Dr. Ronald D. Adelman
Ronald D. Adelman, M.D. is the Emilie Roy Corey Professor of Geriatrics and Gerontology at the Weill Cornell School of Medicine. In addition, he is Co-Chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Weill Cornell-New York Presbyterian Hospital, cofounded in 1998. He also is Co-Director of Cornell University’s Center for Aging Research and Clinical Care. Dr. Adelman directs all clinical, educational and research programs in geriatrics and adult palliative medicine at NYP. The Division’s clinical services are many and include: an outpatient geriatrics practice, an inpatient geriatrics care unit, an inpatient geriatrics consultation service, a house call program, an inpatient palliative care consultation service, an inpatient hospice unit and an outpatient palliative care practice.
Throughout his career Dr. Adelman has been a steadfast and passionate advocate for older people. Early in his career he created programs to educate health professionals about elder abuse and neglect and, with his co-author, Risa Breckman, wrote one of the early books to define and conceptualize elder abuse within the field of domestic violence.
Dr. Adelman has been a strong advocate for geriatrics and palliative care training and his Division has created fellowship programs in geriatrics, palliative medicine, and an NIH sponsored fellowship program to train fellows to become independent investigators in gerontologic or palliative medicine research.
Dr. Adelman’s primary area of research has focused on communication between older patients and their physicians. His research has helped to better define many aspects of older patient-physician communication. In addition, Dr. Adelman and his colleagues helped to develop a framework for studying triadic interaction in geriatric medical encounters. Much of his research has been incorporated in patient communication guides produced for patients at the National Institute of Aging.
More recently, Dr. Adelman’s research has focused on the challenges faced among caregivers and primary care providers when a patient transitions into home hospice care. Today, Dr. Adelman is developing a new model of outpatient geriatric care in the Hospital’s Division of Geriatric and Palliative Care. Given the social isolation which often occurs with aging, he is initiating a Wellness Program for patients in the Division’s outpatient practice with the goal of helping older patients to make new friends. This voluntary membership program will occur both in-person and virtually and will create opportunities for our older patients to engage with each other through health care talks, diverse invited lectures, cultural enrichment activities, reading groups, walking groups, etc.