News/Press Releases

• .@AmerGeriatrics Honors Expert & Emerging #Geriatrics Leaders at #AGS19

New York (April 16, 2019)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) annually honors researchers, clinicians, educators, and emerging health professionals who have made outstanding contributions to high-quality, person-centered care for older people. This year’s award recipients include more than 20 leaders representing the breadth of disciplines championing care for us all as we age.

Arti Hurria Memorial Award for Emerging Investigators in Internal Medicine Who are Focused on the Care of Older Adults

• Lauren Ferrante, MD, MHS (Yale School of Medicine)

Choosing Wisely® Champion Award

• Rebecca Dobert (Baystate Medical Center)

Clinician of the Year Award

• Kellie Flood, MD (University of Alabama at Birmingham)

Clinical Student Research Award

• The @AmerGeriatrics names @UAB’s Dr. Kellie Flood #Geriatrics Clinician of the Year #AGS19 http://ow.ly/Rhu530onxnZ

New York (April 9, 2019)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today named Kellie Flood, MD, one of Alabama’s premier geriatrics health professionals, its 2019 Clinician of the Year. An Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), as well as Associate Chief Medical and Quality Officer for Geriatrics and Care Transitions at UAB Hospital, Dr. Flood will be honored at the AGS 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS19) May 2-4 in Portland, Ore.

“Dr. Flood represents everything we’ve come to expect from a geriatrics health professional,” noted Laurie G. Jacobs. MD, AGSF, AGS President.  “She’s a skilled researcher, educator, and health system leader—all this because she remains so connected to the older people under her care.”

A board-certified physician in internal medicine, geriatrics, and palliative care, Dr. Flood wears dual caps as a leading clinician and an influential educator in a state where both are in high demand. Dr. Flood launched and continues to serve on the inpatient geriatric consult service that currently performs more than 1,400 consultations annually. And while coordinating that volume of care is impressive in its own right, Dr. Flood is perhaps best known for “going above and beyond” for each of her patients as individuals.

• At #AGS19, Dr. Nicki Brandt of @UMSOP honored for impact training future #geriatrics leaders in pharmacy & beyond http://ow.ly/3m8Y30onxtr

New York (April 9, 2019)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today announced that Nicole Brandt, PharmD, MBA, BCGP, BCPP, FASCP, of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy will be honored with the 2019 Dennis W. Jahnigen Award celebrating work to train health professionals in the care we all need as we age. A Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Science and Executive Director of the School of Pharmacy’s Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging, Dr. Brandt has dedicated more than two decades to uncovering best practices in medication management for older people and to training fellow pharmacists, doctors, nurses, social workers, and other colleagues in the compassionate, team-based care we all need as we age.

“In her research, leadership, and approach to education, Dr. Brandt embodies all the hallmarks of geriatrics as a ‘team sport,’” notes Laurie G. Jacobs, MD, AGSF, AGS President. “An expert on medication management—one of the most important topics for our patients—Dr. Brandt has helped the AGS build a bridge between that expertise and the training our diverse health workforce needs to keep us all safe, healthy, and independent as we age.”

• Leaders & colleagues at @AmerGeriatrics bestow one of #geriatrics’ highest honors on the late Dr. Arti Hurria, who set the gold standard for bringing geriatrics expertise to all health specialties http://ow.ly/Q63J30onxyK

New York (April 9, 2019)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) will recognize the late Arti Hurria, MD, a geriatrics oncologist who was one our country’s most passionate advocates for older adults with cancer,  with the David H. Solomon Public Service Award. Dr. Hurria, who tragically passed away in November 2018, was committed to improving the geriatrics competence of all physicians and health professionals—like David H. Solomon, MD, namesake for this award. Dr. Hurria set the standard for interprofessional collaboration between researchers in aging and those from other specialties. Her husband, Thomas Lee, MD, will accept the award on her behalf at the AGS 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS19), May 2-4 in Portland, Ore.

“We are privileged to work in a profession attuned to the memory of those who have gone before us,” notes Laurie G. Jacobs, MD, AGSF, AGS President. “The model Dr. Hurria set of servant leadership continues to benefit her colleagues and older adults. We, like many others, will continue to carry that legacy forward.”

• Training all health professionals to care optimally for older adults is critical as we all age; the new @AquiferOrg @AmerGeriatrics online curriculum has solutions to get us closer http://ow.ly/Wqn130okZ8e

New York (April 5, 2019)—Among many breakthroughs that have made living longer possible, better health care—and more experts to make that care possible—loom large. Given that all of us are aging, we need more clinicians, researchers, and advocates to keep that momentum going. Ideally, for example, we’d already have more than 22,000 geriatricians in the U.S. (though at present less than 7,000 certified clinicians are practicing nationwide). With a limited number of geriatricians, how are we to train the next generation of clinicians to optimally care for older people? A new tool from the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) and Aquifer (the non-profit leader in developing clinical learning tools for health professions education) holds promise for bridging that gap. Aquifer Geriatrics (available at Aquifer.org/Courses/Aquifer-Geriatrics/), the AGS national online curriculum in geriatrics, is leveraging e-learning and geriatrics’ thought-leadership to advance much-needed training to care for older adults.

• Dr. Lauren Ferrante of @YaleMed @YalePCCSM @YaleGeriatrics, critical care expert with unique focus on research & care in #geriatrics, becomes inaugural Arti Hurria Awardee at #AGS19 http://ow.ly/dPY530oeg4Q

New York (March 28, 2019)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) and the AGS Health in Aging Foundation today conferred one of their newest honors on Lauren Ferrante, MD, MHS, a pulmonary and critical care physician with a unique commitment to researching better care for older adults. An Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., Dr. Ferrante will receive the inaugural Arti Hurria Memorial Award for Emerging Investigators in Internal Medicine Who are Focused on the Care of Older Adults at the AGS 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS19; May 2-4 in Portland, Ore.). Dr. Ferrante’s research presentation, “Predictors of Functional Decline among Older Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Survivors,” identifies promising markers of poor functional recovery, which could help target older adults for interventions to improve function after ICU care.

• At #AGS19, @AmerGeriatrics & #geriatrics experts cast widest net yet for social & scientific innovations shaping better care for us all as we age http://ow.ly/1Lja30odeP1

New York (March 27, 2019)—When today’s Baby Boomers were just starting their careers, smoking was still en vogue, American life expectancy still hovered in the 60s, and “Medicare” was a term yet to be coined. Yet the advances that have allowed Baby Boomers to live longer than any generation before took root in those early days, when “today” was still “tomorrow.” That same spirit now will shape care for future generations of older adults, as more than 2,500 of the world’s leading geriatrics experts converge on Portland, Ore., this May 2-4, for the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS19).

This cadre of the field’s preeminent physicians, nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, social workers, long-term and managed care providers, healthcare administrators, journalists, and advocates will collectively explore the latest research, education, and innovation across a program with more than 100 events and built from more than 1,000 scholarly submissions. Browse highlights below, and be sure to visit Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org for registration, the full program schedule, and everything else #AGS19.

• Laura Mosqueda, MD, of @KeckMedUSC to deliver prestigious #Henderson lecture at @AmerGeriatrics’ #AGS19 on preventing #ElderAbuse, the mistreatment of older adults http://ow.ly/3LNI30oddHj

New York (March 27, 2019)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today announced that Laura Mosqueda, MD, AGSF, Dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC, will deliver the prestigious Henderson State-of-the-Art Lecture at the AGS 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS19; May 2-4 in Portland, Ore.). Her talk, Disrupting the Silent Winter: Geriatrics Role in Stopping Elder Abuse, will discuss the state-of-the-art in elder abuse identification, treatment and prevention, a subject on which she’s one of the country’s foremost experts. Dr. Mosqueda’s talk will examine geriatrics’ approach to elder abuse in clinical practice, research and education, including how the field has advanced, ongoing challenges, future horizons, and the vital role of geriatrics health professionals.

“As one of the first geriatrics health professionals to lead a major medical school, Dr. Mosqueda is helping steer medicine—and medical education—toward a deeper appreciation for meeting our needs as we age,” notes Laurie G. Jacobs, MD, AGSF, AGS President. “In a fundamental way, that begins by ending the mistreatment of older adults with the type of strong social supports Dr. Mosqueda is so well known for identifying.”

• With unique expertise in #geriatrics & population health, Dr. Amy Kind of @UWSMPH to deliver prestigious @AmerGeriatrics #AGS19 Yoshikawa Lecture http://ow.ly/oVkz30oddud

New York (March 27, 2019)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) and AGS Health in Aging Foundation today announced that Amy Kind, MD, PhD, one of few physicians in the U.S. with doctoral training in population health, will be honored with the 2019 Thomas and Catherine Yoshikawa Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement in Clinical Investigation. At the AGS 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS19; May 2-4 in Portland, Ore.), Dr. Kind will deliver a marquee presentation on the social determinants of health with an eye toward reorienting research, policy, and clinical practice to broader systemic factors that shape what it means to age.

“In geriatrics, age is more than a number. It is a complex story of many factors that shape who we are as we age,” said Laurie G. Jacobs, MD, AGSF, AGS President. “Dr. Kind brings to the AGS and to #AGS19 a unique appreciation for what it means ‘to grow older,’ and how appreciating the role of social determinants in that process can help to catalyze real and lasting change in our care.”

• Top Presentations at #AGS19 Address New Findings for Prescription Filling Patterns, High Blood Pressure, Frailty http://ow.ly/ahpv30ode5P

New York (March 27, 2019)—Data on the chronic use of opioids following spinal surgery, intensified treatment of high blood pressure after hospital discharge, and assessments of which frailty measures best predict poor outcomes following aortic heart valve replacement are among headline presentations at the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS19), held May 2-4 in Portland, Ore. Research reviewed at the prestigious #AGS19 Plenary Paper Session (Thurs., May 2, 9:30-10:15am PT) represents some of geriatrics’ most promising scholarship drawn from a pool of more than 1,000 submissions. This year’s highlights include: