Welcome to the UC San Diego Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Care

Our Mission: To optimize the experience of aging through excellence in clinical care, inspired teaching, and transformative research.

Our Vision: To create a better world for aging people.

We have been ranked 13th two years in a row out of more than 1500 national programs in U.S. News & World Report!

Spotlight

Happy Older Americans Month!!

Every May, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) leads the nation’s observance of Older Americans Month (OAM). The 2022 theme is Age My Way, an opportunity for all of us to explore the many ways older adults can remain in and be involved with their communities. For more information, visit the official OAM website, follow ACL on Twitter and Facebook, and join the conversation using #OlderAmericansMonth.

Congratulations to Dr. Lindsey Yourman for her acceptance to the 2022-23 Tideswell AGS Emerging Leaders in Aging! Her work will focus on What Matters Most to patients and Advance Care Planning.

Congratulations to Dr. Kyle Edmonds - Recipient of the 2022 Dept of Medicine Excellence in Faculty Mentorship in Clinical Medicine Award and recipient of the Gerald H. Holman Distinguished Service Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine! Dr. Edmonds is the Chief of the Section of Palliative Care within the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Care and practices inpatient consultative palliative medicine, in addition to serving in multiple formal and informal leadership roles across our institution. We thank you for your hard work and dedication to the field.

Congratulations to Dr. Laura Hart, recipient of the University of Washington School of Pharmacy's 2021 Early Career Distinguished Alumnus Award. This is an incredible achievement and testimony to the value of the contributions Dr. Hart has made to the pharmacy profession.

Congratulations to Dr. María Marquine for receiving the 2021 Faculty Excellence in Mentoring Award!

Dr. Marquine is Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry, and Director of Disparities Research in the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Care here at UC San Diego. As a bilingual clinical scientist with expertise in cross-cultural neuropsychology and health disparities, she has built an NIH-funded program of research focused on addressing disparities in age-associated neurocognitive disorders. She is also committed to supporting the development of early career scientists, particularly those of underrepresented backgrounds, and has served in leadership roles in various NIH-funded research training programs.

Support Us

Join us in helping older people live their best lives longer. Addressing the needs of our older adults is important now more than ever! Your donations ensure that our research and clinical care keep pace with the needs of our community and ensure our initiatives to further educate the geriatrics work force remain strong and expand.

Give Now

Donor Spotlight

Our generous donors support geriatrics/aging research and education. To learn more about our donors, click here.

UCSD News

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12/16/2021

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12/2/2021

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Division News

IN THE NEWS:

Dr. Ian Neel was featured in San Diego Physician Magazine with an op-Ed on dementia medications and polypharmacy.

UC San Diego's Dr. Benjamin Han, Dr. Alison Moore & OHSU's Dr. Ximena Levander recently published the article "To Care For Older Adults With Substance Use Disorder, Create Age-Friendly Health Systems" in Health Affairs. Read more here.

A paper entitled "LSD and salvia divinorum use linked to an increased likelihood of depression and suicidal thinking" was recently published by UC San Diego's Kevin Yang, Dr. Benjamin Han & NYU's Dr. Joseph Palamer in Psy Post, which looks at the relationships between recreational use of various hallucinogens and depression & suicidality. Read more here.

Dr. Khai Nguyen was featured in Times of San Diego! with a piece entitled "Opinion: On Dr. Seuss' Birthday, Health Care for 'Obsolete Children' Hasn't Really Changed." Click here to read.

Dr. Khai Nguyen has also been featured on IHI’s age-friendly blog. Click here to check it out!

Dr. Biren Kamdar, affiliate faculty of our division, was senior author on a paper researching the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of students applying to medical school. Read more here.

Dr. Ariana Stickel, a funded scientist in our AD-RCMAR program, published findings from a study showing the combination of obesity and cardiovascular factors cause cognitive decline in Latinos. Read more here.

Learn more about how to assess if an older adult needs caregiving help in this AARP article featuring our own geriatricians, Ian Neel, MD and Lindsey Yourman, MD!

Congratulations to Maile Karris, MD, an HIV specialist in our division, who was recently featured in the news discussing Conversation, compassion and community: Planning for healthy futures with HIV!

Did you know that seniors rarely discuss drinking with their doctors? Read more here featuring our own faculty member, Benjamin Han, MD, MPH. Dr. Han has also had his research featured in the news based on his recent study showing that older adults with functional impairment are at higher risk of medical cannabis use, as well as prescription opioid and tranquilizer/sedative use and misuse. Read more here. Be sure to also read his blog post titled: Does Grandma Really Understand the Potential Risks of Cannabis?

Congratulations to Dr. Marquine for leading a collaborative project aimed at developing neuropsychological normative data for Spanish-speaking adults living in the U.S., titled the Neuropsychological Norms for the U.S.-Mexico Border Region in Spanish (NP-NUMBRS). Her work will benefit many patients and clinicians working with Spanish-speakers in the U.S. This impactful work has been published in a special issue of The Clinical Neuropsychologist. Click here to read it.

Dr. Benjamin Han co-edited a special issue of the American Society on Aging's journal Generations focused on substance use and older adults. Read it here.

Announcements

OUR DIVISION HAS TWO NEW POSITIONS AVAILABLE:

Assistant Professor - Chancellor's Joint Initiative: Gerontechnology

The Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Care in the School of Medicine and the Department of Bioengineering in the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego invite applications for a joint cross-campus hire for a tenure-track faculty position, at the rank of Assistant Professor. Read more here.

Assistant Professor - Chancellor's Joint Initiative: Geroscience

The Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Care in the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health at UC San Diego invite applications for a joint hire for a tenure-track faculty position, at the rank of Assistant Professor. Read more here.

Our senior medicine clinic has a new home! In 2021, we moved into a new innovative, geriatrics outpatient space designed with a coastal theme and greater capacity to see more patients! Our new address and info on our geriatricians can be found here.

WELCOME Palliative Care physicians! We are pleased to announce that we are now the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Care!

The Doris Howell Palliative Care Teams at UCSDH provide specialized, team-based care focused on the relief of symptoms and stress of serious illness at any stage of disease. The palliative care service began in 2005 and has grown to represent three inpatient consultation teams, the Step Family Foundation Inpatient Palliative Care Unit, a Palliative Psychiatry team, and a growing clinic team. Read more here.

Our division is home to the San Diego Alzheimer's Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (AD-RCMAR), one of 8 centers nationally funded by the NIA with the goals to enhance the diversity of researchers studying ADRD by mentoring scientists from underrepresented groups; and to fill critical gaps in ADRD research. Our Center is a joint partnership between UC San Diego and San Diego State University. Visit our Center website to find out more here.

Find out more about our role in the San Diego Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Biology of Aging, a collaboration between Salk, SBP, and UCSD by visiting the Center's website!

GRC Seminar Series is held once a month. We regularly distribute our newsletter informing our community about research opportunities, publications and local events. Career development and training pertaining to gerontology research are also provided. Subscribe now by sending an email

to: gero@ucsd.edu

Congratulations to Dr. Alison Moore and the rest of the team awarded a grant for Comparative Efficacy of Advanced Practice Provider vs. Electronic Co-Management in a Diverse Population of Aging Women with Urinary Incontinence. Learn more about it here.

Funding Opportunities

NIA Concepts Newly Approved: Check the NIA blog listing areas that may turn into funding announcements in the future.

Education

Fellowship: In July 2022, we will welcome 10 new fellows to our division (3 geriatric medicine fellows and 7 HPM fellows)! Find out more about our fellowship programs here.

More Information

lmproving Geriatrics Education in the Community: SDSU and UCSD are co-leads on a HRSA-funded Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) grant to continue the San Diego/Imperial Geriatric Education Center and its important work educating local healthcare providers and communities on Alzheimer's Disease and geriatrics!

Dr. Neel was featured in a livestream video through BrainInfo Live on COVID and dementia.

Elder abuse affects millions of older adults, but often goes undetected! Thanks to recent funding from the Archstone Foundation, our division is actively working with other universities in California to enhance the training in our residency programs on this important topic!

Grand Rounds: Join us for our monthly series (typically 1st Tuesday of the month), with a range of talks from experts in the fields of geriatrics, gerontology and palliative care. Special edition grand rounds are being held in May/June to provide an opportunity to hear from our fellows! To obtain log-in information, please email Sasha at saweiss@health.ucsd.edu

Looking for a good read? You might enjoy Dr. Louise Aronson's book titled: “Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life". We were fortunate to host Dr. Aronson on the UCSD campus with a lunch event that brought together over 100 community members!

We are tremendously grateful to the Hollander Trust for their generous donation in support of our geriatrics fellowship program in memory of Dr. Trude Hollander.