted abstract “Association between Social Determinants of Health and Delivery of Post-Acute Rehabilitation to Older Survivors of Critical Illness” explored whether delivery of rehabilitation differed by social determinants among older ICU survivors referred for post-acute care. An active member of the AGS Junior Faculty and AHEAD Special Interest Groups, she led a highly well-received symposium on incorporating equity considerations for investigators at AGS23 and serves on the AGS Diversity in Research Subcommittee.
Matthew E. Growdon, MD, MPH is a geriatrician and Assistant Professor of Medicine in the University of California, San Francisco Division of Geriatrics. Dr. Growdon’s health services and Implementation Science research is focused on improving the quality and safety of prescribing for older adults, particularly those with cognitive impairment and social vulnerability. He is currently supported by NIA GEMSSTAR R03 and UCSF K12 awards and has published 28+ peer-reviewed journal articles, including work in JAGS concerning polypharmacy among older adults with dementia that was featured in NEJM Journal Watch. His submission “eConsultation for deprescribing among older adults: Evaluating barriers to and facilitators of implementation” elicited clinician perspectives on barriers to and facilitators of using eConsults for deprescribing among older adults within a large university health network to develop a deprescribing eConsult intervention. A member of AGS since 2018, he has served as a MSTAR research mentor and currently participates on the AGS Research Committee and as part of the JAGS Junior Reviewer Program. A former chief resident and emerging leader in Geriatric Medicine, he currently serves as the Quality Improvement Lead for the Age-Friendly ED Program at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
Reuben Ng, PhD is an Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Lead Scientist at the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk. Reuben’s research has played a crucial role in infusing the field of geriatrics with a critical social dimension. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, he earned the prestigious Margret M. and Paul B. Baltes Foundation Award in Behavioral and Social Gerontology in 2023. More recently, he secured the Mather Institute’s Innovative Research on Aging Award for the second time. Recognizing ageism as a significant social determinant of health, Reuben’s research focuses on uncovering ageist representations across various forms of media and developing tools to enhance age advocacy. His submitted abstract “Experience of Age Discrimination in 116 Countries” constitutes the largest global analysis on age discrimination to date. His work has sparked much-needed conversations about dismantling ageism and reframing aging.
Past Recipients of the Health in Aging Foundation New Investigator Award:
2023 Awardees
Cameron Gettel, MD, MHS
Kaley Hayes, PharmD, PhD
Sara C. LaHue, MD
Brian E McGarry, PT, PhD
2022 Awardees
Jason Falvey, PT, DPT, PhD
Kenneth Lam, MD, MAS
Jasmine Travers, PhD, MHS, RN, AGPCNP-BC
Scott Martin Vouri, PharmD, PhD
2021 Awardees
Scott Bauer, MD, MS
Kah Poh (Melissa) Loh, MBBCh, BAO
Stephanie Nothelle, MD
Ambarish Pandey, MD, MSCS
2020 Awardees
Ashwin Kotwal, MD, MS
Daniel Parker, MD
Adam Simning, MD, PhD
Andrew Zullo, PharmD, ScM, PhD
2019 Awardees
Marlon J.R. Aliberti, MD, PhD
Claire K. Ankuda, MD, MPH, MSc
Rasheeda Hall, MD, MBA, MHS
Carolyn Presley, MD, MHS
2018 Awardees
Lina Ma, MD, PhD
Anil Makam, MD, MAS
Brienne Miner, MD, MHS
Victoria Tang, MD, MAS
2017 Awardees
Andrew Cohen, MD, DPhil
Lorena Gonzalez, MD
Benjamin Han, MD, MPH
Supakanya Wongrakpanich, MD
2016 Awardees
Lauren Ferrante, MD
Lee A. Jennings, MD, MSHS
David S.H. Lee, PharmD, PhD
Neelesh Nadkarni, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Nancy Schoenborn, MD
Anne Suskind, MD, MS
2015 Awardees
Jennifer Lai, MD, MBA
Michael LaMantia, MD, MPH
Una Makris, MD
John Newman, MD, PhD
Ryota Sakurai, PT, PhD
2014 Awardees
Ryan Greysen
Zachary Marcum
Bianca Buurman, RN, PhD
John A. Batsis, MD, FACP
John Dodson
Terrence E. Murphy, PhD
2013 Awardees
Peter Abadir, MD
C. Barrett Bowling, MD
Rebecca Brown, MD, MPH
Gelareh Gabayan, MD, MSHS
2012 Awardees
Christina Bell, MD, MSc
Noll Campbell, PharmD, FASCP, BCPP
Sandy Chang, MD
Dr. Oddom Demontiero MD, FRACP
Mieke Deschodt, RN, MSc, PhD student
Constance H. Fung, MD
Sei J. Lee, MD, MAS
Matthew T. Rondina, M.D.
2011 Awardees
Theresa A. Allison, MD, PhD
Laurie Archbald-Pannone, MD, PhD
Marian Betz, MD, PH
William Hung, MD, MPH
Toru Okura, MD, MSc
Kalpana P. Padala, MD, MS
Krupa Shah, MD, MPH
2010 Awardees
Sarah D. Berry, MD, MPH
Sascha Dublin, MD, PhD
Jane L. Givens, MD, MSCE
Alison J. Huang, MD
Supriya G. Mohile, MD, MS
Esther S. Oh, MD
Ramona L. Rhodes, MD, MPH
Alexander K. Smith, MD, MPH
E. Camille Vaughan, MD, MS