Kenneth Covinsky, MD, MPH, BS
Dr. Covinsky is a clinician-researcher in the UCSF Division of Geriatrics. His work focuses on understanding the determinants and outcomes of disability in older persons. He holds the Edmund G. Brown, Sr Distinguished Professorship in Geriatrics and is Principal Investigator of the UCSF Older Americans Independence Center.
Dr. Covinsky completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois and medical school at UCSF. He completed his internal medical training on the Osler Medical Service of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, a fellowship in General Internal Medicine at the Beth Israel Hospital, and an MPH degree at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Covinsky was recruited back to UCSF in 1988 to lead the research program of the UCSF Geriatrics Division. He has led a nationally recognized research program that has advanced our understanding of the determinants and outcomes of disability in older persons. He has conducted pioneering work that has defined the hospitalization disability syndrome by demonstrating how hospitalization frequently precipitates disability in older persons. He is also a national leader in the science of prognostication in older persons. His work has proven that functional status is a vital determinant of health outcomes and quality of life in older persons.
Dr. Covinsky is passionate about mentoring trainees who are committed to improving the health and well being of older persons. He has received local and national awards for research mentorship including the Bay Area Clinical Research Mentor of the Year Award and the SGIM Midcareer Research Mentoring Award. Several of his mentees, including Louise Walter, Mike Steinman, Sei Lee, and Alex Smith are now local and national leaders in aging research.
Dr. Covinsky is Principal Investigator of the UCSF Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC), a National Institute on Aging Funded Pepper Center. The UCSF OAIC supports UCSF researchers who are working to improve the health outcomes and quality of life of older persons.
Dr. Covinsky attends on the Medical Service and Acute Care For Elders Unit and cares for patients in the Geriatrics clinic at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. He is an Associate Editor at JAMA-Internal Medicine and has served as chair of the Clinical Aging Study section at the National Institute on Aging.