Research Scientist, San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living's Center for Research on Aging
Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Christine S. Ritchie is the first recipient of the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living-based University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Harris Fishbon Distinguished Professor in Clinical Translational Research in Aging. The professorship is the product of a research partnership established in 2008 between the University of California, San Francisco, and San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living.
Dr. Ritchie’s research focuses on quality of life and healthcare issues surrounding multimorbidity. She is studying the impact of symptom burden on healthcare utilization in individuals with multiple chronic conditions, and evaluating how technology can be used to support patients and families with serious illness in their transition from the hospital to home.
Dr. Ritchie is working with academic and community partners to build an implementation science infrastructure for the care of those with serious illness, and is facilitating the growth of clinical programs and research that focus on quality of life and healthcare delivery models for those with chronic serious illness and multimorbidity.
Visiting Research Scientist, San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living’s Center for Research on Aging
Dr. Edward Goetzl is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in the field of immunology. His current positions include: Professor Emeritus, University of California, San Francisco, Edward A. Dickson UC Professor Emeritus, and Senior Clinical Researcher, National Institute on Aging. Dr. Goetzl joined San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living’s Center for Research on Aging in 2011 to develop blood test-based diagnostics for prediction of risk and discovery of new drug targets for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.
Dr. Goetzl served on the Harvard medical faculty from 1973-1982 and was UCSF’s Robert L. Kroc Professor of Medicine and Immunology and the Director of Clinical Immunology & Allergy Research from 1982-2011. From 2011 to 2014, he served as the Edward A. Dickson Professor at the University of California.
Professor of Medicine, Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco
Visiting Research Scientist, San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living’s Center for Research on Aging
Janice Schwartz is a recognized leader in the area of cardiovascular aging, drug metabolism, the effects of gender on drug metabolism and responses, and multiple co-morbidities and polypharmacy with aging. She graduated from Tulane Medical School, is a board-certified internist, and a cardiologist with significant experience in clinical pharmacology and geriatric medicine. Since 1985, she has been funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIH) to elucidate the changes with aging that determine responses to therapeutic medications. Her undertakings have involved basic laboratory research, clinical trials, and population research. The author of more than 100 publications, her works include scientific articles, reviews, and book chapters.
Dr. Schwartz has been named one of the Best Doctors in the U.S. (geriatric medicine) and is the 2012 recipient of the William B. Abrams Award in Geriatric Clinical Pharmacology from the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. She belongs to numerous professional societies, has served on the research, educational, and program committees of these organizations, as associate editor of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, on the USP Expert Panel on Geriatrics, and numerous review panels for the NIH. She is currently a member of the Aging Systems and Geriatrics Study Section, Center for Scientific Review, and associate editor of Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine.
Dr. Schwartz is presently focusing on improving medication use in the very oldest people and in patient groups receiving polypharmacy, as well as on the translation of new therapies into clinical use to benefit the very oldest and frailest patients.
Research Scientist, San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living’s Center for Research on Aging
Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Evaluating and improving the quality and outcomes of medication use in older adults with multiple chronic conditions is the focus of Michael Steinman’s research. In addition to his work at San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living’s Center for Research on Aging, he is director of the UCSF Aging Research Fellowship, co-director of Research for the UCSF Division of Geriatrics, and co-chair of the American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria of Potentially Inappropriate Medications in Older Adults.
University of California, San Francisco
Visiting Research Analyst Consultant, San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living's Center for Research on Aging
Kanan Patel joined the University of California, San Francisco Geriatric Division and San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living in September 2013 as a research analyst. She works closely with Dr. Christine Ritchie to develop, implement, and evaluate ongoing and new geriatric and palliative care clinical activities. She is actively involved in statistical analyses, the presentation of findings, and helping to prepare the statistical sections of manuscripts and preliminary data sections for extramural grants. Kanan is also collaborating with other principal investigators on several studies related to clinical research and healthcare quality.
Kanan received her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from the Saurashtra University, Gujarat, India in 2005, and earned a master’s in Public Health from St. Louis University, Missouri in 2010. She moved to the West Coast from the University of Alabama, where she worked as a research assistant in the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care.
Helen Colombo, Administrative Assistant
The number of people over the age of 65 years is increasing in both raw numbers and as a percentage of the total world and United States population. The needs of people between the ages of 65 and 75 and those over 75 or 80 years of age differ, yet we do not know how to best manage health-related disorders in the very oldest age groups.
As a leader in geriatric care, San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living has had longstanding collaborations with the region’s top academic institutions and organizations serving the elderly. These relationships coalesced in the formation of a joint Long-Term Care Center for Research on Aging with the (Goldman) Institute on Aging in 1997 and the establishment of a research department at SFCJL in 2000. In 2005, SFCJL's research activities became independent under the direction of the research department, culminating in the creation of the Center for Research on Aging.
Our mission is to discover solutions to health-related challenges encountered by older people at SFCJL and in the greater community, here and now.
The Center for Research on Aging provides opportunities for scholarship and clinically based research. The role of the Center for Research on Aging is to bridge the gap between discovery to the translation of these discoveries to beneficial use in older people. Collaborations with academic and community-based researchers and healthcare workers are welcomed.
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