Lewis Lipsitz

Lewis A. Lipsitz, MD is the Director of the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Chief Academic Officer, and Irving and Edyth S. Usen and Family Chair in Medical Research at Hebrew SeniorLife; Chief of the Division of Gerontology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His research is focused on age-related alterations in blood pressure and cerebral blood flow regulation and their relation to falls, syncope, and cognitive dysfunction. Dr. Lipsitz has served as Principal Investigator of an NIA funded Program Project Grant for more than 26 years, an Older American Independence Center Grant for over 15 years, and a Hartford Foundation Center of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine for 15 years. In these roles he has assembled multidisciplinary teams from multiple academic institutions and laboratories to study the mechanisms and management of several important clinical geriatric syndromes, including falls, syncope, dementia, delirium, and frailty. He was Principal Investigator of an NIA Merit Award to study the physiologic mechanisms of frailty in old age, which led to a NIA-funded clinical trial that examines the effect of Tai Chi exercises on physical function and health care costs in frail elderly residents of subsidized senior housing facilities. His research has shown that Tai Chi exercise can improve physical function and balance control in frail elderly people, vibrating insoles based on the principle of stochastic resonance can improve gait and balance in older people, and the treatment of hypertension with ACE inhibitors can improve cerebral blood flow and executive function. Dr. Lipsitz is a Gerontological Society of America (GSA) fellow, which is the highest category of membership within the Society. He is the current Editor-in-Chief of GSA’s Journal of Gerontology Medical Sciences. Dr. Lipsitz will bring his expertise in the neurological aspects of aging, research interests including approaches from integrative medicine, and leadership skills to the work of the Steering Committee.