Geriatric Medicine Approval Committees

Dr. Fabiny is Associate Chief of Staff for Geriatrics, Palliative and Extended Care at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California-San Francisco. Prior to assuming that role, she was the Chief of Geriatrics at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA)and Medical Director of the CHA Elder Service Plan (a PACE program). She was Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is board certified in Family Medicine and Geriatric Medicine by the American Board of Family Medicine.

Dr. Fabiny began her career as a clinician-educator. She was the Saal Fellow in Medical Education at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and a Macy Scholar. She served as the Associate Director of the 4th Year Comprehensive Objective Structured Clinical Examination at HMS, was a Scholar in The Academy at HMS and Chief of the Teachers' Section of the American Geriatrics Society. She was the 2011 recipient of the HMS Charles McCabe Faculty Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

She joined the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Hebrew SeniorLife faculty as a Clinician-Educator in 1997 and has been strongly committed to geriatric education ever since. In 1999, she received a five-year Geriatric Academic Career Award from the Bureau of Health Professions to develop expertise as an educator. She served as Director of the Harvard Geriatric Fellowship Program and Director of Education for the BIDMC Gerontology Division from 2000 to 2005.

More recently, Dr. Fabiny has been engaged in quality improvement work. She developed a successful methodology and interventions to decrease emergency room and hospital utilization for CHA PACE participants and developed an outpatient frailty screening program for CHA outpatient clinics. She was awarded the Bridges to Excellence Medical Home Recognition (2015 to 2018) Level III and the NCQA Physician Practice Connections – Patient Centered Medical Home (2015 to 2018). Dr. Fabiny serves as a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Geriatric Medicine Board Exam Committee.

She received her medical degree in 1992 from the University of Wisconsin, where she also completed a residency in family medicine. From 1995 to 1997, she was a fellow in Geriatrics at Harvard Medical School.

View my board certification status via ABMS Website

As of May 2023, Dr. Fabiny reported the following ongoing external relationships:

Dr. Fabiny serves in significant roles with the following organization, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:

• On Lok Senior Health Services, Board of Directors, Member, without compensation

Dr. Johnston has been with The University of Arizona and Banner University Medical Center since February of 2017. She is a professor of medicine in the Division of General Medicine, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care. She spends the majority of her time with the inpatient palliative care service, and also works with the Arizona Center on Aging and the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program. From 2011-2016, She was the Director of Palliative Care at PeaceHealth Medical System serving hospitals in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska, and also served as Professor at the University of Washington. Most of Dr. Johnston's career was spent at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) where she served as the Chief for Geriatrics Education and Director of the Geriatric Fellowship Program. She is the author of numerous book chapters and journal articles, and has spoken extensively on numerous geriatrics and palliative care topics. She is the past Chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine Geriatrics Exam Writing Committee.

She received her education and training from University of California Santa Cruz, University of California Berkeley, UCSF, University of California Davis and Stanford University.

As of June 2023 Dr. Johnston reported the following ongoing external relationships:

Work as an author or editor for the following companies, with compensation as listed:

• McGraw Hill, receiving compensation for authorship
• Wiley, receiving compensation for authorship

Dr. Johnston serves in significant roles with the following organizations, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:

• The American Academy of Hospice & Palliative Medicine, Psychedelics Interest Group, Chair-Elect and Associate Editor, without compensation
• The American College of Physicians, Program Committee, Member, without compensation

Grant funding for salary support from the following health care-related nonprofit organization:

• RiverStyx Foundation

Dr. Kirwin is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Program Director for the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship at Yale University Hospital. Dr. Kirwin is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Dr. Kirwin is a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Geriatric Medicine Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment Approval Committee.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Colorado College and his medical degree from Rochester University.

View my board certification status via ABMS Website

As of July 2022, Dr. Kirwin reported no ongoing external relationships:

Dr. Kirwin serves in significant roles with the following healthcare-related organizations, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:

• American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, Past President, without compensation.
• American Psychiatric Association, Global Medical Advisor, without compensation.
• Americares, Mental Health Consultant, without compensation.
• Partners in Health, Geriatric Psychiatry Committee Member, without compensation.

Dr. Kuch is board certified in Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Clinical Lipidology, Geriatric Medicine and Sports Medicine. He was appointed Medical Director for the Charlotte Community-based Outpatient Clinic effective March 2015. Previously he assumed the duties of Medical Director for Hickory Community Based Outpatient Clinic, and also served as Interim Chief of Staff, and Acting Associate Chief of Staff/Geriatrics and Extended Care. Dr. Kuch transferred to Salisbury VA Medical Center in 2007 from the Bay Pines VA Medical Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he had served in numerous clinical and administrative positions from Hospitalist to Chief of Staff in his 23-year career there.

He was in private primary care practice from 1977 to 1984. Dr. Kuch has faculty appointments at Wake Forest School of Medicine, as well as Virginia College of Medicine. He previously had appointments at Brown Medical School and University of South Florida College of Medicine. Dr. Kuch served as Major in the U.S. Army Reserve. He helps prepare board examinations for both the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) and the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) as an ABFM member of the ABIM Geriatric Medicine Board Exam Committee.

Dr. Kuch received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed his residency training at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Kuch is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Medical School. His postgraduate training was at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

As of August 2022, Dr. Kuch reported no ongoing external relationships.

Dr. Suchak is a clinician-educator and Associate Professor in the Department of Geriatrics at Florida State University College of Medicine in Tallahassee. She is ABIM Board Certified in Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She has extensive clinical and leadership experience in a multitude of health care environments including outpatient, hospital, nursing home, rehabilitation facility, hospice, assisted living, and house calls. She has previously organized geriatrics consultation programs with sub-specialties such as oncology, surgery, orthopedics, and gynecology.

She is the immediate past President of the Florida Geriatrics Society and serves as co-Chair for the American Geriatric Society (AGS)International Activities Special Interest Group. She regularly serves as the international coordinator and member of the organizing committee for the International Congress on Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine and a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Geriatric Medicine Board Exam Committee.

She has presented regionally, nationally, and internationally on various geriatric medicine and medical education topics. In 2012, Dr. Suchak received the Clinician of the Year Award by the AGS.

Dr. Suchak has a strong interest in medical education, and interprofessional education is a major focus area for her. Her current teaching activities involve medical students, physician assistant students, medical residents, and students from other health professions. Previously, she has also taught geriatric medicine fellows. She contributes to curriculum development at the medical school as the Year 1 Clinical Skills Director, and through teaching activities that include students from all four years of medical school. She is interested in the use of simulation as a tool for medical education and is involved in creating and conducting simulation-based learning activities and assessing learning outcomes.

Dr. Suchak received her bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery (MBBS)degree from the University of Poona’s Armed Forces Medical College in Pune, India. She earned her master’s degree in clinical epidemiology at the School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University and completed her internal medicine residency and geriatric medicine fellowship at Baltimore’s Union Memorial Hospital.

As of November 2021, Dr. Suchak reported the following external relationships:

Work as an author or editor for following companies, with compensation as listed:

• Elsevier, receiving compensation for authorship of Clinical Key.

Dr. Suchak serves in significant roles with the following organizations, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:

• Florida Geriatrics Society, Board Member, without compensation.
• The Alzheimer’s Project, Board Member, without compensation.
• Florida Department of Health, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Grant Advisory Board Member, without compensation.
• American Geriatrics Society, co-Chair of International Activities Special Interest Group, without compensation.
• American Medical Women’s Association, without compensation.

The Florida Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, Education Committee Member, without compensation.

Dr Suchak also reported serving as Medical Director for Big Bend Hospice.