Ruth Covell, M.D.
C. Seth Landefeld, M.D.
Guy Micco, M.D.
Laura Mosqueda, M.D.
David B. Reuben, M.D.
George C. Xakellis, Jr, M.D., MBA

Ruth Covell, M.D., is Coordinator of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) AGRC and Associate Dean, School of Medicine. Dr. Covell received her bachelor's degree from Stanford University and her M.D. and training in internal medicine from the University of Chicago. She served on the formative AGRP Advisory Committee, which was established in 1985, and has been representing and advocating geriatrics and gerontology health professions educational needs on the San Diego campus and throughout the University of California system since that time. Dr. Covell has consistently provided leadership by contributing to the planning, policy decision-making and the development and implementation of systemwide initiatives. Activities include a study of student attitudes towards geriatrics, and planning for the first faculty conference in geriatrics.

On the San Diego campus Dr. Covell has 1) provided leadership in curriculum analysis in relation to core geriatric competencies, 2) facilitated integration of geriatrics into psychiatric training, 3) incorporated geriatric competencies in the family nurse practitioner program, 4) supported and sustained the highly successful geriatric student interest groups, and 5) directed medical students' required independent study projects in the field of geriatrics.

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C. Seth Landefeld, M.D., is the Coordinator for the University of California, San Francisco AGRC and the campus' representative on the AGRP SAC. Dr. Landefeld is a general internist, geriatrician, and clinical epidemiologist. He is Professor of Medicine and of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and is Chief of the Division of Geriatrics. He also directs the UCSF/Mt. Zion Center on Aging, the Center of Excellence in Academic Geriatrics (supported by the John A. Hartford Foundation), the Geriatrics Research Training Program (supported by the National Institute on Aging), and the Veterans Administration Medical Center's geriatrics programs.

Dr. Landefeld's work focuses on improving the effectiveness of health care for older people with serious illness. In much of his research he has used two therapies as model problems in improving health care, anticoagulation, and acute hospitalization. In a series of studies, Dr. Landefeld developed new methods of outcome measurement, prognostic risk stratification, and prevention of adverse events to improve the outcomes of anticoagulant therapy. In a second line of investigation, he and his colleagues studied the functional outcomes of acutely ill, hospitalized older persons. This work led to the development, evaluation, and widespread dissemination of the Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Program. In other work, Dr. Landefeld and his colleagues have advanced the use of autopsies as a method for detecting preventable deaths and measuring the quality of care, elucidated behavioral determinants of physicians' decisions, and developed risk-adjustment methods for estimating the prognosis of chronic disease and evaluating the outcomes of care.

Dr. Landefeld received B.A. degrees from Harvard College and Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar; he received his M.D. degree from Yale University. Dr. Landefeld is Past President of the Society of General Internal Medicine and an editor or editorial board member for three scientific journals. He also serves on the National Institute of Health's (NIH) Health Services Research study section and the Board of Directors of the Goldman Institute on Aging.

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Guy Micco, M.D., is the Coordinator for the University of California, Berkeley AGRC and the campus' representative on the AGRP SAC. Dr. Micco is Clinical Professor in the UCB-University of California, San Francisco Joint Medical Program (JMP). He received his M.D. from UCSF where he also completed his residency training in the Primary Care/Internal Medicine program of the Division of General Medicine. In the JMP Dr. Micco teaches medical interviewing, physical diagnosis, and elective courses dealing with old age, suffering, death/dying; and an ongoing class called "narrative and medicine," a creative writing class for medical students. Dr. Micco has a special interest in the interface of the humanities and medicine and is also Director of the nascent Center for Medicine, the Humanities and Law, which seeks to promote interdisciplinary education and research in the problems of medicine and society.

Dr. Micco has additional interests in a broad range of ethical issues in medicine and aging, and he is the long-time chairperson of the Alta Bates Medical Center Ethics Committee and a member of the ethics committee for the Center for Elders' Independence. He is currently Co-Principal Investigator with medical anthropologist Sharon Kaufman (PI) on a project addressing the quality of death for older people in a community hospital. In addition, he is a half-time practitioner in the Berkeley community in internal medicine and, as such, is the primary care physician for many elderly patients.

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Laura Mosqueda, M.D., is the Coordinator for the University of California, Irvine AGRC and the representative on the AGRP SAC. She is the Director of Program in Geriatrics in the College of Medicine and co-director of a federally funded Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with a Disability. Dr. Mosqueda received her M.D. degree from the University of Southern California (USC) School of Medicine and completed her geriatric fellowship at the USC Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center. While completing her fellowship, she developed an interest in disability issues, with a particular emphasis on what happens to persons with a disability as they age. Dr. Mosqueda's research projects in the aging field involve primary care issues and osteoporosis. She has lectured nationally and internationally on these topics. Her other primary area of academic interest is in elder and dependent adult abuse. She has developed an interdisciplinary medical response team that provides consultation and education to Adult Protective Services, Law Enforcement, and the District Attorney's office in Orange County. In a current three-year grant, she will study the effectiveness of this team and work on the creation of a new model of care for victims of abuse.

The education of medical students and residents and the provision of community service are important foci for the Program in Geriatrics and the AGRC. There are now required experiences for first- and second-year medical students, an elective experience for third- and fourth-year students, a required one-month geriatrics rotation for the second-year family medicine residents, and a longitudinal nursing home experience for the third-year residents. Dr. Mosqueda's leadership of the Program in Geriatrics has facilitated the development of strong alliances with the community. She developed and leads a comprehensive assessment program, which is open to seniors and to persons with disabilities. In addition, she has become a resource for non-profit and governmental community-based agencies, while continuing to be involved with clinical activities, geriatric consultation, and taking the time to make house calls.

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David B. Reuben, M.D., is the Chair of the AGRP SAC and the Coordinator of the University of California, Los Angeles AGRC. In addition, he is Director, Multicampus Program in Geriatrics Medicine and Gerontology (MPGMG) and Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine. He is also Chief, Division of Geriatrics at Center for Health Sciences and Medical Center. Dr. Reuben received his M.D. degree from Emory University and trained in internal medicine at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University, where he served on the faculty in general internal medicine for nine years. In 1987, he received a John A. Hartford Foundation Faculty Development Award in Geriatrics and spent one year retraining in geriatrics at UCLA. In 1989 he returned to UCLA, first as Associate Director of the MPGMG and more recently in his current roles.

Dr. Reuben sustains professional interests in clinical care, education, research, and the administrative aspects of geriatrics. He maintains a clinical primary care practice of frail older persons and attends on inpatient, geriatric psychiatry, and nursing home units. He has won seven awards for excellence in teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr. Reuben's research interests include comprehensive geriatric assessment, measurement of functional status, medical education and work-force issues in providing medical care for older persons, and clinical nutrition. His bibliography includes 90 publications in medical journals, 13 books, and numerous chapters. He is director (with co-director, John Schnelle, Ph.D.) of the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center.

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George C. Xakellis, Jr, M.D., MBA, is an Associate Professor in Family and Community Medicine in the School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, with a clinical specialty in Geriatrics. He received his M.D. degree in 1981 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and has a Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA). He is the Davis campus' representative on the SAC.

Dr. Xakellis has spent several years in the private sector, first as a medical director of a HMO and then as a purchaser of health care services for a large employer (Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan). His teaching and research focuses on geriatric care, practice management, and physician leadership with over 30 publications in these areas. He has served on two Federal guideline development panels, has successfully implemented practice quality improvement initiatives in both long-term care and acute care settings, and has developed performance measurements for hospitals, health plans, and doctors.

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