Program for Thursday May 08, 2025

Co-Chairs:  Diane Chau, MD & Vera Sverdlovsky, MD 

The mission of this SIG is to provide a forum where issues that impact homeless older adults are presented and discussed, and geriatrics healthcare professionals can interact to find and expand access to care for homeless older individuals; to address the growing homeless epidemic by educating, promoting awareness, and assuring quality healthcare evidence and data to support homeless geriatrics care. To accomplish our mission, we: (1) disseminate knowledge regarding homelessness and poor health; (2) develop relationships with a broad range of other groups (social welfare, financial, public, academic) to aid in our mission and collate solutions for assuring adequate healthcare for homeless older adults; (3) promote clinical practices and address practice gaps that will improve the health status of older adults who live without homes or are at risk of homelessness.

Chair: Magdalena Bednarczyk, MD

Open to anyone with an interest in improving clinician well-being in order to address growing concerns related to burnout. The goal is to provide information, tools and resources for decreasing burnout utilizing a holistic approach pertaining to professional, personal, financial, and physical wellbeing, with the ultimate goal of helping clinicians rediscover meaningful, mission driven work within their organizations, and if necessary, provide tools to redefine success. 

Chair: Erik J. Lindbloom, MD, MSPH

The mission of this SIG is to discuss and act on issues of concern to family physicians, family medicine fellows, and family medicine residents caring for older adults. We communicate with several of the other family medicine organizations, such as the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine.

Co-Chairs: Nadia Mujahid, MD & Esteban Garcia Franco, MD

This SIG brings together clinicians and researchers interested in clinical and academic perspective on surgical co-management. We share ideas, promote our work, network, collaborate, and provide a safe environment for clinicians to discuss the complexities and intricacies of co-management from creating a business case to promoting team-based care.

Chair: George A. Kuchel, MD

The Geroscience SIG brings together AGS members from varied backgrounds who all share a common interest in efforts to leverage our understanding of basic aging processes towards the discovery, validation and implementation of gerotherapeutic interventions designed to promote health, function and independence in late life.  

Co-Chairs: Kady Goldlist, MD & Julia Lowenthal, MD

The mission of this SIG is to promote healthy aging initiatives at AGS; to develop presentations, symposia, and educational materials for AGS members; to encourage research in healthy aging; to act as liaisons with other organizations promoting healthy aging; and to identify and promote ways that AGS members can promote healthy aging among their patients and among populations of people

Co-Chairs: Ariba Khan, MD, MPH & Niharika Suchak, MBBS, MHS, FACP

This SIG brings together AGS members who have an interest in the development of international initiatives in geriatrics care and education. As our global older adult population continues to grow, we will see an increasing demand for health and social-service systems tailored to older adult needs. We promote awareness of global trends in aging and healthcare issues in older adults across continents and international borders. We emphasize improving care of older adults around the world by enhancing networking and establishing partnerships that can translate into improved geriatrics care and education, greater use of technology to conduct didactic sessions with participants from multiple countries, long-term international collaborations for models of care and geriatrics education, and increased involvement and representation of AGS members in international geriatrics conferences and organizations.

Chair: Carl H. Burton, MD

The mission of this SIG is to increase awareness for considering the needs of older gay and lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons and to foster a more formal analysis and observation of these needs.

Co-Chairs: Mona Gupta, MD & Lauren Mazzurco, DO

This SIG promotes awareness of palliative care issues in the geriatrics community and hopes to identify and build on synergies that exist between geriatrics and palliative care.

Chair: Sabrina Villalba, MD

The Program for All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly (PACE) is a comprehensive, fully integrated model that provides community-based care for nursing home eligible frail elders. We provide information to people who are interested in working with or establishing a PACE organization.

Co-Chairs: Colleen Christmas, MD & Stephanie Nothelle, MD

The mission of this SIG is to serve as a source of collaborative activity between AGS and the Society for General Internal Medicine (SGIM). We focus on ways to collaborate on developing workshops for the AGS & SGIM annual meetings, as well as fostering ongoing collaborative efforts and better communication between the two groups.

Chair: Marianne Shaughnessy, PhD, CRNP  

This SIG offers an opportunity to discuss in an open forum announcements and key issues related to geriatrics, extended care clinical programs, and research and education initiatives. All VHA staff attending the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting, and all other interested meeting attendees, are invited to participate.