May 2022

GERIATRICS

THE DIVISION OF GERIATRICS AND GENERAL INTERNAL MEDICINE BECOMES TWO DIVISIONS

‘We want to make it possible to live healthily for a longer period of time’

 Featuring: Lee Lindquist, MD, MPH, MBA
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​This article is modified from the original version that appeared on the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine website.
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On March 1, the Department of Medicine’s Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at Northwestern Medicine separated into two divisions, the Division of Geriatrics and the Division of General Internal Medicine.
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“We have recognized the need to have distinct, nationally recognized programs to provide the highest quality and most comprehensive patient-centered care. The Geriatrics program in Northwestern Medicine has a very strong national reputation and has enjoyed that for many years.  With the growth of the program in the critical domains of clinical activity, research and training, it is clear that Geriatrics deserves full divisional status,” said Douglas Vaughan, MD, chair of Medicine, the Irving S. Cutter Professor of Medicine, and director of the Potocsnak Longevity Institute.

Lee Ann Lindquist, MD, MPH, MBA, the George M. Eisenberg Research Professor of Geriatric Medicine, who served as the section chief of Geriatric Medicine in the Department of Medicine, will lead the Division of Geriatrics as chief.

Dr. Lindquist’s patient-centered research focuses on helping older adults age in place when they develop Alzheimer’s disease through home and community-based resources and supporting caregivers. In addition to providing clinical care for older adults in her geriatrics clinic, Dr. Lindquist is the medical director of the Clare at Watertower in Chicago, a continuing care retirement community that supports independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing, memory care and long-term care.

“With the recent creation of both the NIH-funded Northwestern Claude D. Pepper Older Americans’ Independence Center and the Potocsnak Longevity Institute, innovative geriatrics research and training has a solid home at Northwestern. I am extremely proud of our strong all-female faculty team of geriatricians, they are truly an amazing group of physicians,” says Lindquist.

​Jeffrey A. Linder, MD, MPH, the Michael A. Gertz Professor of Medicine, who was chief of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics in the Department of Medicine, will serve as chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine.

As a general internist and primary care clinician-investigator, Dr. Linder has expertise in electronic health records and clinical decision support, using behavioral science and social psychology to understand and change behavior, and appropriate care of ambulatory respiratory infections. Dr. Linder’s goal is to improve primary care in the U.S., especially for older adults. He co-leads the Northwestern Pepper Center with Dr. Lindquist and Michael Wolf, PhD, MPH, the James R. Webster, Jr., Professor of Medicine and associate vice chair for Research in the Department of Medicine.

“Dr. Lindquist and I discussed an independent Division of Geriatrics as a goal. Geriatrics has grown under Dr. Lindquist’s leadership, and it is time! I look forward to continuing to work with Dr. Lindquist and all of our Geriatrics colleagues to strengthen care for older adults at Northwestern and beyond,” says Linder.
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This article was originally published in the Feinberg School of Medicine News Center on May 11, 2020 . ​
Lee Lindquist, MD, MPH, MBA is a Geriatrician and Chief of the Division of Geriatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her patient-centered research focuses on helping older adults age-in-place, when they develop Alzheimer’s disease, through home and community-based resources and supporting caregivers. She has extensive experience partnering in research with community organizations and community members for recruitment, study implementation, data collection, and dissemination. ​

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