News & Events

The Highland Hospital Foundation presented the 2019 Heritage Award to Robert McCann, M.D., MACP, a long-time member of the Highland Hospital Board and former board chair, at a ceremony at the Genesee Valley Club on December 4.

The Heritage Award is the highest honor given by The Highland Hospital Foundation for philanthropic contributions. It honors a person or organization that plays a significant role at Highland Hospital and in our community through their time, talent and financial support.

Dr. McCann has been an integral part of Rochester's healthcare community for close to 35 years, has received many accolades and honors, and is regarded as a national and international expert in geriatric and end-of-life care. He has served as Chief of Medicine at Highland Hospital for almost 20 years and also serves as Chief Executive Officer of Accountable Health Partners.

A new study led by Supriya Mohile, M.D., M.S. shows that when physicians fully appreciate the concerns of older adults with cancer, such as function and forgetfulness, it elevates patient care and satisfaction.

The study, published in JAMA Oncology, is believed to be the first to assess in a randomized clinical trial whether a tool known as geriatric assessment (GA) can meaningfully influence cancer care for vulnerable older people. A geriatric assessment can personalize care and prompt better conversations between physicians, patients, and their families, the study found.

Mohile and co-authors suggest that a GA summary should be considered standard care for older adults with cancer, and appropriate interventions based on the report should be used as needed.

Mohile is the Philip and Marilyn Wehrheim Professor of Hematology/Oncology and Professor of Medicine and Surgery at the James Wilmot Cancer Institute. She is also Director of the Geriatric Oncology Clinic.

Melissa (Kah Poh) Loh, M.D., a senior instructor at the Wilmot Cancer Institute, has received $1 million to study a mobile exercise app for older patients with cancer. The project will likely position Loh as one of the few geriatric oncologists in the country with the skills to design and implement clinical trials testing the modern technology to track fitness in cancer patients who are 60 or older.

Loh won the grant from the National Institutes of Health through a program (K99-ROO) that's meant to transition postdoctoral fellows into independent investigators. She had been a Wilmot Cancer Research Fellow, a program created more than 30 years ago by local businessman and philanthropist James P. Wilmot to support innovative projects by young researchers.

Jennifer Muniak, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine received the Geriatric Academic Career Award (GACA). The GACA is a highly competitive, national award funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, with the mission of supporting the development of early-career faculty and providing clinical training in geriatrics. Dr. Muniak will be mentored by Suzanne Gillespie, M.D., Associate Professor in the Division of Geriatrics and Aging. Her project will focus on championing the creation of an Age-Friendly Health System at the University of Rochester and dispersing Age-Friendly Geriatrics education to the regional healthcare workforce.

Though older adults with dementia have high rates of emergency department use for acute illnesses, a trip to the ED can be disruptive for them as they are at greater risk for delirium and other hazards. A recent University of Rochester Medical Center trial found that telemedicine can be an effective tool for providing timely care while reducing emergency department visits for this growing population.

Led by geriatrics experts Suzanne M. Gillespie, M.D. R.D., and Dallas Nelson, M.D., "High-Intensity Telemedicine Reduces Emergency Department Use by Older Adults with Dementia in Senior Living Communities" was published online in July in JAMDA, the Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.

The National Institute on Aging awarded $1.2 million to Allison Magnuson, D.O., as part of an effort to support talented physicians and scientists who are expected to lead the next generation in aging research.

Magnuson received the Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging. It is a top honor that highlights investigators with leadership skills who have already received competitive research support at the faculty level. Magnuson plans to use the grant to adapt an existing memory-and-attention therapy program for use in older breast cancer patients. She will evaluate the program in a pilot study for its feasibility and impact.

As a dual-trained geriatric oncologist at the Wilmot Cancer Institute and an assistant professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Magnuson sees patients at the Comprehensive Breast Center. She also is director of Wilmot's SOCARE clinic (Specialized Oncology Care and Research in the Elderly), one of the few geriatric oncology clinics in the country.

Thomas Caprio, M.D., Professor of Medicine, URMC's ongoing efforts to improve health outcomes for older adults will be enhanced by a five-year, $3.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

The Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) grant will support the university's Finger Lakes Geriatric Education Center within the Division of Geriatrics and Aging. URMC is the only upstate N.Y. site—and one of 48 sites in the nation—to earn this grant award.

Melissa Loh, M.D., a fellow at Wilmot and in the Division of Geriatrics & Aging at the University of Rochester Medical Center, spearheaded two studies on decision-making and patients' beliefs about their cancer by analyzing survey data from more than 500 geriatric patients (older than 70), hundreds of their caregivers, and dozens of treating oncologists.

One of the studies, published in the American Cancer Society's journal, Cancer, underlined the importance of doctors understanding a patient's beliefs, values and world view; it discovered that a small group of people with incurable cancer were nonetheless willing to bear toxic treatments and that their decisions may be related an absolutist belief of a 100% chance they could be cured.

The second paper, published recently by The Oncologist, showed that 60 percent of pairs of older patients and their doctors, and 52 percent of pairs of patient caregivers and doctors, had different ideas about whether incurable cancer could be cured.

Both studies emphasized a need to improve ways to talk about treatment and prognosis. Patients without a strong support system tended to have more discordant beliefs about a cure compared to their doctors.

Suzanne Gillespie, MD, RD, CMD, talked to McKnight's Long-Term Care News about her new study that offers guidance on the use of telemedicine for nursing home residents.