Clin-STAR Executive Committee: Bios

Thomas Gill, MD

is a geriatrician, clinical epidemiologist and the Humana Foundation Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Yale.

Dr. Gill is a leading international authority on the epidemiology and prevention of disability and functional decline among older persons.

He holds several leadership positions at Yale, including Director of the Program on Aging, Older Independence (Pepper) Center, and an NIA-funded postdoctoral training program in Geriatric Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Related Research.

Kristine Yaffe, MD

is the Scola Endowed Chair and Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology and Epidemiology at UCSF.

In addition, Dr. Yaffe is the Chief of Neuropsychiatry and Director of Memory Disorders Clinic at the SF Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center.

She holds several leadership positions at UCSF, including Director of the Center for Population Brain Health, Director of the Research Education Core (REC) for the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), Co-Director of the REC for the Pepper Center, and Director of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) pilot program.

Jeremy Walston, MD

is the Raymond and Ana Lublin Professor of Geriatric Medicine, the PI of the Pepper Center, the Co-Director of the Biology of Healthy Aging Program and the Deputy Director of the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at Johns Hopkins.

His clinical research focused on frailty and resiliency, while his translational research focuses on the interface between mitochondrial biology and chronic inflammation and the impact of age-related changes in these systems on older adults.

Odette van der Willik

is the Deputy Director and Director, Grant Programs for the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR).

In this role, she develops and oversees AFAR’s series of grant programs, supporting early and mid-career investigators, medical students and other trainees in the fields of aging research and geriatric medicine.

She also acts act as a liaison to AFAR’s funding agencies and program partners, including foundations, corporations and the National Institute on Aging. She is a Co-Investigator for the NIA Research Centers Collaborative Network and the Nathan Shock Centers Coordinating Center.

Stephanie Lederman, MEd

is the Executive Director of the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR).

In this role, Ms. Lederman has been instrumental in the planning, coordination and management of numerous grant programs.

She is one of the multiple PIs for the Nathan Shock Centers Coordinating Center and Research Centers Collaborative Network, and is an advocate for aging research, promoting the field through raising funds for new investigators, and organizes scientific meetings, through outreach to the general public and media.

Susan Zieman, MD, PhD

joined the Division of Geriatrics and Clinical Gerontology as a Medical Officer in the Geriatrics Branch. Dr. Zieman comes to the NIA from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where she was Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Divisions of Cardiology and Geriatrics. Her interests in the Geriatrics Branch at NIA are focused on organ-specific diseases of older adults including cardiovascular, renal, pulmonary and gastroenterology in addition to promoting aging and geriatric-focused research amongst medical and surgical specialists.