Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH

Contact information
212-305-9300
[email protected]
For current CV, please click here.

Director, Columbia Aging Center
Dean, Mailman School of Public Health
Senior Vice President, Columbia University Medical Center
DeLamar Professor of Public Health
Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine

 

Dr. Fried is a leader in the fields of epidemiology and geriatrics who has dedicated her career to the science of healthy aging and creating the basis for a transition to a world where health span matches our increased life expectancies, and where greater longevity benefits people of all ages. 

An internationally renowned scientist, and author of over 500 peer reviewed articles, she has done seminal work in defining frailty as a medical condition, illuminating the causes and the potential for prevention of frailty, disability and cardiovascular disease as keys to optimizing health for older adults. Her areas of expertise are Aging and Elderly, Gerontology, Healthy Aging and Longevity, and Social Capital Development.

An elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine (effective 2000), Dr. Fried serves on the NAM Executive Council. She is co-chair on the NAM Commission for a Global Roadmap on Healthy Longevity. In addition to her service as a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Aging, she served as 2016-18 co-chair for the WEF's Future Agendas Council on Human Enhancement and now serves on their Council on Human Longevity. Dr. Fried was the 2016-17 President of the Association of American Physicians, an elected society of the leading physician-scientists in the United States. 

Dr. Fried is the designer and co-founder of Experience CorpsTM, a scientifically designed community-based public health program in 23 US cities in which senior volunteers serve in public elementary schools. Acting as tutors and mentors, the older volunteers help boost students' academic performance while bolstering their own health through the continued activity and interaction. Dr. Fried led a randomized, controlled trial of this innovative intervention, demonstrating its effectiveness in preventing physical disability, cognitive decline, and isolation among older adults, while raising child literacy and behavioral skills – providing evidence for the potential win-wins of an aging society.

Before coming to Columbia in 2008 as Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health, Dr. Fried founded the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health and the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, directed the Program in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics of Aging and held joint appointments in the schools of medicine, public health and nursing.

Dr. Fried is the recipient of numerous awards. Among them, in 2004, the U.S. Congress named her a Living Legend in Medicine. She received the the Alliance for Aging Research's inaugural 2011 "Silver Innovator Award," their 2012 Silver Scholar Award, Foundation IPSEN's 2012 Longevity Prize and the 2016 INSERM International Prize in Medical Research, all in recognition of career contributions to aging research. That same year, Dr. Fried was profiled by the New York Times as one of 15 world leaders in science. In 2014, global publisher Thomson Reuters named her "one of the decades top 1% most influential scientific minds."

Dr. Fried is a member of numerous editorial and advisory boards. Dr. Fried is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, as well the President-elect of the Association of American Physicians. She is a member of the MacArthur Network on an Aging Society and the World Economic Forum's Council on an Aging Society and their Global Task Force on Social Protection. She also serves on the bord of ReServe and the Milken Institute of Aging. 

 

Education & Training:
1984, MPH, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
1979, MD, Rush Medical College
1970, BA, University of Wisconsin
 

Honors and Awards:
Longevity Prize, Fondation IPSEN, 2012
Silver Scholar Award for Aging Research, 2012
Silver Innovator's Award, Alliance for Aging Research, 2011
Living Legend in Medicine, U.S. Congress, 2004
 

Recent Publications:
Fried LP, Cohen AA, Xue QL, et al. (2021) The physical frailty syndrome as a transition from homeostatic symphony to cacophony. Nature Aging. dos:10.1038/s43587-020-00017-z
Fried LP, Rowe JW. (2020) A Half-Century of Progress in Health: The National Academy of Medicine at 50: Health in Aging – Past, Present, and Future. 2020 Sept 30. New England Journal of Medicine. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp2016814
Rowe J.W., Fulmer T., Fried L.P. (2016) "Preparing for Better Health and Health Care for an Aging Population." JAMA. Published online September 26, 2016. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.12335.
Fried, L.P. (2016) “Interventions for Human Frailty: Physical Activity as a Model.” Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, Cold Spring Harbor Press.
Xue, Q-L., Tian, J., Fried, L.P. et al. (2016). “Physical Frailty Assessment in Older Women: Can Simplification be Achieved Without Loss of Syndrome Measurement Validity.” American Journal of Epidemiology.
Fried, L.P. (2016) “Investing in Health to Create a Third Demographic Dividend.” The Gerontologist.
Fried, L.P. (2016) “Building a Third Demographic Dividend: Strengthening Intergenerational Well-Being in Ways That Deeply Matter.” Public Policy & Aging Report.
Fried, L.P. (2015) “A Prescription for the Next Fifty Years of Medicare.” Journal of the American Society on Aging.
Xue, Q-L., Tian, J., Fried, L.P. et al. (2016). “Physical Frailty Assessment in Older Women: Can Simplification be Achieved Without Loss of Syndrome Measurement Validity.” American Journal of Epidemiology.

 

For more information, please see her Mailman School of Public Health page.