Geriatrics’ “California Dreams” Now Have Windy-City Momentum

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact how we deliver long-term care, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) has been hard at work developing new opportunities to network, communicate, and collaborate—both this year and as we look toward the AGS 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS21; May 13-15; Chicago, IL). Here is a recap of how we have adapted in 2020 and what we are looking forward to in 2021.

For 2020…

Virtual Sessions: A series of virtual events brought key highlights from the original #AGS20 program to life for the whole geriatrics community. These included free webinars on the following topics, with recordings now available to all for free at GeriatricsCareOnline.org:

“Resource Allocation Strategies and Age-Related Considerations in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond”

“Preventing Serious Falls: Primary Findings from the STRIDE Study”

“The #AGS20 Plenary Paper Session,” highlighting the top-rated submitted abstracts

“The Clinician Scientists Transdisciplinary Aging Research (Clin-STAR) Paper Session,” featuring the latest peer-reviewed geriatrics research from four leading scholars in gynecology, nephrology, oncology, and trauma surgery

Honoring Awardees & Presenters: We are honored to continue celebrating our abstract presenters and 2020 awardees, who put tremendous time and effort into their contributions to our field—contributions that did not skip a beat,
even amid COVID-19. This year’s awardees will be recognized with our 2021 honorees during a special, extended ceremony at #AGS21. Our call for 2021 award nominations runs through December 5, 2020 and is accessible at
meeting.americangeriatrics.org.

The AGS also received a record-breaking number of abstract submissions this year, which are now on vivid display in a special (free) supplement to the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS). 

For 2021… 

Leveraging Hard Work from 2020: Everyone—from our Program Committee members to AGS leaders and geriatrics experts who submitted proposals for #AGS20 sessions—worked tirelessly on a meeting agenda that still makes us proud. To honor that work, we will be bringing to #AGS21 almost all pre-conference sessions and #AGS20 symposia and workshops (excluding poster and paper sessions, which will be refreshed with new research submissions being accepted now). As we work to keep these events as relevant as possible, rest assured that we will be:

assigning a Program Committee leader to help
review and update proposals to keep them on the cutting edge of care come 2021; and 

delaying our next program proposal request to May 2021, when we will begin accepting ideas for #AGS22.

Supporting the Latest Science & Innovation: With our #AGS20 abstracts available for review, thanks to JAGS, we are excited to welcome new research submissions for poster and paper sessions at #AGS21. Be sure to submit your new research and innovations for presentation at #AGS21 by visiting meeting.americangeriatrics.org for details. Submissions are welcome through December 5.

As we continue to navigate these difficult times, we remain grateful for such a warm and caring community, one that is as committed as ever to showing and supporting its strength. We look forward to meeting you online, in-person, and wherever we can as we work together to continue advancing high-quality, person-centered care for all older adults.