Staff Physician and Associate Chief of Staff, Geriatrics and Extended Care, SFVAMC
Professor and Chief of Geriatrics, UCSF

Email: sethl@medicine.ucsf.edu

Dr. Landefeld's research advances health care for older persons. In seminal research on hospital care of older persons, Landefeld's team invented the concept of Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Units in hospitals, and demonstrated that these units improve processes of care and outcomes while reducing hospital costs. ACE Units have since been disseminated nationally.  His pioneering studies of anticoagulant therapy provide a model for how to improve drug safety and effectiveness.  Extending his work with evidence-based education, Dr. Landefeld led a national program that improved training of generalist physicians. He has also advanced understanding and management of conflict of interest in health care through a series of high-impact peer reviewed papers. Currently, Dr. Landefeld is addressing the problem of wasted health care - care that predictably fails to benefit patients, sometimes harming them, or that achieves a benefit that could be achieved at less cost. This project seeks to understand and change aspects of the health care culture that promote wasted care without benefit to patients.

Landefeld CS, Bowers BJ, Feld AD, et al.  2008.  National Institutes of Health State-of-the-Science Statement: Prevention of fecal and urinary incontinence in adults. Ann Intern Med 148:449-58.

Landefeld CS, Steinman M. 2009. The Neurontin^TM legacy: Marketing through misinformation and manipulation. N Engl J Med 360:103-6.