• Media Advisory: Mayo Clinic forms Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology

caregiver holding elderly patient's handsROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic has formed the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology within the Department of Medicine. The new division will promote the health and independence of older adults through clinical care and translational research discoveries. Robert Pignolo, M.D., Ph.D., formerly of the University of Pennsylvania, has been appointed as the division chair and also will serve as director of the Translation and Pharmacology Program within the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging.

With more than 50 geriatricians, Mayo Clinic is committed to serving the aging population and is ranked No. 1 in geriatrics by U.S. News and World Report. Geriatricians on Mayo Clinic’s Rochester campus will be brought together initially through joint appointments within the division. The creation of this division will strengthen collaboration among investigators and clinicians, and will support additional research endeavors and the training of future generations of geriatricians and gerontologists.

MEDIA CONTACT: Megan Forliti, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu

“I look forward to working with our geriatricians as well as our scientists to find opportunities to strengthen Mayo Clinic’s translational research to promote healthier, more independent aging,” says Dr. Pignolo. He will have a joint appointment in Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, as well as in Endocrinology. Dr. Pignolo’s major research accomplishments are in the areas of skeletal aging, stem cell biology, and regenerative medicine informed by models of cell and organismal senescence, as well as rare genetic disorders.

Prior to Mayo Clinic, Dr. Pignolo served as an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Geriatric Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; an associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery; the director of Ralston-Penn Clinic for Osteoporosis and Related Bone Disorders, and the Ian Cali Distinguished Clinician-Scientist.

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