New York, NY (April 5, 2022)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) and AGS Health in Aging Foundation today announced that the 2022 Thomas and Catherine Yoshikawa Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement in Clinical Investigation will be awarded to Amy S. Kelley, MD, MSHS, Vice Chair of Health Policy and Faculty Development and Hermann Merkin Professor in Palliative Care in the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, and Senior Associate Dean for Gender Equity in Research Affairs at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
The award will be presented at the AGS 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS22) (May 12-14; pre-conference day: May 11) in Orlando. As a part of the conference program, Dr. Kelley will be delivering a lecture on Embracing Complexity: A Geriatrician’s Approach to Understanding Serious Illness.
“Dr. Kelley is an outstanding clinical researcher who embodies the spirit of the Thomas and Catherine Yoshikawa Award,” said AGS President Peter Hollmann, MD, AGSF. “She exhibits the core elements fundamental to the award as a geriatrics scholar who represents the early promise of the Yoshikawas’ own illustrious careers. She explores health problems for older adults and is actively involved in direct patient care.”
Dr. Kelley’s work focuses on advancing the care of older adults by improving care quality in the context of serious illness and promoting healthcare services and policies that help align treatment with patient needs and values.
She has received support from the National Palliative Care Research Center, Brookdale Leadership in Aging Fellowship, the NIA-sponsored Beeson Scholars Award, and current R01, P01 and K24 awards. She has also completed and disseminated the results of many patient-oriented research projects and has become a nationally visible contributor in the field of aging and palliative care research.
Dr. Kelley has introduced several crucial innovations to aging-focused health services research in areas of work previously completed primarily by medical economists. First, she has changed the paradigm of how we account for costs. In addition to only considering costs paid by Medicare or insurers, she has insisted on a patient-centered view of costs that considers out of pocket expenses and the enormous labor provided by family caregivers. Second, she has changed the paradigm of cost determinants, considering not just medical diagnoses, but geriatric measures including function and cognition. Third, her work has examined the benefits and burdens of medical expenditures by considering the higher cost and increase in care needs at the end of life.
Her approach has had multiplicative effects, because it has been replicated by dozens of Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) researchers, and because of her extensive and generous commitment to mentoring at Mount Sinai and nationally.
Through the course of her work, Dr. Kelley has mentored many students, fellows and junior faculty, with an emphasis on women and investigators from populations underrepresented in science, who have disseminated their research through national presentations and peer-reviewed publications and received awards and grants for their scholarship. She is a two-time honoree as “Clinician of the Year” from graduating fellows at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai.
First announced at the 2016 AGS Annual Scientific Meeting and supported thanks to generous contributions to the AGS Health in Aging Foundation, the Yoshikawa Award recognizes the research accomplishments of mid-career clinician-investigators directly involved in the care of older adults.
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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 HealthinAgingFoundation.org.
About the Yoshikawa Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement in Clinical Investigation
Named in honor of Dr. Thomas T. Yoshikawa and his wife, Catherine—who together served the AGS and the geriatrics community for more than two decades—the Yoshikawa Award offers recognition and financial support to emerging geriatrics scholars who represent the early promise of the Yoshikawas’ own illustrious careers. The award has been supported thanks to generous contributions to the AGS Health in Aging Foundation from AGS members, as well as friends and colleagues of the Yoshikawas.
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 2,500 nurses, pharmacists, physicians, physician assistants, social workers, long-term care and managed care providers, healthcare administrators, and others will convene in Orlando, May 12-14, 2022 (pre-conference program on May 11), to advance geriatrics knowledge and skills through state-of-the-art educational sessions and research presentations. For more information, visit Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org
