Two From Hebrew SeniorLife Recognized in Boston Magazine’s 2025 ‘Top Doctors’ Guide

Boston Magazine has named two Hebrew SeniorLife physicians to its annual ‘Top Doctors’ guide: Dae Hyun Kim, MD, MPH, ScD, associate scientist, Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research; and Lewis A. Lipsitz, MD, director, Marcus Institute, and chief academic officer, Hebrew SeniorLife.

According to the magazine, the “annually published directory — created in collaboration with Castle Connolly Top Doctors, a health care researcher that has prepared physician lists for magazines including Money, New York, and Philadelphia, and which also publishes America’s Top Doctors — showcases 2,041 of the region’s finest physicians, as determined by their peers.”

Dae Hyun Kim, MD, MPH, ScD 

Dr. Dae Hyun Kim is a geriatrician dedicated to improving the care of older adults by integrating frailty assessment into clinical decision-making. At the Senior Health Practice at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, he provides comprehensive assessments for medically complex patients, particularly those undergoing high-risk procedures such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement. His expertise helps guide treatment decisions, optimize surgical outcomes, and facilitate discussions about prognosis with patients and their families.

Dr. Kim also leads efforts to bridge clinical practice and research, ensuring that frailty is not only studied but also applied in real-world care. He serves as director of the Frailty Research Center at the Marcus Institute, where his work focuses on improving health care systems to better serve frail older adults. His expertise has contributed to national initiatives, including advising the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on refining frailty measurement for value-based care models. 

Recognizing the critical role of frailty in patient care, Dr. Kim has worked to make frailty assessment an integral part of clinical practice. He developed the Senior Health Calculator, an online frailty assessment tool now incorporated into electronic medical records at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, making it easier for clinicians to assess and address frailty in real-time. He also created eFrailty.org, a resource that provides clinicians and researchers access to a range of validated frailty assessment tools, helping to standardize frailty-guided care across different health care settings.

In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Kim is committed to training the next generation of geriatricians. He teaches at Harvard Medical School, the Harvard Geriatric Medicine Fellowship, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His dedication to education and mentorship has been recognized with multiple awards, including the A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award from Harvard Medical School. 

Through his clinical practice, mentorship, and leadership in frailty assessment, Dr. Kim is transforming how aging and frailty are approached in clinical medicine, ensuring that older adults receive the right care based on their individual health status.

Lewis A. Lipsitz, MD

Lewis A. Lipsitz, MD, is the director of the Marcus Institute, chief academic officer at Hebrew SeniorLife, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. His research is focused on age-related alterations in blood pressure and cerebral blood flow regulation and their relation to falls, syncope, and cognitive dysfunction.

During his 40+ year career, Dr. Lipsitz has served as principal investigator of an NIA-funded program project grant for over 26 years, an Older American Independence Center Grant for over 15 years, and a Hartford Foundation Center of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine grant for 15 years. In these roles, he has assembled multidisciplinary teams from multiple academic institutions and laboratories to study the mechanisms and management of several important clinical geriatric syndromes, including falls, syncope, dementia, delirium, and frailty. Since 2021, Dr. Lipsitz has served as the editor-in-chief of The Journal of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences.

He was the principal investigator of an NIA Merit Award to study the physiologic mechanisms of frailty in old age, which led to his groundbreaking theory of the “Loss of Complexity with Aging” — a discovery that aging is associated with a loss of complexity in a variety of physiological systems that leads to the impaired ability to adapt to stress. His translational research has shown that tai chi exercise, vibrating shoe insoles, and noninvasive brain stimulation can improve the complexity and performance of walking and balance in older adults. He is currently studying the effects of two drugs that can rid the body of senescent (old) cells and their toxic products on cognition, brain blood flow, and mobility in older adults with mild cognitive impairment and slow gait.

Recognizing the critical need to translate basic and clinical research into policies and practices that improve the quality of life and care of older individuals, Dr. Lipsitz became a Health and Aging Policy Fellow in 2011, supported by Atlantic Philanthropies. Since then, he has participated in several federal and state projects to improve the care of nursing home residents, including a recent collaboration with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services to improve COVID-19 infection control in the state’s nursing homes.

Dr. Lipsitz also provides geriatric consultations and acute care for older patients at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he teaches medical residents and geriatric fellows.

About Hebrew SeniorLife
Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is a national senior services leader uniquely dedicated to rethinking, researching, and redefining the possibilities of aging. Hebrew SeniorLife cares for more than 4,500 seniors a day across campuses throughout Greater Boston. Locations include: Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-Boston and Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-NewBridge in Dedham; NewBridge on the Charles, Dedham; Orchard Cove, Canton; Simon C. Fireman Community, Randolph; Center Communities of Brookline, Brookline; Jack Satter House, Revere; and Leyland Community, Dorchester. Founded in 1903, Hebrew SeniorLife also conducts influential research into aging at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, which has a portfolio of more than $98 million, making it one of the largest gerontological research facilities in the U.S. in a clinical setting. It also trains more than 500 geriatric care providers each year. For more information about Hebrew SeniorLife, follow us on our blog, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn.

About the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research
Scientists at the Marcus Institute seek to transform the human experience of aging by conducting research that will ensure a life of health, dignity, and productivity into advanced age. The Marcus Institute carries out rigorous studies that discover the mechanisms of age-related disease and disability; lead to the prevention, treatment, and cure of disease; advance the standard of care for older people; and inform public decision-making.