Greg A. Sachs, M.D.
Name: Greg A. Sachs, M.D.
Phone Number: (317) 630-2564
E-Mail
Secretary Name: Shirley Lawson
Secretary Phone Number: (317) 630-2564
Fax: (317) 630-7066
 

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Sach's research and writing have focused on ethical issues in geriatrics, especially ethical issues involved in research on people with dementia and care at the end of life.

POSITION/TITLE

Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics
Professor of Medicine

EDUCATION/TRAINING
Institution and Location
Degree 
 Year Field of Study
The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL B.A. 1981 Biology

Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT

 M.D. 1985 Medicine

The University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics, Chicago, IL

 Resident 1985-1987 Internal Medicine

University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Fellow 1987-1990
Geriatric Medicine
Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL Fellow 1988-1990 Clinical Medical Ethics

ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS

1990 - 1997 Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1992 - 1995 Director of Ethics Consultation Service, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1993 - 1999 Assistant Director, MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1997 - 2004 Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1999 - 2007

Founding Co-Director, Center for Comprehensive Care and Research on Memory Disorders (The Memory Center), University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2000 - 2007 Director, Hartford Foundation Center of Excellence in Geriatrics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2000 - 2007 Founding Section Chief, Section of Geriatrics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2004 - 2007 Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago, IL 
2007 - Present Professor of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
2007 - Present Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
2007 - Present Center Scientist, Indiana University Center for Aging Research, Indianapolis, IN 
2007 - Present Research Scientist, Regenstrief. Institute, Inc., Indianapolis, IN

HONORS

1994 New Investigator Award, American Geriatrics Society
2001 Outstanding Scientific Achievement in Clinical Investigation Award, American Geriatrics Society
2001 - 2006 Annually named in America's Top Doctors and Top Doctors: Chicago Metro Area
2004 Named in Chicago Magazine as one of area's top doctors (one of only six geriatricians selected)
2004 Best paper in ethics and quality of life, Annual Meeting of American Geriatrics Society
2006 Named in Chicago Magazine as one of area's top doctors (one of only four geriatricians selected)
2008 Best paper in ethics and quality of life, Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Geriatrics Society

CURRENT AND RECENT FUNDING

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  1. Hitchcock-DeGregori SE, Mandala S, Sachs GA: Changes in actin lysine reactivities during polymerization detected using a competitive labeling method. J Biol Chem 1982;257:12573-580.
  2. Sachs GA:  Exercise induced bronchospasm and the protective effect of ascorbic acid: The role of prostaglandins.  M.D. Thesis, unpublished; copy in Yale Medical School Library.
  3. Sachs GA:  On deeper reflection.  JAMA 1988;259:2145.
  4. Woodson CE, Sachs GA:  Prevention, diagnosis, and management of infection in the nursing home.  Geriatric Clinics in Medicine 1988;4:505-27.
  5. Sachs GA, Cassel CK: Ethical aspects of dementia.  Neurologic Clinics 1989;7:845-58.
  6. Sachs GA, Cassel CK: Biomedical research involving older human subjects.  Law, Medicine, and Health Care 1990;18:234-43.
  7. Sachs GA, Miles SH, Levin RA: Limiting resuscitation: Emerging policy in the emergency medical system.  Ann Intern Med 1991;114:151-4.
  8. Sachs GA, Siegler M: Guidelines for decision making when the patient is incompetent: Informal directives may be as compelling as a living will.  J Critical Illness 1991;6:348-59.
  9. Sachs GA: MDS, trigger legends, RAPs . . . where is AGS?  J Am Geriatr Soc 1991;39:727-8.
  10. Sachs GA: Caring for older cancer patients: Practical decision-making guidelines with a focus on advance directives.  Oncology 1992;6(number 2, supplement):131-5.
  11. Sachs GA, Stocking CB, Miles SH: Empowerment of the older patient?  A randomized, controlled trial to increase use and discussion of advance directives.  J Am Geriatr Soc 1992: 40: 269-73.
  12. Menikoff JA, Sachs GA, Siegler M: Beyond advance directives - health care surrogate laws.  N Engl J Med 1992;327:1165-9.
  13. Sachs GA: Improving advance directives: More dialogue, not more laws. J Clinical Ethics 1993;4:171-3.
  14. Sachs GA, Rhymes J, Cassel CK: Biomedical and behavioral research in nursing homes: Guidelines for ethical investigations. J Am Geriatr Soc 1993;41:771-7.
  15. Sachs GA, Siegler M: Teaching scientific integrity and the responsible conduct of research.  Acad Med 1993;68:871-5.
  16. Moss AH, Stocking CB, Sachs GA, Siegler M: Variations in the attitudes of dialysis unit medical directors toward decisions to withhold and withdraw dialysis.  J Am Soc Nephrol 1993;4:229-34.
  17. Sachs GA: Flu shots, mammograms and Alzheimer's disease: Ethics of preventive medicine and dementia.  Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 1994;8:8-14.
  18. Cox DM, Sachs GA: Advance directives and the Patient Self-Determination Act.  Clinics in Geriatric Medicine 1994;10:431-43.
  19. Sachs GA, Stocking CB, Stern R, Cox DM, Hougham GW, Sachs RS: Ethical aspects of dementia research: Informed consent and proxy consent.  Clinical Research 1994;42:403-12.
  20. Sachs GA: Increasing the prevalence of advance care planning.  Hastings Center Report (special supplement) 1994;24:S13-6.
  21. Sachs GA: Advance consent for dementia research.  Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 1994;8(Suppl.4):19-27.
  22. Sachs GA: Improving care of the dying.  Generations 1994;17(4):19-22.
  23. American Geriatrics Society (Sachs GA principal author): The care of dying patients: A position statement from the American Geriatrics Society.  J Am Geriatr Soc 1995;43:577-8.
  24. Sachs GA, Ahronheim JC, Rhymes JA, Volicer L, Lynn J.  Good care of dying patients: The alternative to physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.  J Am Geriatr Soc 1995;43:553-62.
  25. Cox Hayley D, Stern R, Stocking C, Sachs GA: The application of health care surrogate laws to older populations: How good a match?  J Am Geriatr Soc 1996;44:185-8.
  26. Whitehouse PJ, Post SG, Sachs GA: Dementia care at the end of life: empirical research and international collaboration.  Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 1996;10:3‑4.
  27. Payne K, Taylor R, Stocking CB, Sachs GA: Physicians attitudes about the care of patients in the persistent vegetative state: A national survey.  Ann Intern Med 1996;125:104-10.
  28. Christakis NA, Sachs GA: The role of prognosis in clinical decision making.  J Gen Intern Med 1996;11:422-5.
  29. Post SG, Whitehouse PJ, Binstock RH, Bird TD, Eckert SK, Farrer LA, Fleck LM, Gaines AD, Juengst ET, Karlinsky H, Miles S, Murray TH, Quaid KA, Relkin NR, Roses AD, St. George-Hyslop PH, Sachs GA, Steinbock B, Truschke EF, Zinn AB: The clinical introduction of genetic testing for Alzheimer disease: An ethical perspective.  JAMA 1997;277:832-6.
  30. Karlawish JHT, Sachs GA: Research on the cognitively impaired: Lessons and warnings from the emergency research debate.  J Am Geriatr Soc 1997;45:474-481.
  31. Sachs GA: Dementia and the goals of care.  J Am Geriatr Soc 1998;46:782-3.
  32. Sachs GA: Opportunities for promoting palliative medicine in cancer research.  Cancer Investigation 1998;16:503-8.
  33. AGS Ethics Committee, American Geriatrics Society (Sachs, GA principal author): Informed consent for research on human subjects with dementia.  J Am Geriatr Soc 1998;46:1308‑10.
  34. Chin MH, Wang JC, Zhang JX, Sachs GA, Lang RM:  Differences among geriatricians, general internists, and cardiologists in the care of patients with heart failure: a cautionary tale of quality assessment.  J Am Geriatr Soc 1998;46:1349‑54.
  35. Karlawish JHT, Hougham GW, Stocking CB, Sachs GA: What is the quality of the reporting of research ethics in publications of nursing home research?  J Am Geriatr Soc 1999;47:76-81.
  36. Daskal FC, Hougham GW, Sachs GA: Physician assisted dying: interviews with dementia patients and families.  Annals of Long Term Care 1999;7:293-8.
  37. Brodaty H, Dresser R, Eisner M, Erkunjuntti T, Gauthier S, Graham N, Jonker C, Sachs GA, Whitehouse P:  Consensus Statement: Alzheimer’s Disease International and International Working Group for Harmonization of Dementia Drug Guidelines for Research Involving Human Subjects with Dementia.  Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord.1999;13:71-9. 
  38. Sachs GA: Assessing decision-making capacity.  Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation 2000;7:62-4.
  39. Brauner DJ, Muir JC, Sachs GA: Treating non-dementia illnesses in patients with dementia.  JAMA 2000;283:3230-5.
  40. Sachs GA:  A piece of my mind: Sometimes dying still stings.  JAMA 2000;284(19):2423.
  41. Cox Hayley D, Stocking C, Hougham GW, Sachs GA: Palliative care in a pre-hospice program: which patients transfer to hospice?  American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care 2001;18(6):1-6.
  42. Sachs GA: Research at the Interface of Palliative Care and Geriatrics.  Journal of Palliative Care 2003;19(1):5-6.
  43. Sachs GA: Truth Telling in Alzheimer’s Disease.  Annals of Long Term Care 2003;11:47-8.
  44. Shega JW, Levin A, Cox-Hayley D, Sachs GA: Palliative Excellence in Alzheimer Care Efforts: The PEACE Program. Journal of Palliative Medicine 2003;6:315-20.
  45. Sachs GA, Hougham GW, Sugarman J, Agre P, Broome ME, Geller G, Kass N, Kodish E, Mintz J, Roberts LW, Sankar P, Siminoff LA, Sorenson J, Weiss AH: Conducting empirical research on informed consent: challenges and questions.  IRB: Ethics and Human Research 2003;25(5):S4-10.
  46. Hougham GW, Sachs GA, Agre P, Danner D, Mintz J, Patterson M, Roberts LW, Siminoff LA, Sugarman J, Weiss AH, Wirshing D.  Empirical research on informed consent with the cognitively impaired.  IRB: Ethics and Human Research 2003;25(5):S26-32.
  47. Shega JW, Hougham GW, Stocking, CB, Cox-Hayley D, Sachs GA: Barriers to limiting the practice of feeding tube placement in advanced dementia.  Journal of Palliative Medicine 2003;6:885-94.
  48. Stocking CB, Hougham GW, Baron A, Sachs GA: Are the rules for research with subjects with dementia changing?  Views from the field.  Neurology 2003:61:1649-51.
  49. Stocking CB, Hougham GW, Baron A, Sachs GA: Reporting of research ethics in publications of dementia research.  J Am Geriatr Soc 2004;52:305-10.
  50. Cook S, Brauner D, Baron A, Sachs GA: Improving care of patients with Alzheimer disease through clinical teaching: the IMPACT Program.  Education in Gerontology and Geriatrics 2004;24:9-21.
  51. Shega JW, Hougham GW, Cox-Hayley D, Sachs GA, Stocking, CB: Advanced dementia and feeding tubes: do physician factors contribute to state variation?  J Am Geriatr Soc 2004;52:1217-8.
  52. Sachs GA.  So I thought I wanted to be a chief.  J Am Geriatr Soc 2004;52:1205-9.
  53. Sachs GA, Shega JW, Cox-Hayley D: Barriers to Excellent End-of-life Care for Patients with dementia. J Gen Intern Med 2004;19:1057-63 (with accompanying editorial).
  54. Shega JW, Hougham GW, Stocking CB, Cox-Hayley D, Sachs GA: Pain in community- dwelling persons with dementia: frequency, intensity, and congruence between patient and caregiver report. J Pain Symptom Manage 2004;28(6)585-92.
  55. Diwan S, Hougham GW, Sachs GA: Strain experienced by caregivers of dementia patients receiving palliative care: Findings from the Palliative Excellence in Alzheimer’s Care Efforts (PEACE) program. J Palliat Med 2004;7:797-807.
  56. Cox Hayley D, Sachs GA: History of geriatrics and palliative medicine: Lessons from efforts of two disciplines to change care.  Clinics in Geriatric Medicine 2005;21:3-15.
  57. Shega JW, Hougham GW, Stocking CB, Cox Hayley D, Sachs GA.  Factors associated with self and caregiver report of pain among community dwelling persons with dementia.  J Palliat Med 2005;8:567-75.
  58. Huang ES, Sachs GA, Chin MH.  Implications of new geriatric diabetes care guidelines for the assessment of quality of care in older patients.  Medical Care 2006;44(4):373-7.
  59. Holmes HM, Cox Hayley D, Alexander GC, Sachs GA.  Reconsidering medication appropriateness for patients late in life. Archives of Internal Medicine 2006;166:605 -9.
  60. Alexander GC, Sayla MA, Holmes HM, Sachs GA. Prioritizing and stopping prescription medicines. CMAJ Canadian Medical Association Journal 2006;174(8):1083-4.
  61. Stocking CB, Hougham GW, Danner DD, Patterson MB, Whitehouse PJ, Sachs GA.  Speaking of research advance directives: planning for future research participation. Neurology 2006;66(9):1361-6. (With accompanying editorial)
  62. Dale W, Hougham GW, Hill, EK, Sachs GA.  High interest in screening and treatment for mild cognitive impairment in older adults: a pilot study.  J Am Geriatr Soc 2006;54:1388-94.
  63. Garrett SL, Cox-Hayley D, Hougham GW, Sachs GA.  To what extent do geriatricians document the most bothersome symptoms of patients with advanced dementia? J Am Geriatr Soc 2006;54:1563-6.
  64. Bial A, Schilsky R, Sachs GA:  Assessment of cognitive function in the oncology literature. Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology 2006;60:242-55.
  65. Shega JW, Hougham GW, Stocking CB, Cox Hayley D, Sachs GA.  Management of non-cancer pain in community dwelling persons with dementia.  J Am Geriatr Soc 2006;54:1892-7.
  66. Levine SK, Sachs GA, Jin L, Meltzer DO. A prognostic model for one-year mortality in hospitalized older adults.  Am J Med 2007;120(5):455-60.
  67. Gorawara-Bhat R, Cook MA, Sachs GA.  Nonverbal communication in doctor–elderly patient transactions (NDEPT): Development of a tool.  Patient Educ Couns 2007;66:223-34.
  68. Stocking CB, Hougham GW, Danner DD, Patterson MB, Whitehouse PJ, Sachs GA.  Empirical assessment of a research advance directive for persons with dementia and their proxies.  J Am Geriatr Soc 2007;55:1609-12.
  69. Boustani M, Sachs GA, Callahan CM.  Can primary care meet the biopsychosocial needs of older adults with dementia?  J Gen Intern Med 2007;22:1625-7.
  70. Arora VM, Johnson M, Olson J, Podrazik P, Levine S, DuBeau CE, Sachs GA, Meltzer DO.  Using Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders quality indicators to measure quality of hospital care for vulnerable elders.  J Am Geriatr Soc 2007;55:1705-11.
  71. Campbell KH, Stocking CB, Hougham GW, Whitehouse PJ, Danner DD, Sachs GA. Dementia, Diagnostic Disclosure, and Self-Reported Health Status. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2008 Feb;56(2):296-300.
  72. Campbell KH, Dale W, Stankus N, Sachs GA. Older adults and chronic kidney disease decision making by  primary care physicians: A scholarly review and research agenda. J Gen Intern Med. 2008 Mar;23(3):329-36.
Copyright ©, 1998-2005 The Trustees of Indiana University
Updated on June 3, 2008
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