Jan 7, 2020
Today's episode on Redefining Medicine spotlights Louise
Aronson, MD, MFA. Louise the doctor is a
practicing geriatrician and Professor of Medicine at the University
of California, San Francisco (UCSF). A graduate of Harvard Medical
School, she has served as director of the Northern California
Geriatrics Education Center, the UCSF Pathways to Discovery
program, and currently leads the campus-wide Health Humanities and
Social Advocacy Initiative. She has received awards including
California Homecare Physician of the Year, the Gold Professorship
in Humanism in Medicine, and American Geriatrics Society
Clinician-Teacher of the Year. Her scholarly articles have been
published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet,
Health Affairs, Medical Education, Academic Medicine, Medical
Teacher, JGIM, STAT News, Annals of Internal Medicine, the Journal
of the American Geriatrics Society and JAMA.
Louise the writer is a graduate of the
Warren Wilson Program for Writers and the author of articles,
essays and stories that explore the intersection of medicine and
life. Her first book, A History of the Present
Illness, was a finalist for both the Chautauqua Prize and the
PEN America debut fiction award. Her second book, the New York
Times non-fiction bestseller, Elderhood: Redefining Aging
Transforming Medicine, and Reimagining Life, was released
to starred reviews and national media attention in June 2019. It
has been described as “stunning, extraordinary,” “beautiful,
enormous in scope,” and “sophisticated, nuanced beyond almost
anything.” Her writing has been featured on National Public Radio
and in publications including the New York Times, Washington Post,
San Francisco Chronicle, Narrative Magazine, New England Review,
Discover Magazine, and Bellevue Literary Review. She has earned 4
Pushcart nominations and a MacDowell Colony fellowship.