The Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year Award is targeted to junior investigators (Assistant Professor/Instructor or equivalent) who are in the career development stages of their research work, with a faculty appointment of at least three but no more than seven years and a demonstrated focus on aging/geriatrics research. The ideal candidate is an individual who has been awarded a career development award, pilot grant, or institutional grant (but not an R01). Applicants must demonstrate a record of accomplishments in aging/geriatrics research, such as (a) first-authorship on original aging/geriatrics research publications (not review articles); (b) poster/oral presentations of aging research at national meetings; and/or (c) submission of at least one research grant as principal investigator. Applicants must also demonstrate evidence of a career plan related to aging research.
2026 Recipient: Matthew Growdon, MD, MPH
The American Geriatrics Society recognized Matthew Growdon, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the University of California, San Francisco Division of Geriatrics, as the 2026 Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year. An emerging leader in Geriatric Medicine, Dr. Growdon’s geriatric health services and implementation science research is focused on improving the quality and safety of prescribing for older adults, particularly those with cognitive impairment and social vulnerability. Dr. Growdon’s research has already contributed substantially to the understanding of the epidemiology of medication use by community-dwelling people with dementia (PWD) in the US, attitudes towards potential deprescribing among PWD, and the role of hospitalization in driving use of psychotropic medications by PWD. He is currently supported by a NIA Beeson K76 and other awards and has published over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, including work in JAGS concerning polypharmacy among older adults with dementia that was featured in NEJM Journal Watch. In 2024, he was awarded the AGS New Investigator Award. In 2024, he was awarded the AGS New Investigator Award for his submission “eConsultation for deprescribing among older adults: Evaluating barriers to and facilitators of implementation” which elicited clinician perspectives on barriers to and facilitators of using eConsults for deprescribing among older adults within a large university health network to develop a deprescribing eConsult intervention. A member of AGS since 2018, he has served on the AGS Research Committee, participated in the JAGS Junior Reviewer Program, and has served as a MSTAR research mentor. His long-term goal is to be a leading clinical researcher developing effective prescribing practices, guidelines, and policies for older adults with cognitive impairment and social vulnerability.
Past Recipients of the Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year Award
2026 Matthew Growdon, MD, MPH
2025 Clark DuMontier, MD, MPH
2024 Melissa Loh, MD
Ashwin Kotwal, MD, MS
2023 Halima Amjad, MD, PhD, MPH
Tim Anderson, MD, MA, MAS
2022 Ariel Green, MD, MPH, PhD
2021 Lauren Ferrante, MD, MHS
2020 Andrew Cohen, MD, DPhil
2019 Nancy Schoenborn, MD, MHS
2018 John Newman, MD, PhD
2017 Dae Kim, MD, MPH, ScD
2016 Rebecca Brown, MD, MPH
S. Ryan Greysen, MD, MHS, MA, FHM
2015 Micah Drummond, MD
2014 Sarah D. Berry, MD
2013 Amy Kelley, MD, MSHS
Heather Whitson, MD, MSHS