Year in Review: 2024

A Note from Geriatric Leadership

UPMC continues to be recognized among the nation’s leading hospitals for geriatric care by U.S. News & World Report, a testament to our dedication to serving older adults through a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach. Our team of geriatricians, all experts in internal medicine with advanced subspecialty training in geriatrics, also bring unique expertise in areas such as cardiology, endocrinology, pulmonology, chronic pain, and epidemiology.

Our mission remains focused on improving the health and well-being of older adults. We do this by delivering exceptional clinical care, training future health care providers, and pursuing research that drives innovation and ensures tomorrow’s treatments are even more effective. In 2024, our division continued to develop and implement new care models, expanding our impact across a variety of health care settings.

Explore our achievements from the past year and learn how our faculty’s work is advancing geriatric care. We invite you to connect with us to discuss collaboration opportunities and to consider supporting UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside in the 2025 U.S. News & World Report “Best Hospitals” survey.

With gratitude,

David A. Nace, MD, MPH

David A. Nace, MD, MPH
Division Chief
Professor of Medicine

One of the best national hospitals, ranked in geriatrics by U.S. News and World Report.

UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside Nationally Ranked for Excellence in Geriatrics

Affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside is proud to be nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report for excellence in geriatrics.

UPMC Selected for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Initiative to Increase Access to Alzheimer’s Care
- The Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model, which launched on July 1, aims to scale comprehensive dementia-related care to reach more patients and alleviate provider and caregiver burden. The program allots funding for Medicare and Medicaid patients to enroll with the hospital systems through the GUIDE Model for comprehensive and individualized care. It's expected to reach hundreds of thousands of Americans.
David A. Nace, MD, MPH named Chief of Geriatric Medicine
- David A. Nace, MD, MPH, is an innovative and highly acclaimed clinician-leader with a remarkable leadership record. He has skillfully led the Division of Geriatric Medicine since September 2022 when he was appointed Interim Chief.

2024 Geriatric Medicine Fellows:
- Boris Fishman, MD
- Daniel Jaremko, MD, PhD
- Stephanie Sweeney, MD

New Faculty and Staff Joined the Division in 2024, Including:
- Samender Randhawa, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine
- Sri Ravali Pulipaka, PhD, Postdoctoral Associate (Aging Institute)
- Xiaojie Yu, PhD, Postdoctoral Associate (Aging Institute)
- Yanwen Chen, Research Scientist (Aging Institute)
- Rishabh Choudhary, Research Scientist (Aging Institute)
- Zhenwen Yu, Laboratory Research Technician (Aging Institute)
- Yanwu Zhao, Laboratory Research Technician (Aging Institute)
Four UPMC Geriatric Medicine Experts Named Pittsburgh Magazine Top Doctors
- Susan Greenspan, MD, Fred Rubin, MD, Stasa Tadic, MD, and Adele Towers, MD, were among the physicians recognized on the 2024 Top Doctors^® list. Peer-to-peer nominations and a rigorous research process ensure only the most qualified doctors are honored.

Leslie Scheunemann, MD, MPH, was awarded her first NIH R01 grant. Her project is: “PIC-TRFS: A Randomized Trial of a Multicomponent Intervention for ICU Survivors and Caregivers.”

VMI And Aging Institute Researchers To Collaborate As Part Of New AHA SFRN Research Center
- Directed by Center PI Stephen Chan, MD, the Pitt AHA SFRN team will conduct three different projects, led by Partha Dutta, MD, Anne Newman, MD, MPH, and Toren Finkel, MD, PhD, aimed at identifying and treating interrelated conditions of the brain and vascular pathology. They’ll also study cellular mechanisms that impact memory in hopes of developing new medications to boost brain function for people who have experienced a heart attack.

Developing a Clinical Curriculum for Hospitalists Newly Practicing in Post-acute and Long-term Care Settings: A Pre-post Study
- It is believed that educational and training opportunities for hospitalists and advanced practice providers practicing in post-acute and long-term care residents (PALTC) is minimal, as standard training programs are typically focused on geriatrics. To address this challenge and enhance educational opportunities, Division of Geriatric Medicine faculty, including Shauna Assadzandi, MD, Jennifer Pruskowski, PharmD, MS, BCPS, BCGP, and Robin L.P. Jump, MD, PhD, worked toward developing a curriculum to help clinicians experienced in the care of hospitalized patients provide optimal care in the PALTC setting.

Association of Inflammatory Markers with Muscle and Cognitive Function in Early and Late-aging Older Adults
- UPMC Division of Geriatric Medicine faculty, including Nami Safai Haeri, MD, Subashan Perera, PhD, Neelesh Nadkarni, MD, PhD, and Susan Greenspan, MD, published research in the Journal of Health, Nutrition, and Aging to investigate the relationship of inflammatory markers, including CRP, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, TNFR1, and TNFR2, with muscle and cognitive function in frail early-aging and non-frail late-aging older adults.

Aditi Gurkar, PhD, Awarded NIH R01 Grant to Study Telomere Damage and Heart Health
- The research is designed to better understand how damage to telomeres in the cardiomyocytes and other cells of the heart caused by environmental factors affect heart health and drive cardiovascular disease processes.

Understanding the Mechanisms of Biological Aging: NIH R56 Grant Awarded to Gurkar Laboratory for Exploring Influence of DNA Damage on Acetyl Co-A Metabolism
- Aditi Gurkar, PhD, principal investigator of the Gurkar Laboratory at the Aging Institute and assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatric Medicine, received a National Institute on Aging R56 grant to study how DNA damage and acetyl co-A metabolism work to influence mechanisms of biological aging.

Bridging The Rodent to Human Translational Gap: Marmosets as Model Systems for The Study of Alzheimer’s Disease
- Stacey J. Sukoff Rizzo, PhD, associate professor of Neurobiology in the UPMC Division of Geriatric Medicine and deputy director for Pre-Clinical Studies at the Aging Institute, is focused on understanding primate-specific mechanisms that drive divergence from healthy aging towards inception and progression of memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. In a paper published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research and Clinical Interventions, Dr. Rizzo and colleagues describe how closely studying non-human primates from birth and throughout their lifespan will reveal the peak in learning and memory in adulthood and the inflection point at which memory begins to decline with aging.

Elevating NAD+ Levels in Brain May Improve Aging, Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease
- Bill Chen, PhD, professor of Medicine in the UPMC Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine and deputy director for Drug Development at the Aging Institute, and Stacey J. Sukoff Rizzo, PhD, were the recipients of a National Institutes of Health-funded U01 award from the National Institute on Aging. For this award, Dr. Chen and Dr. Rizzo will develop therapeutics for age-related diseases or conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease prevention.

Bej TA, Wilson BM, El Chakhtoura N, Perez F, Jump RLP. Change in Provider Specialty Was Associated With Less Fluoroquinolone Use at a Veterans Affairs Long-Term Care Setting. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2024 Jun;25(6):104927. PMID: 38320741.

Kistler CE, Inoue M, Matsui T, Abe M, Le Donne M, Kiyota A, Lin FC, Yang Y, Hanson LC. Pre-post-evaluation of a dementia-specific advance care planning toolkit for Japanese primary care clinicians. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2024 Jun 19. PMID: 38895937.

Tighe CA, Phares A, Weiner DK, Beehler GP, VanSwearingen J, Harvey AG, Hilgeman MM, Buysse DJ, Forman DE. Adapting and Evaluating the Feasibility and Acceptability of a Behavioral Intervention to Promote Sleep Health in Cardiac Rehabilitation. Behav Sleep Med. 2024 Aug 9:1-16. PMID: 39120442.

Other Publications from Division of Geriatric Medicine Faculty

32^nd Annual Virtual Clinical Update in Geriatric Medicine
- In April 2024, multiple faculty members participated in the 32^nd Virtual Clinical Update in Geriatric Medicine. Neil M. Resnick, MD, served as course director for this event.

UPMC Division of Geriatric Medicine Faculty Spoke at Updates in Internal Medicine 2024: Practice Changing Advances
- In October 2024, the UPMC Division of Geriatric Medicine's Shauna Assadzandi, MD, David A. Nace, MD, MPH, and Eric Rodriguez, MD, MPH, were featured speakers at Updates in Internal Medicine 2024: Practice Changing Advances. Hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine, this course provided a comprehensive update on major advances in internal medicine as well as a review of various medical- and surgical-related topics impacting daily practice from a panel of nationally recognized faculty. Participants also received updates on disease practice activities.

UPMC Division of Geriatric Medicine Participated in PMDA 32^nd Annual Symposium
- The Pennsylvania Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine is an organization of long-term care professionals committed to the continuous improvement of quality care for Pennsylvanians across the long-term care continuum. PMDA provides advocacy, education, and professional development services for medical directors, physicians, nurse practitioners, and other health care team members. UPMC's Shauna Assadzandi, MD, served as one of the symposium directors.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease in 2024
- In this CME, Eric Rodriguez, MD, MPH, discusses how to provide patients with counseling on recently approved treatments for Alzheimer's disease, incorporate newly developed diagnostic tools into evaluation of persons with cognitive disorders, and offer patients recommendations for reducing risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

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Year in Review: 2024

A Note from Geriatric Leadership

UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside Nationally Ranked for Excellence in Geriatrics

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