Leaders in Research
You may view the list of scholars arranged
| Mary A. Whooley, MD Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology & Biostatistics University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
Dr. Whooley’s interest in aging research developed during her fellowship training in Clinical Epidemiology at UCSF. Using data collected from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (a 10-year longitudinal study of older women), Dr. Warren Browner and Dr. Whooley published a study that found a dose-response relation between depressive symptoms and mortality, especially mortality from cardiovascular diseases, in elderly women. She received a Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research for another paper describing an increased risk of falls and fractures associated with depression in older women. In 1998, she was awarded a VA Career Development Award and has since received VA Merit Review funding for a prospective cohort study designed to determine why depression is associated with a worse prognosis in patients with coronary heart disease. Dr. Whooley’s objective is to become a leader in aging research and in the promotion of the values and expertise of geriatric medicine in general internal medicine. In particular, she hopes to play an important role in advancing the synergistic interaction of academic geriatrics and general internal medicine. As a Beeson Scholar, she will have the opportunity to address research questions of special relevance to older patients. Under the close supervision of two outstanding mentors, Dr. Warren Browner and Dr. C. Seth Landefeld, her goal is to explore the mechanisms linking depression with poor health outcomes in older patients, and to attain independence as a leading investigator, teacher, and clinician in geriatrics and general internal medicine. | |
| Primary Research (for Beeson Program): Mechanisms Of Association Between Depression And Poor Health Outcomes In Older Patients
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Dr. Whooley received her B.A. from Yale University and M.D. from Boston University School of Medicine before completing her residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 1996. From 1996-98, she pursued fellowship training in Clinical Epidemiology then joined the research faculty of the UCSF Department of Medicine and the staff of the San Francisco VA Medical Center in July 1998. Her research is focused on understanding the complex interactions between depression and medical conditions in older patients.