About
Personal Statement
Mark Lachs, M.D., M.P.H., graduated medical school from NYU School of Medicine and completed his residency at the University of Pennsylvania and was on the faculty at Yale before joining the geriatrics program at Cornell’s Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine. Dr. Lachs is the Irene and Roy Psaty Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College and Co-Chief of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, and the Director of Geriatrics for The New York Presbyterian Health Care System. His major area of interest is the disenfranchised elderly, and he has published widely in the areas of elder abuse and neglect, adult protective services, the measurement of functional status, ethics and the financing of health care.
Biography
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the NYU School of Medicine, he completed a residency in Internal Medicine at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine. In 1988 he became a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Yale where he also earned a MPH degree in chronic disease epidemiology and added qualification in Geriatric Medicine from the American Board of Internal Medicine. He spent four years on the Yale Faculty before coming to Cornell to lead the Geriatrics Program.
Dr. Lachs's major area of interest is the disenfranchised elderly, and he has published widely in the areas of elder abuse and neglect, adult protective services, the measurement of functional status, ethics, and the financing of health care. He has lectured internationally on these topics. His many honors and awards include an American College of Physicians Teaching and Research Scholarship, a National Institute on Aging Academic Leadership Award, and a Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholarship (the country's preeminent career development award in aging). He is also the recipient of RO1 funding from the National Institute of Health to study the impact of crime on the physical and emotional health of older adults. Recently, he was asked to serve as an advisor for the World Health Organization on Elder Abuse.
In January of 2000, Dr. Lachs became the first director of the Cornell Center for Aging Research and Clinical Care (CARCC), a multidisciplinary group of scientists, clinicians, and educators who seek to speed scientific advances from bench to bedside, teach geriatric medicine to physicians-in-training at all levels, and create a trans-institutional community of gerontologists at Cornell.
His service to community and country includes membership on an Institute of Medicine Committee to address the training needs of health professionals in family violence, and participation in the AMA/ABA joint conference on family violence. He also sits on the Board of the American Federation for Aging Research.
Dr. Lachs's greatest passion is practicing and teaching geriatric medicine in the outpatient, hospital, long-term care, and house call setting. He maintains a practice at The Irving Sherwood Wright Center on Aging; a community based ambulatory care practice for older adults, which he founded with Dr. Ronald Adelman in 1998. A unique social experiment intended to provide seamless medical and supportive services for older people. The physical space at 1484 First Avenue also is home to the Burden Center for the Aging (a community service organization) and the Hebrew Home for the Aged's Elder Serve Program (a home care agency). He and Dr. Adelman also lead a student interest group in Geriatric Medicine at Cornell.
He and his wife Susan have three children and live in Weston, Connecticut.
Research
Honors and Awards
Honors and Awards
Learn more
Credentials
Board Certifications
- American Board of Internal Medicine
- American Board of Internal Medicine (Geriatric Medicine)
Clinical and Academic Positions
- The Irene F. and I. Roy Psaty Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine - Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University
- Professor of Medicine - Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University
- Attending Physician - NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
Education and Training
- M.P.H., Yale University, 1990
- M.D., New York University School of Medicine, 1985
Insurance
Insurance Plans Accepted
The following represents most of the managed care plans accepted by this doctor. If your insurance carrier does not appear here please contact the doctor’s office as they may have individual contracts not included on this site.
* indicates this doctor is no longer accepting new patients with this insurance plan.
- AETNA - HMO
- AETNA - Medicare
- AETNA - PPO
- Aetna Weill Cornell Employee Managed Care Plan
- Aetna Weill Cornell Employee PPO Plan
- Aetna-NYP - EPO/POS
- Affinity Access
- Affinity Health Plan
- AgeWell New York
- Amida Care
- CIGNA
- Emblem Select Care
- Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield - Blue Access
- Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield - Blue Connection
- Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield - EPO
- Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield - HMO
- Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield - Mediblue (Senior)
- Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield - PPO
- Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield HealthPlus
- Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield HealthPlus - CHP
- Fidelis Care
- GHI - CBP
- Health First
- Health Insurance Plan of NY (HIP)
- Health Insurance Plan of NY (HIP) - Medicaid
- Health Insurance Plan of NY (HIP) - Medicare
- Medicaid
- Medicare
- Oxford Health Plans - Freedom
- Oxford Health Plans - Liberty
- Oxford Health Plans - Medicare Advantage
- Oxford Health Plans - Metro/Core/Charter
- Rockefeller University - Trustmark
- United Empire
- United Healthcare
- United Healthcare - Community Plan
- United Healthcare - Medicare
- United Healthcare Compass
- VNSNY CHOICE - HMO
- VNSNY CHOICE - Medicare
- WellCare of NY
- WorldWide Medical
Locations and Appointments
News and Media
News
External Relationships
External Relationships
Relationships and collaborations with for-profit and not-for profit organizations are of vital importance to our faculty because these exchanges of scientific information foster innovation. As experts in their fields, WCM physicians and scientists are sought after by many organizations to consult and educate. WCM and its faculty make this information available to the public, thus creating a transparent environment.