AGS Conference News

AGS Welcomes New President and Fellows

Laurie G. Jacobs, MD, AGSF, began her tenure as president of the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) by convening a meeting of 2,500-plus geriatrics experts at the 2018 Annual Scientific Meeting (AGS18), which ran May 3–5 at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida. A seasoned health systems leader, educator, and geriatrics scholar, Jacobs has been an AGS member since 1988 and an AGS Board representative since 2011.

Jacobs is chair of both the department of internal medicine at Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center and the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, where she also serves as a professor of medicine. She has been a leader in geriatrics research and education for more than 30 years. In her present role, Jacobs ensures geriatrics expertise can help guide not only one of the country’s most prestigious academic health systems but also one of its newest and most advanced medical colleges.

“Dr. Jacobs is a nationally recognized clinician and educator in geriatrics, who has outstanding administrative and leadership experience,” says Debra Saliba, MD, MPH, AGSF, outgoing president of the AGS. “Under her capable guidance, we are sure to see even more progress supporting health, safety, and independence for all older adults.”

As outgoing AGS president, Saliba became chair of the AGS board of directors when Jacobs assumed her new post. The slate of board officers who will join Saliba on the executive committee include Peter Hollmann, MD, AGSF, as board treasurer; Annette M. Medina-Walpole, MD, AGSF, as board secretary; and Sunny Linnebur, PharmD, FCCP, BCPS, CGP, as AGS president-elect. These leadership transitions took place at the convocation of AGS18, a premier educational event on geriatrics clinical practice, public policy, education, and research.

Additionally, the AGS honored 25 leading health care professionals who joined the newest class of AGS fellows—a select group of experts recognized for their deep commitment to the AGS and to advancing high-quality, person-centered care for us all as we age. Each year, a host of highly qualified AGS members earn fellowship status following a rigorous application process, which includes assessments of everything from continuing education to public service and geriatrics scholarship.

“All of our fellows are colleagues who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to geriatrics, have contributed to advances in care, and are active participants in AGS activities,” noted Jacobs, in recognizing the new AGS fellows at AGS18.

This year’s fellows hail from all four corners of the country and reflect the increasingly interprofessional nature of geriatrics as a field attracting doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, social workers, and many others. The new fellows are Sik Kim Ang, MD, AGSF; Vivian S. Argento, MD, CMD, AGSF; Serena Chao, MD, MSc, AGSF; Katya Y. Cruz Madrid, MD, FACP, AGSF; Swati Gaur, MD, CMD, MBA, AGSF; Susan L. Greenspan, MD, AGSF; Stephen A. Hermes, MD, FACP, AGSF; Masaya Higuchi, MD, MPH, CMD, FAAFP, AGSF; Beatriz Korc-Grodzicki, MD, PhD, AGSF; Chandrika Kumar, MD, FACP, AGSF; Fabien Madrigal Leer, MD, AGSF; Jeffrey De Castro Mariano, MD, AGSF; Simon C. Mears, MD, PhD, AGSF; Joseph O. Nnodim, MD, PhD, FACP, AGSF; Mary Beth O’Connell, PharmD, BCPS, AGSF; Ogugua Osi-Ogbu, MD, FWACP, AGSF; Manisha Parulekar, MD, ACP, CMD, AGSF; Thomas T. Perls, MD, MPH, AGSF; Margaret O. Rathier, MD, AGSF; Nahid Rianon, MD, DrPH, AGSF; Stephen Ryan, MD, MPH, AGSF; Fatima Sheikh, MD, MPH, CMD, AGSF; Samir K. Sinha, DPhil, FRCPC, AGSF; Amy M. Westcott, MD, MHPE, CMD, FAAHPM, AGSF; and Elizabeth Foy White-Chu, MD, CWSP, AGSF.

Other meeting highlights include a celebration of more than 15 award recipients representing the depth and breadth of disciplines championing geriatrics, a synthesis of the field’s most important scholarship from the last year, and detailed practical overviews of clinical guidance and research on several important issues, from communication strategies to improve interprofessional teams to research findings from 2017 that will be at the bedside of older adults and caregivers within the next five years.

— Source: American Geriatrics Society