Hebrew SeniorLife’s Susan Mitchell Earns Excellence in Mentoring Award

BOSTON – Harvard Medical School affiliate Hebrew SeniorLife, a nonprofit organization committed to improving the lives of older adults, today announced that Susan L. Mitchell, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Palliative Care and Clinical Trials Research, and Senior Scientist, Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, has been selected as a recipient of the A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award from Harvard Medical School.

Lewis A. Lipsitz, M.D., Director, the Marcus Institute & Chief Academic Officer, Hebrew SeniorLife, said, “Susan is doing groundbreaking research for people nearing the end of life and living with dementia. At the same time, she is a stellar role model for junior scientists and students entering the geriatrics field today. With geriatricians in such short supply across the United States and with the growing number of older Americans, having such a brilliant and approachable scientist nurturing and cultivating the next generation of researchers is an invaluable asset to Hebrew SeniorLife, the medical community, and the seniors with whom we work every day.”

The Excellence in Mentoring Awards were established to recognize the value of quality mentoring relationships and the impact they have on professional development and career advancement in clinical medicine, teaching, research, and administration. A total of 20 recipients were selected across three categories in 2019: the William Silen Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award, the A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award, and the Young Mentor Award.

Award winners were selected through a nomination process among Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Dental Medicine faculty members, house officers, fellows, and students.

A celebration honoring all Excellence in Mentoring Award recipients will be held on Tuesday, May 21, 2019 from 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. in the Carl Walter Amphitheater, Tosteson Medical Education Center, Harvard Medical School. An informal reception will immediately follow the ceremony.

About Susan L. Mitchell, M.D., M.P.H.

Susan L. Mitchell, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Palliative Care and Clinical Trials Research, and Senior Scientist at the Marcus Institute, is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is a geriatrician and health services researcher. Dr. Mitchell's research interests focus on decision-making, health outcomes, and resource utilization for older people with advanced illness, particularly those with dementia. She is the principal investigator on several large research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health and has authored many articles in top peer-reviewed journals related to this topic.

Dr. Mitchell is active in the mentorship of young investigators and is the recipient of a NIH-NIA K24 Mid-Career Investigator Award. She is also an attending geriatrician at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical. She earned her medical degree at the University of Ottawa, and her master’s of public health at Harvard University.

About Hebrew SeniorLife

Hebrew SeniorLife, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, is a national senior services leader dedicated to rethinking, researching, and redefining the possibilities of aging. The Boston-based nonprofit, founded in 1903, provides communities and health care for seniors, research into aging, and education for geriatric care providers. Visit http://www.hebrewseniorlife.org, follow us on Twitter @H_SeniorLife, like us on Facebook, or read our blog.