#  Matthew Growdon 

Class of 2007, Modern Europe

Geriatrician and Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

 

 

 



   ![Matthew Growdon](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/histlit/files/matthew_growdon_md_sq.jpg?itok=jZOXAsam) 

 



 





 

**Thesis Title:** Ford Madox Ford and the Wartime Mind

**What Now:** Geriatrician and Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

**What Next:** Improving the quality and safety of prescribing for older adults with cognitive impairment and social vulnerability  
  
I vividly recall agonizing over my choice of concentration, feeling that I would be torn apart by seemingly disparate interests in the humanities and medicine. Fortunately, History and Literature proved to be a fertile environment in which to combine these interdisciplinary interests. In tutorials and seminars, I studied diverse topics from the incipient public health movement of 18th-century America to the early 20th-century debate surrounding shell shock and wartime mental illness, the topic of my senior thesis. These experiences situated my premedical coursework in a rich historical context, encouraging me to approach the practice of modern medicine with an open mind and an abiding humanity. Strong writing, editing, and communication skills; contextual and nuanced thinking; and an appreciation for how people document the human experience through media such as literature, art, language, and history—these are just a few examples of invaluable skills from History and Literature that have guided my career in medicine.  
  
**Read More:**  
**•** ["Minimizing Sleep Disruption for Hospitalized Patients: A Wake-Up Call,"](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2687522) co-authored with Sharon K. Inouye, *JAMA Internal Medicine* (September 2018)  
**•** ["Improving Care for Ground-Level Falls in Assisted Living,"](https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/2665904/improving-care-ground-level-falls-assisted-living) co-authored with Sharon K. Inouye, *Annals of Internal Medicine* (February 6, 2018)  
**•** ["The Tension Between Promoting Mobility and Preventing Falls in the Hospital,"](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2621835) co-authored with Ronald I. Shorr and Sharon K. Inouye, *JAMA Internal Medicine* (June 2017)  
**•** ["Potential Medicare Savings From Generic Substitution and Therapeutic Interchange of ACE Inhibitors and Angiotensin-II-Receptor Blockers,"](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31380893/) co-authored with Chana A. Sacks, Aaron S. Kesselheim, and Jerry Avorn*, JAMA International Medicine* (December 2019)  
**•** ["Polypharmacy among older adults with dementia compared with those without dementia in the United States,"](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34101822/) co-authored with Siqi Gan, Kristine Yaffe, and Michael A. Steinman, *Journal of the American Geriatrics Society* (June 2021)



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Career Paths
    
     [Medicine](/alumni/medicine)