Cedars-Sinai Experts at California Geriatrics Conference

Newswise — LOS ANGELES (May 23, 2025) — Cedars-Sinai geriatricians, geroscience experts and emergency medicine specialists are participating in the California Academic Geriatrics Institutions (CAGI) Conference on May 30 at the Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences & Engineering in Irvine. Cedars-Sinai helped establish the annual conference in 2024, underscoring the health system’s commitment to advancing geriatrics research and clinical care for older adults.

“As clinicians and investigators from an institution that treats more patients over the age of 80 than any other academic medical center in the country, Cedars-Sinai’s aging experts appreciate the opportunity this conference provides to share research and clinical innovations with other academic geriatrics programs in California,” said Sonja Rosen, MD, chief of Geriatric Medicine at Cedars-Sinai, conference co-chair, and a fellow of the American Geriatrics Society and of the American College of Physicians.

Cedars-Sinai is recognized as an Age-Friendly Health System by The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, in partnership with the American Hospital Association and the Catholic Health Association of the United States. The designation is given to health systems that integrate the “4 Ms”—mobility, mentation, medication safety and what matters most—into care for older patients. This recognition also was recently extended to the Ruth and Harry Roman Emergency Department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

“We are focused on providing older adults with the evidence-backed care they need and deserve, while also conducting research that could one day lay the groundwork for an even more innovative standard of care,” said Sara Espinoza, MD, director of the Center for Translational Geroscience and a Gerontological Society of America fellow.

Cedars-Sinai experts who are attending the meeting and are available for interviews include:

Zaldy Tan, MD, MPH, medical director of the Jona Goldrich Center for Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders, and director of the Memory and Healthy Aging Program, can discuss his research on reducing Alzheimer’s risk with healthy lifestyle interventions, screening for early cognitive impairment in hospitalized patients, and differences in health outcomes based on dementia status.

Sam Torbati, MD, medical director of the Ruth and Harry Roman Emergency Department, can discuss efficiencies in care of geriatric patients in the ED’s Observation Unit, the performance of high-sensitivity cardiac biomarkers in geriatric populations, and utility of a new three-protein assay in predicting bacterial infections among complex geriatric populations.

Allison Moser Mays, MD, MAS, geriatrician and assistant professor of Medicine, can discuss her research on social isolation, fall prevention, and recruitment of older adults into an online exercise program.

Hiroshi Gotanda, MD, PhD, geriatrician and assistant professor of Medicine, will present his research examining end-of-life care for older adults with dementia by race and ethnicity and physicians’ roles. He can also discuss his broader research on the intersection of health policy and dementia care.

Kathleen Breda, MSN, NP, can discuss the Geriatric Fracture Program’s use of nurse-led transitional care to reduce hospital stays for older patients with hip fractures, as well as the Move to Recover Program, which mobilizes older, hospitalized orthopedic patients with complex cases to improve their health outcomes.

Katie Hren, MPH, LCSW, associate director of Cedars-Sinai’s Community Connect Program, can discuss the program’s effectiveness in screening and managing social determinants of health in older adults.

To schedule an interview, contact: Kelsie Sandoval at [email protected] or 562-631-1169.