Program for Thursday May 08, 2025

View the most current research in geriatrics. Authors with AGS25 abstracts beginning in A will be available to discuss their findings and answer questions.

Moderator: Amit Shah, MD, AGSF

This symposium will discuss current applications of AI in geriatric medicine and review current and future applications in clinical medicine and education. Learning Objectives: (1) review the current state of the uses of AI for clinical innovations in aging, with examples of projects funded by the NIA/Johns Hopkins Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratory; (2) describe the integration of AI in clinical care models and within learning health systems, including how such models can be used to predict functional status and help in managing polypharmacy and deprescribing; (3) describe the use of AI in geriatrics education, focusing on the use of generative AI in curriculum development, learning, assessment and academic activities; (4) discuss limitations and health equity concerns involved in the implementation of AI technologies in geriatric medicine and education.

Sponsored by the Nurses Section

Moderator: Barbara Resnick, PhD, CRNP

The goal of this session is to increase implementation of innovative ways to integrate the 4Ms into facilities and to measure objectively the outcomes of implementation. Learning Objectives: (1) describe the Plan-Do-Act process to developing and leading a nurse implemented age friendly approach to care in their acute care setting and identifying the outcomes to measure following implementation; (2) state the barriers to implementation of an Age Friendly Health Care approach into a primary health care clinic and the ways to overcome identified barriers; (3) describe how to implement an age friendly approach for what matters at the end of life through the incorporation of an advanced care planning approach and what is needed for success and what outcomes to measure; (4) describe how to implement an age friendly approach for people living with dementia and their care partners/caregivers.

Sponsored by the Research Committee, Cancer and Aging SIG, and Junior Faculty Research Career Development SIG

Co-Moderators: Katharine L. Cheung, MD, PhD, FASN & Kah Poh (Melissa) Loh, MBBCh, BAO, MS, FACCC

Learning Objectives: (1) discuss the important of inclusion of diverse older adults in research and the barriers and facilitators to including older adults from diverse backgrounds; (2) review key strategies to include older adults from diverse backgrounds, including co-design of interventions with participants; (3) describe how community partners can facilitate inclusion of underrepresented communities in research; (4) describe the current AGS efforts to advance DEI in research.

Developed by the Research Committee   

Moderator: Fred Ko, MD 

This session will present the latest peer-reviewed geriatrics research with questions and answers to follow. Learning Objectives: (1) describe the distinct frailty subgroups and bioenergetic changes that cell-free DNA can identify; (2) review the results of a feasibility pilot of a multicomponent frailty intervention in the post-acute SNF setting; (3) describe the relationship between county-level contextual disadvantage and the development of geriatric conditions in older persons; (4) review the results of a CHW-led intervention to reduce acute healthcare utilization in frail older adults compared to usual care.

Moderator: Naushira Pandya, MD, CMD

This session will present recommendations to improve diabetes care of older adults from the recently updated American Diabetes Association (ADA) “Standards of Care in Diabetes.”  Learning Objectives: (1) review the ADA’s current clinical practice recommendations for managing diabetes in older adults; (2) utilize the new ADA Standards of Care in Diabetes in clinical practice; (3) review diabetes technology and how it can be used to extend longevity and how they can be adapted to meet the needs of older adults.

Sponsored by the Home Based Primary Care SIG, Dementia Care and Caregiver Support SIG, SGIM SIG

Moderator: Patricia Harris, MD, MS & Lee Lindquist, MD  

Healthcare providers are often confronted with one or more caregivers who express frustration in an aggressive manner. As part of the workshop, attendees will break into small groups to observe the facilitators role-play a "take-retake" scenario that involves a source of conflict. Learning Objectives: (1) identify situations that lead to frustration and miscommunication that occur in the healthcare settings among older adults, their caregivers, and the health care provider; (2) recognize the bidirectional relationship of stress/burden on frustrating situations between caregivers and health care providers; (3) identify (and predict) areas that can lead to conflict, and communication and negotiation tools that can help the health care provider form alliances with caregivers and patients; (4) utilize negotiation skills in the clinical setting.

Developed by the Research Committee   

Moderator: Audrey K. Chun, MD, MPH, AGSF

This session will present the latest peer-reviewed geriatrics research with questions and answers to follow.  Learning Objectives: (1)  describe the adaptation of FACETS using implementation science; (2) discuss the Geriatric Faculty Scholars (GSF) program and it’s impact on career development across specialties; (3) review the results of a study to assess for concurrent geriatrics and palliative care practice opportunities; (4) describe a novel, interactive, case-based experience designed to improve interprofessional knowledge and collaboration.

Sponsored by the Ethics Committee and the Elder Mistreatment SIG

Moderator: Caroline A. Vitale, MD, AGSF

This session will provide an overview of the topic of guardianship as it pertains to the care of older adults, presented by a multidisciplinary panel. Learning Objectives: (1) describe guardianship and the process for petitioning for guardianship, acknowledging state to state variability in this process; (2) review the clinician’s role in guardianship, including the possibility of being asked to provide testimony in evidentiary hearings, how to best advocate for patients who are wards under guardianship, and the importance of regular screening for elder abuse and exploitation; (3) perform capacity assessments, with special consideration of the non-medical aspects of characteristics that affect capacity, such as functional, financial, and housekeeping capabilities; (4) discuss aspects of ethical surrogate decision-making and how to discuss topics such as substituted judgement with guardians and other surrogate decision-makers; (5) recognize alternatives to guardianship, including the concept of supported decision-making for those with marginal decision-making capacity.

Sponsored by the Research Committee

Co-Moderators: Megan Huisingh-Scheetz, MD & Kah Poh (Melissa) Loh, MD, MS

Panelists: Alessandra Merino Gomez; Mfon Umoh, MD, PhD; Chelsea Wong, MD, PhD; Meghana Rajashekara Swamy, MD, MPH, MS; David Lynch, BMBS; Nikesha Gilmore, PhD; Jessica Lee, MD, MS; Peter Abadir, MD; Malaz Boustani, MD, MPH; Susan Zieman, MD, PhD

The AGS Research Committee and the Research Methods Subcommittee have coordinated this unique and timely session to facilitate an exchange of strategies among aging researchers for maintaining resilience throughout an aging research career lifespan. This session will feature representatives from pivotal stages of training: medical school, fellowship, junior faculty, mid-career faculty, senior faculty and retirement. These representatives were selected to highlight the unique challenges inherent at each juncture of an aging research career. We will harness their extensive and varied experience to delineate vital strategies for surmounting these challenges and sustaining resilience, including insights from special guest Susan Zieman, MD, PhD, a retired Medical Officer of the Division of Geriatrics and Clinical Gerontology at the NIA. In addition, we will explore avenues through which we can collectively bolster and fortify the broader community of aging researchers. Employing a panel-style format, the session will feature two moderators who will present questions, allowing each panelist ample opportunity to respond. It is our aspiration that the thoughtful questions and the informal setting will foster meaningful discussion, with a designated period for audience inquiries. 

Teaching Faculty and Small Group Facilitators: Vanessa Rodriguez, MD; Helen Fernandez, MD, MPH; Greg Pawlson, MD, MPH; Roopali Gupta, MD; Caitlyn Kuwata, MD; Nisha Rughwani, MD; Lesca Hadley, MD, AGSF; Martine Sanon, MD; Segun Apoeso, MD; Rebecca Masutani, MD; Verónica Rivera, MD, AGSF; Laurel Hansen, MD; Fiorella Pérez, MD; Pei Chen, MD

Geriatrics healthcare professionals are being asked to assume a wide variety of leadership positions in both academic and other healthcare organizations, requiring leaders that are highly skilled and adaptive to the increasing speed and number of changes occurring in the healthcare system and beyond. Learning Objectives: (1) define change agility and influence skills and discuss when, how and why to use them; (2) review how to manage horizontal, vertical, demographic, geographic, and stakeholder groups; (3) participate in peer consulting of case studies.

Moderator: Susan M. Maixner, MD

Learning Objectives: (1) discuss the diagnosis of depression, including depression vs dementia; (2) review the treatment options for depression among older adults; and (3) discuss interventional psychiatry (Ketamine, TMS, ECT, esketamine), when to refer, and what medical clearance is needed. 

Moderator: Una Makris, MD, MSc

Rheumatologic diseases that develop later in life can have atypical presentations, sometimes leading to delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis. Learning Objectives: (1) define late-onset rheumatologic diseases and describe their unique presentations in older adults; (2) develop competence in identifying clinical signs and symptoms of lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, PMR, and vasculitis in older patients, which may be atypical from younger cohorts; (3) interpret geriatric syndromes through the lens of underlying rheumatologic diseases to improve co-management of these conditions, as well as to review updates on the associated risks of rheumatologic diseases on conditions such as cardiovascular disease and dementia; (4) address health disparities in the management of rheumatologic diseases, recognizing how factors such as gender and race influence disease presentation and outcomes.

Speaker: Jeff D. Williamson, MD, MHS

Forty-five years ago, Dr Jim Fries published a landmark concept article in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled "Aging, Natural Death, and the Compression of Morbidity." It was controversial to many at the time. Dr. Williamson’s primary mentor, Dr. Linda Fried, reviewed this article with him over lunch just a few years after it was published in his first year as a geriatric medicine and gerontology fellow at Johns Hopkins. She recommended he think of it as a framework for his academic career when doing research, teaching, or providing clinical care. The fruit of Drs. Fries's work and Fried's advice culminated, for Dr. Williamson, in the work that he and his colleagues completed as part of the SPRINT and SPRINT MIND clinical trial. This will be the focus of the Henderson Lecture. Learning objectives: (1) explain the role of interdisciplinary collaboration in designing and conducting clinical trials that reflect outcomes meaningful to older adults; (2) analyze the findings and implications of the SPRINT and SPRINT MIND trials, particularly in relation to cognitive and functional outcomes in older populations; (3) integrate geriatric-specific outcomes into clinical trial design and everyday clinical practice to better serve the aging population.

The Presidential Poster Session features posters that received the highest rankings from abstract reviewers. Posters will be judged and one poster in each category will be chosen to receive a “Best Poster” award. Poster award winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on Friday morning. Light refreshments will be served.   

Co-Chairs: Christie M. Hogue, DDS & Theodore T. Suh, MD, PhD, MHS, AGSF

The purpose of this SIG is to provide a forum where issues that impact the oral health of older adults are presented, and where challenges requiring a team approach to coordinate needed treatments can be discussed.

Co-Chairs: Maya Abdallah, MD & Sindhuja Kadambi, MD
Fellows Representative: Evgenia Granina, MD 

The mission of this SIG is to assemble clinicians and investigators interested in improving the care of older adults with cancer. Activities range from disseminating the latest evidence in geriatric oncology, collaborating on research studies and clinical innovations, and discussing the integration of geriatrics into oncology care. A fundamental goal of this group is to find ways to more widely implement treatment guidelines that recommend geriatric assessments in older adults with cancer. 

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.