- Today, the @AmerGeriatrics announced Veronica Rivera, MD, AGSF as the 2026 recipient of the AGS Clinician of the Year award. #AGS26 https://bit.ly/4sdbIHD
New York (April 6, 2026) — The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today announced Veronica Rivera, MD, as 2026 Clinician of the Year. Dr. Rivera, Associate Professor of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, will be honored at the 2026 Virtual AGS Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS26) happening April 30th – May 2nd (pre-conference days: April 27th – April 29th).
"Dr. Rivera’s dedication to the culturally competent care of diverse older adults as well as her significant contributions to geriatrics healthcare in the community are inspirational,” said AGS President Paul Mulhausen, MD, MHS, FACP, AGSF. "Her clinical work in geriatrics and family medicine illustrates great passion for meeting the health care needs of complex, vulnerable older adults in the outpatient setting as evidenced by the two thriving geriatrics practices that she maintains with excellent patient satisfaction scores and quality metrics. As an outstanding clinician, she advances geriatric care in the community through the programs she has developed and the collaborations she has established, while also serving as a highly sought-after consultant to community health programs and a champion of leveraging technology to improve care for older adults in primary care settings.”
With the older adult population outpacing the growth of the geriatrics workforce, Dr. Rivera works to infuse age-friendly care beyond specialty settings and into the larger primary care workforce. She advocates for geriatricians to serve as key partners—providing support to primary care clinicians, in person or electronically, as needed—to help manage the care of older adults with complex needs. To this end, she provides primary care and geriatrics consultation at the Family Health Center of Harlem, a community health center where she also oversees the geriatrics curriculum for their family medicine residency program. As a Master Clinician and Medical Director at Mount Sinai, her goal is to share best geriatric practices and tools with the large network of primary care sites across the Mount Sinai Health System.
Since 2019, Dr. Rivera has served as the Director of the Coffey Geriatrics Practice at the Martha Stewart Center for Living. In this key leadership role, she supervises interprofessional teams and develops innovative models of care in the ambulatory setting including electronic consults and telehealth visits for patients. She maintains an active primary care and geriatrics consultation practice for medically complex older adults and also precepts medical students and geriatrics fellows. Dr. Rivera received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University and her MD from Jefferson Medical College. She completed her Family and Community Medicine residency at the University of California in San Francisco and her Geriatrics Medicine Fellowship at the University of California in San Francisco. AGS is honored to recognize her with the Clinician of the Year Award for her exceptional clinical career dedicated to strengthening community-based health programs, leveraging technology to improve the care of older adults, and integrating age-friendly principles beyond specialty settings.
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About the American Geriatrics Society
Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals dedicated to improving the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Our 6,000+ members include geriatricians, geriatrics nurse practitioners, social workers, family practitioners, physician associates, pharmacists, and internists who are pioneers in serious illness care for older individuals, with a focus on championing interprofessional teams, eliciting personal care goals, and treating older people as whole persons. AGS is an anti-discriminatory organization. We believe in a society where we all are supported by and able to contribute to communities where ageism, ableism, classism, homophobia, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and other forms of bias and discrimination no longer impact healthcare access, quality, and outcomes for older adults and their caregivers. AGS advocates for policies and programs that support the health, independence, and quality of life of all of us as we age.
About the Health in Aging Foundation
The Health in Aging Foundation is a national non-profit established in 1999 by the American Geriatrics Society to bring the knowledge and expertise of geriatrics healthcare professionals to the public. We are committed to ensuring that people are empowered to advocate for high-quality care by providing them with trustworthy information and reliable resources. We also help nurture current and future geriatrics leaders by supporting opportunities to attend educational events and increase exposure to principles of excellence on caring for older adults. For more information or to support the Foundation's work, visit HealthinAgingFoundation.org.
About the Clinician of the Year Award
Since 1993, the Clinician of the Year Award has recognized the great contributions of practitioners to delivering quality healthcare for older people and showcases the importance of the geriatrics clinician in our healthcare system. Through these clinicians' efforts, scientific advances are integrated into the practice of geriatrics, resulting in improved well-being and quality-of-life for older people.
About the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting
The AGS Annual Scientific Meeting is the premier educational event in geriatrics, providing the latest information on clinical care, research on aging, and innovative models of care delivery. More than 2,600 nurses, pharmacists, physicians, physician assistants, social workers, long-term care and managed care providers, healthcare administrators, and others will convene virtually April 30 – May 2, 2026 (pre-conference days: April 27-29) to advance geriatrics knowledge and skills through state-of-the-art educational sessions and research presentations. For more information, visit https://meeting.americangeriatrics.org/.