New York (March 13, 2025) – Today, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) announced the results of its recent AGS Board and Nominating Committee elections.
The AGS Board and Nominating Committee are comprised of geriatrics health professional members of the AGS who are committed to improving health, independence and quality of life for all of us as we age. AGS members elected the following geriatrics health professionals:
Alison Moore, MD, MPH, FACP, AGSF, AGS President-Elect
Alison is a geriatrician and a public health researcher whose work focuses principally on older adults who use alcohol, cannabis and other substances. A Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Care at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, she is also Director of the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging and the Center for Healthy Aging and holds the Larry L. Hillblom Chair of Geriatrics Medicine. Alison has a passion for research training and mentorship and in 2019, she was awarded the UC San Diego Health Sciences Faculty Excellence in Mentoring Award. She is deeply committed to caring for older adults and mentoring others to do the same as seen in her regular contributions as an AGS mentor. She has been a member of the AGS Research Committee, the Diversity in Research Subcommittee and founded the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Use among Older Adults Special Interest Group. Previously she served on the AGS Board as Treasurer.
Caroline Vitale, MD, AGSF, AGS Board Member (2nd term)
Caroline is a geriatrician and geriatrics educator. A Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan School of Medicine, she is involved in geriatric curriculum development, teaching and mentoring within medical and interprofessional education. She is the Associate Program Director of the Geriatrics Fellowship Program at Michigan and Associate Director for Education and Evaluation at the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs (VA) Geriatric Research, Clinical, and Education Center (GRECC). As a dedicated AGS member, Caroline has served on the AGS Ethics Committee for over ten years and is proud to have served as Ethics Committee Chair. Committed to enhancing the quality of life of all older adults, Caroline is especially focused on areas within Geriatrics that include ethical decision-making, geriatric education, and efforts to understand physician and interprofessional roles in care decisions affecting older adults, especially those with dementia.
Heather Whitson, MD, AGSF, AGS Board Member (2nd term)
Heather is an internist, geriatrician and clinical investigator. Her overall goal is to optimize independence and resilience in people with multiple chronic conditions and she has particular expertise related to how the aging process and comorbidities affect the brain. She co-leads the PRIME Collaborative, a multi-institutional research initiative to identify mechanisms and predictors of recovery after common health stressors (e.g., surgery, hip fracture, vision loss). Through several institutional and national leadership roles, Heather coordinates and facilitates efforts to broaden the evidence base and research workforce to improve knowledge and care decisions for medically complex older patients. In addition to being a Professor of Medicine, Ophthalmology, Neurology, & Head and Neck Surgery and Communication Sciences at Duke University as well as the Director of the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, she is Co-Director of the Duke/UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.
Esther Oh, MD, PhD, AGSF, AGS Board Member (1st Term)
Currently, Esther is the Sarah Miller Coulson Human Aging Program Scholar and an associate professor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with joint appointment at the JH School of Nursing. Her clinical and research efforts have focused on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) and its interrelationship with delirium. With first-hand experience working with interdisciplinary teams to provide clinical care in various clinical settings with diverse patient populations, Esther has devoted her career to seeking ways to provide the best possible care for older adults.
Louise Walter, MD, AGSF, AGS Board Member (1st Term)
Louise is a geriatrician who is passionate about growing and developing Geriatrics and Gerontology and spreading our knowledge, skills and compassion for older people across multiple specialties and fields. As Chief of the Division of Geriatrics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and San Francisco Health Care System (SFVAHCS) for the past twelve years, she has doubled the size of the Division to 50 faculty and increased the prestige of Geriatrics, which is now the top ranked specialty at UCSF according to the most recent U.S. News & World Report. Her research on cancer screening in older people has led to fundamental changes in the approach of major guidelines for cancer screening by incorporating health, life expectancy and patient preferences into clinical decisions. With over two decades of dedication to AGS, Louise has served as a Fellow, committee chair, award recipient, mentor, program leader, and more.
The following AGS member was elected to the AGS Nominating Committee by the Membership:
Sunny Linnebur, PharmD, BCGP, BCPS, FCCP, FASCP (Nominating Committee member, 2nd term)
Sunny is a clinical pharmacist and Professor at the University of Colorado, with over 20 years of practice in an interprofessional team environment comprised of geriatricians, geriatric fellows, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, geriatric psychologists, nurses, social workers, and dentists. Inspired by the diverse team around her, she regularly teaches interprofessionals about pharmacological concerns in older adults. She was an AGS Board member from 2012-2020 where she served as Secretary and went on to serve as AGS President. She is also a past and current member of the AGS Beers Criteria expert panel where she lends her expertise on cardiovascular drugs and similar drug categories.
The AGS Board elected the following as officers of the Society:
Ramona Rhodes, MD, MPH, MSCS, AGSF (AGS Treasurer, 1st term)
Judith L. Beizer (Judy), PharmD, BCGP, FASCP, AGSF (AGS Secretary, 2nd term)
The AGS Board also elected Brent Schell, MD as the Early Career Professional Board Member. Brent is an advanced fellow in Geriatrics at the New England Veterans Affairs (VA) Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) with a passion for geriatric focused education. As a medical resident, he co-developed an anti-ageism didactic. As he completed his clinical Geriatrics fellowship and second-year fellowship at Boston Medical Center (BMC), Brent continued to pursue his educational interests by disseminating his anti-ageism curriculum to residents, fellows, and interprofessional social work colleagues. He has since expanded the delivery of this curriculum to medical students and both internal medicine and family medicine residents at BMC and Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and has recently contributed to a lecture which was delivered on the GERI-A-FLOAT platform to an international audience. An active member of AGS, he has served as co-chair of the National Resident Planning committee and as the chair of the Fellows in Training committee, submitted abstracts and has attended the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting for the past 5 years.
“In this election cycle, we were fortunate to have an outstanding slate of candidates,” said outgoing AGS Board Chair, Donna Fick, PhD, RN, GCNS-BC, AGSF, FGSA, FAAN. “The newly elected and re-elected Board members bring a wealth of expertise and experience to our mission, and I am confident they will help drive the Society’s continued success. As we look ahead to the AGS Annual Meeting, I look forward to passing the Board Chair role to Mark Supiano, MD, AGSF, as he concludes his presidency, and celebrating Paul Mulhausen, MD, AGSF, as he steps into the AGS President role. My congratulations also go to Alison Moore who was elected AGS President-Elect, and to Ramona and Judy who will serve as AGS Treasurer and AGS Secretary, respectively.”
About the American Geriatrics Society
Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals dedicated to improving the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Our 6,000+ members include geriatricians, geriatrics nurse practitioners, social workers, family practitioners, physician associates, pharmacists, and internists who are pioneers in serious illness care for older individuals, with a focus on championing interprofessional teams, eliciting personal care goals, and treating older people as whole persons. AGS believes in a society where we all are supported by and able to contribute to communities where ageism, ableism, classism, homophobia, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and other forms of bias and discrimination no longer impact healthcare access, quality, and outcomes for older adults and their caregivers. AGS advocates for policies and programs that support the health, independence, and quality of life of all of us as we age.
About the Health in Aging Foundation
The Health in Aging Foundation is a national non-profit established in 1999 by the American Geriatrics Society to bring the knowledge and expertise of geriatrics healthcare professionals to the public. We are committed to ensuring that people are empowered to advocate for high-quality care by providing them with trustworthy information and reliable resources. Last year, we reached nearly 1 million people with our resources through HealthinAging.org. We also help nurture current and future geriatrics leaders by supporting opportunities to attend educational events and increase exposure to principles of excellence on caring for older adults. For more information or to support the Foundation's work, visit HealthinAging.org.
About the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting
The AGS Annual Scientific Meeting is the premier educational event in geriatrics, providing the latest information on clinical care, research on aging, and innovative models of care delivery. More than 2,600 nurses, pharmacists, physicians, physician assistants, social workers, long-term care and managed care providers, healthcare administrators, and others will convene May 8 – 10 (pre-conference day: May 7) in Chicago, IL to advance geriatrics knowledge and skills through state-of-the-art educational sessions and research presentations. For more information, visit https://meeting.americangeriatrics.org/.