Geriatric News

We are thrilled to announce that the Division in Geriatric Medicine received an endowment from the Archstone Foundation recently to support an Archstone Foundation Chair in Geriatric Healthcare. The Archstone Foundation, located in Southern California, was formed in 1985, and is a national leader in the field of aging and philanthropy. The Archstone Foundation’s new Three T: Teams, Training, and Technology is aligned with the Division of Geriatrics commitment to providing equitable, interrelated, and coordinated care for California’s diverse aging populations. The Endowed Chair will work to advance the mission of The Archstone Foundation, ‘To improve the health and well-being of older Californians and their caregivers.”

After a national search, our leadership team has concluded that the most deserving for the founding Chair is Dr. Sonia Sehgal, a UCI geriatrician. In this role, she will drive innovations in Geriatric sub-specialty services for our clinical programs. The SeniorHealth Center, and now Geriatrics at Laguna Hills, is unique in scope with an interdisciplinary team of experts in health aging. Leveraging our team of board-certified Geriatricians, Dr. Sehgal will build upon our strengths, expertise, and our dedication to an Age Friendly Health System, thereby promoting innovative care and collaboration with other healthcare services. Dr. Sehgal will envision and implement clinical care services for older adults thereby creating new models of team-based healthcare to ensure optimal living and empowered longevity for California’s older adults.

Dr. Sehgal as an invaluable member of our Division, committed to patients and colleagues alike, and passionate about patient care. Dr. Sehgal earned her Fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at UCI, in the same program she now leads. Under her leadership, the Fellowship has expanded and consistently attracts outstanding candidates in a setting of geriatrician shortages nationwide. She has been recognized for her teaching, having received the Excellence in Teaching Award annually from 2008-2016 and the MVP Outstanding Service Award from the Office of Educational Affairs of UCI School of Medicine. In 2010 the medical students selected Dr. Sehgal to receive the Gold Star Award from the Gold Humanism Honor Society. She maintains some of the highest patient satisfaction scores at UCI Health. Furthermore, she has been honored as a Physician of Excellence by the Orange County Medical Association yearly since 2012, in recognition of her commitment to providing quality geriatric care to the Orange County community. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Sehgal for her appointment as the founding Archstone Foundation Chair in Geriatric Medicine!

Chief, Geriatric Medicine