New York, NY (April 15, 2022)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) and the AGS Health in Aging Foundation announced today that they will confer one of their newest honors on Anil N. Makam, MD, MAS, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. Dr. Makam will receive the fifth Arti Hurria Memorial Award for Emerging Investigators in Internal Medicine Who are Focused on the Care of Older Adults at the AGS 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS22), held May 12 – 14 in Orlando, Florida (pre-conference day May 11).
“Across his body of work, Dr. Makam’s cutting-edge research is at the intersection of geriatrics, hospital medicine, and post-acute care, specifically focusing on the role of long-term acute care hospitals (LTACs),” noted AGS President Peter Hollmann, MD, AGSF. “Like the namesake for this award, Dr. Arti Hurria, his passion is evident in his work—in his case, for evidence-based medicine and critical appraisal of the clinical scientific literature.”
Dr. Makam completed his residency in Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern before his Primary Care Research Fellowship at UCSF. His research interest stemmed from a simple observation that while Dallas had many long-term acute care hospitals (LTACs), San Francisco had very few—yet he cared for similarly sick and frail hospitalized older adults in both places. With funding from an NIA GEMSSTAR grant (2016-2018) and an NIA K23 Career Development Award (2016-2021), Dr. Makam applies health services research and epidemiological methods using Medicare claims, electronic health records data, and prospective observational cohort data to examine predictors and variation in LTAC use, comparative effectiveness of the LTAC model of care versus alternative care settings, and patterns of recovery for older adults transferred to LTACs. Most recently, with funding from the Donaghue Foundation, he is leading a national, multicenter cohort to study recovery after the most severe and prolonged illness from COVID19 among older adults in LTACs.
Dr. Makam’s research has been published in leading medical journals, including the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS), JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, Circulation, BMJ Quality & Safety, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and the Journal of Hospital Medicine. His work has been cited by the Institute of Medicine and Medicare Payment Advisory Commission reports, and has been featured in prominent news outlets, including The New York Times. He has received several research awards, including the New Investigator Award in 2018 from the American Geriatrics Society. He is Co-Director of Academic Development & Research for the Division of Hospital Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital. Nationally, he is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Hospital Medicine and consults for the Institute for Clinical Economic Review.
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About the American Geriatrics Society
Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals that has—for more than 75 years—worked to improve the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Its nearly 6,000 members include geriatricians, geriatric nurses, social workers, family practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and internists. The Society provides leadership to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public by implementing and advocating for programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy. For more information, visit AmericanGeriatrics.org.
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 Arti Hurria Memorial Award for Emerging Investigators in Internal Medicine Who are Focused on the Care of Older Adults
Arti Hurria, MD, namesake of this award, joined the AGS in 2006 and championed some of our most influential programs connecting colleagues outside geriatrics to our principles, and to the rewards of supporting health, safety, and independence for us all as we age. Dr. Hurria, who sadly passed away in November 2018, believed in the need to infuse geriatrics into all specialties. She not only put that belief into action but also became a model for making it a priority across clinical care, research, and education. The Arti Hurria Memorial Award for Emerging Investigators in Internal Medicine Who are Focused on the Care of Older Adults recognizes the geriatrics-focused accomplishments of junior and mid-career clinician-investigators in general internal medicine and its specialties. Chosen from a review of hundreds of research presentations, the Hurria Awardee presents ground-breaking scholarship on the geriatrics aspects of their specialty in a special plenary session at the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting.
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 2,000 nurses, pharmacists, physicians, physician assistants, social workers, long-term care and managed care providers, healthcare administrators, and others will convene virtually May 13-15, 2021 (pre-conference program on May 12) to advance geriatrics knowledge and skills through state-of-the-art educational sessions and research presentations. For more information, visit Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org.