Dr. Elise Levinoff to become Chief of Division of Geriatric Medicine

After more than 40 years in Geriatrics, Dr. Ruby Friedman will step down as Chief

Dr. Elise Levinoff will become Chief of the Division of Geriatric Medicine at the JGH on New Year’s Day, taking over from Dr. Ruby Friedman, who steps down at the end of the December after more than 40 years in various senior positions in the division.

Dr. Levinoff, who joined the JGH in 2014, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at McGill University, with significant expertise in the education of healthcare professionals.

In a leadership capacity at the JGH, she has served as Site Program Director of the Core Internal Medicine Residency Training Program, and as Co-Director of the Memory Clinic. At McGill, Dr. Levinoff has been Director of the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program, and Program Director of the Fellowship in Cognitive Disorders in the Division of Geriatric Medicine.

Dr. Ruby Friedman

In a statement from Dr. Vicky Tagalakis, Physician-in-Chief of the JGH, Dr. Friedman—who will continue to play an active role in the division—was praised for his “exceptional leadership” and for his “vision and dedication, which have left a lasting legacy in the field of geriatric care.”

Throughout his career, Dr. Friedman has been instrumental in keeping the JGH at the forefront of geriatric care in Montreal and Quebec, given the disproportionately large number of seniors the JGH has been seeing for more than half a century.

One of the most noteworthy milestones of his career was the launch in 2021 of the Susan & Aron Lieberman Family Wellness in Aging Geriatric Centre at the JGH. Its care reflects an acknowledgement by staff that older adults are more than the sum of their diseases and their declining capabilities.