2017 Press Releases

New York (April 27, 2017)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) has named Fatima Sheikh, MD, CMD, MPH, Medical Director at FutureCare in Maryland and Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the 2017 AGS Clinician of the Year. In her work across post-acute and long-term care, Dr. Sheikh is recognized not only as a skilled physician serving the needs of particularly frail older adults in the Baltimore area but also as a dedicated mentor for a diverse and growing interprofessional team. Dr. Sheikh will be honored at the AGS 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting (May 18-20 in San Antonio, Texas).

“Geriatrics expertise is complex and multifaceted, and that’s especially true when working with frail older adults like those cared for by Dr. Sheikh,” notes AGS President Ellen Flaherty, PhD, APRN, AGSF. “Dr. Sheikh and the healthcare professionals fortunate enough to learn from her are setting a new standard for what it means to provide high-quality, person-centered care.”

New legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act concerning for us all as we age.

New York (April 27, 2017)—Following a review of the recently released MacArthur Amendment to the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) remains opposed to this legislation that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and which AGS experts believe would harm access to key health services for older adults, caregivers, and healthcare professionals.

The MacArthur Amendment creates additional concerns for older Americans—particularly people in states that might pursue waivers  from current protections benefitting individuals with pre-existing conditions, such as provisions requiring benefits and restricting carriers from charging more based on a person’s health background. The Amendment also would allow states to waive essential health benefits defined under the ACA—emergency-room visits, outpatient services including home health services and hospice care, and care for chronic conditions and rehabilitative services, for example. Nothing in the Amendment remedies any of the AGS’s concerns with the original legislation.

New York (April 27, 2017)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) and the AGS Health in Aging Foundation today announced that Sei Lee, MD, MAS, Associate Professor in the Division of Geriatrics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), will be honored with the 2017 Thomas and Catherine Yoshikawa Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement in Clinical Investigation. A Senior Scholar with the San Francisco VA Quality Scholars fellowship and rising research leader in targeting health care for older adults, Dr. Lee will deliver a plenary presentation on individualizing preventive care for older men and women at the AGS 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting (May 18-20 in San Antonio, Texas).

“Dr. Lee is a skilled clinician and recognized scholar—a model for the multifaceted leadership we hope to inspire at the AGS,” notes AGS President Ellen Flaherty, PhD, APRN, AGSF. “The future of geriatrics is rooted in providing high-quality, person-centered care for us all as we age; it’s an exciting time to hear about the state of individualized care from an authority like Dr. Lee.”

New York (April 27, 2017)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) announced that Richard M. Allman, MD, Chief Consultant for Geriatrics & Extended Care Services, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), will deliver the prestigious Henderson State-of-the-Art Lecture at the AGS 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting (May 18-20; San Antonio, Texas). Dr. Allman’s lecture, “Building, Sustaining, and Promoting Age-Friendly Health Systems,” will focus on the role of leadership, research, education, and quality improvement in developing and maintaining better systems for older adult care.

“The VA has played such a critical role in advancing geriatrics care and research for those who have served our country, and Dr. Allman has been integral to that legacy,” notes AGS President Ellen Flaherty, PhD, APRN, AGSF. “As we work to shape the context of care for all older adults, exploring how better health outcomes are tied to better health systems has never been more important—which is why we so value Dr. Allman’s expertise.”

New York (April 27, 2017)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today announced that Maura Brennan, MD, AGSF, FACP, FAAHPM, HMDC, a champion of education in geriatrics and Chief in the Division of Geriatrics, Palliative Care, and Post-Acute Medicine at Baystate Health in Springfield, Mass., will be honored with the 2017 Dennis W. Jahnigen Award.

“Dr. Brennan has helped countless students and fellow educators bridge empathy for older adults with an interest in geriatrics in the classroom, where the future of our field is taking shape,” notes AGS President Ellen Flaherty, PhD, APRN, AGSF. “By inspiring interest in geriatrics across the diverse professions involved in well-being, Dr. Brennan has become a model for the critical role education plays in high-quality, person-centered care.”

New York (April 27, 2017)—Barbara Resnick, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP, AGSF, a Past President of the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) and a pillar for geriatrics research, education, and clinical practice, will be honored by her AGS peers this May with one of their highest accolades: the David H. Solomon Public Service Award.

“Dr. Resnick has set the gold standard for public service in caring for older adults,” notes AGS President Ellen Flaherty, PhD, APRN, AGSF. “Her research interests in healthy aging have branched across her career to embrace mentoring for established and emerging colleagues and the care we all hope to receive as we age.”

The Sonya Ziporkin Gershowitz Chair in Gerontology at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, Dr. Resnick has achieved national and international renown for her research on exercise and mobility. Yet Dr. Resnick is perhaps most well-known as a mentor to countless students, faculty members, researchers, and clinicians who now form the base for the burgeoning healthcare professional workforce attuned to the needs of older adults.

New York (April 27, 2017)—Celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2017, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) announced that it will honor more than 15 leading researchers, clinicians, educators, and emerging health professionals who have made outstanding contributions to high-quality, person-centered care for older adults. Awards will be presented at the AGS 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting, May 18-20, 2017 (pre-conference program on May 17), at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Choosing Wisely® Champion Award

• Eric Anthony Lee, MD

Clinician of the Year Award

• Fatima Sheikh, MD, CMD, MPH

Clinical Student Research Award

• Laura Hatchman
• Jessica Rizzuto

David H. Solomon Memorial Public Service Award

• Barbara Resnick, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP, AGSF

Dennis W. Jahnigen Memorial Award

• Maura Brennan, MD, AGSF, FACP, FAAHPM, HMDC

Edward Henderson Award

• Richard M. Allman, MD

Edward Henderson Student Award

• Thom Ringer, JD, MPhil

Jeffrey H. Silverstein Memorial Award for Emerging Investigators in the Surgical and Related Medical Specialties

• Anne M. Suskind, MD, MS

New Investigator Award

New York (April 25, 2017)—Potentially inappropriate medications, the future of Advance Care Planning (ACP), and improved emergency care for older adults are among headline presentations anchoring the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS17), to be held May 18-20 in San Antonio, Texas.

Presentations at the prestigious Plenary Paper Session at #AGS17 (May 18 from 10-11am Central Time) represent some of geriatrics’ most promising scholarship as assessed by peer experts and program planners from a pool of more than 800 abstract submissions. This year’s highlights include:

D-PRESCRIBE Overtakes EMPOWER in Patient-Centered Deprescribing of Benzodiazepines: Preliminary Results from a Pragmatic Cluster-Randomized Community-Based Trial in Canada (presented by Phillipe Martin, MSc)

New York (April 25, 2017)—“I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it’s more than that,” extolled John Steinbeck in his now famous Travels with Charley. The same might also be said for geriatrics in the heart of Texas, as the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) prepares to bring the field’s premier educational forum for clinical care, research on aging, and innovative care delivery to San Antonio, Texas (May 18-20; Preconference: May 17), to toast the Society’s 75th anniversary of leading change and improving care for older adults.

More than 2,500 physicians, nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, social workers, long-term and managed care providers, healthcare administrators, students, and other geriatrics stakeholders will come together for a program built from more than 800 abstract submissions and inclusive of more than 100 events.

“This is a special year for the Annual Scientific Meeting since it’s the AGS’s 75th anniversary,” notes Paul Mulhausen, MD, MHS, FACP, AGSF, Program Chair. “This meeting will be a celebration not only of how far we’ve come in the field, but also of the research and innovations that will drive our future—the best care possible for older adults.”

Noteworthy focal points for the 2017 gathering include:

Goals-Oriented Care for Older Adults in Specialty Clinics (Thurs., May 18; 7:30-9am Central Time)

New York (April 19, 2017)—Without a substantial increase in federal funding for geriatrics education and research we risk further decimating a workforce that is essential to training health professionals on the unique healthcare needs of older adults, say researchers reporting on the impact that Geriatrics Academic Career Awards (GACAs) have had on geriatrics academic careers, health professional training, and the care of older adults. In an article for the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, interprofessional experts looked at the impact of the GACA program, which served as a vital resource for more than 200 geriatrics clinicians and educators before it was eliminated as part of a consolidation of several geriatrics training programs in 2015.

Qualitative and quantitative results from the research team’s survey of GACA recipients point not only to a growing need for geriatrics skills but also to the importance of dedicated time and financial support to develop emerging geriatrics faculty for training a U.S. healthcare workforce with the skills and knowledge to optimally care for older adults: