Eric Widera, MD

Eric Widera, MD

@ewidera.bsky.social

Professor of #Medicine @UCSF focused on #Geriatrics, #Hospice, #Palliative care, and #meded. Co-creator of https://eprognosis.ucsf.edu. Podcasts at http://geripal.org 🇺🇦 Publications: https://profiles.ucsf.edu/eric.widera

2.6K followers1.4K following285 posts

Eric Widera, MD
@ewidera.bsky.social

In geriatrics, weight loss is rarely simple. In older bodies, GLP1s carry increased risks, including accelerated muscle loss, functional decline, and possibly decreased bone density. So are we just trading weight loss for frailty? geripal.org/weight-loss-...

geripal.orgWeight loss, GLP1s and Sarcopenia: A Podcast with John Batsis, Shen Dewar, Aruna JosyulaToday we discuss the growing trend of palliative care doctors seeing more and more patients, sometimes with conditions not ordinarily considered.

Eric Widera, MD reposted

Liz Dzeng, MD, PhD, MPH
@lizdzeng.bsky.social

Thank you @alexsmithmd.bsky.social and @ewidera.bsky.social for highlighting our research on @geripal.bsky.social

GeriPal Podcast@geripal.bsky.social

When should doctors say "no" to treatments that won't help? We talk to Jason Batten, Liz Dzeng & Teva Brender about the real-world, unwritten "workarounds" clinicians use when standard ICU guidelines fail. #medsky   👉 bit.ly/GeriPalEp408 😀 Hosts: @alexsmithmd.bsky.social | @ewidera.bsky.social

Eric Widera, MD reposted

Art Walaszek, MD
@walaszek.art

1- A tale of a "me too" drug ... FDA approved benzgalantamine for Alzheimer's disease in 2024 on an alternate pathway for modified drugs. Benzgalantamine is a modified version of galantamine that bypasses metabolism in the gut and so might be better tolerated. ebm.bmj.com/content/earl...

Eric Widera, MD reposted

UCSF Geriatrics
@ucsfgeriatrics.bsky.social

Congratulations to @alexsmithmd.bsky.social, on being named Co–Editor-in-Chief of @agsjournal.bsky.social! A well-deserved recognition and an exciting opportunity to help shape the future of geriatrics research and care. www.americangeriatrics.org/media-center...

americangeriatrics.orgAGS Announces New Editors-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Geriatrics SocietyNew York (April 24, 2026)—Today, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) announced that Debra Saliba, MD, MPH, AGSF and Alex Smith, MD, MS, MPH will succeed Joseph G. Ouslander, MD, AGSF as…

Eric Widera, MD reposted

Rebecca Sudore
@prepareforyourcare.org

PREPARE makes it easier for clinicians to support patients in advance care planning. Easy-to-use tools help patients, caregivers, and clinicians plan for future medical decision-making. Check out this press release: www.ucsf.edu/news/2026/04...

ucsf.eduHow to Improve Advanced Care Planning for Patients and CaregiversIn recognition of “National Healthcare Decisions Day,” the “PREPARE for Your Care” program at UC San Francisco is making it easier for clinicians to remind their patients of the importance of planning...
Eric Widera, MD
@ewidera.bsky.social

How Pharma exploites a regulatory loophole allowing approval of high-priced, minimally modified drugs based on limited data. This example is on an Alzheimer’s drug called Zunveyl which is basically galantamine without safety data in the population that it’s indicated in. ebm.bmj.com/content/earl...

ebm.bmj.comFDA approval of benzgalantamine exposes flaws in the 505(b)(2) pathway for innovations on existing drugsWhen the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved benzgalantamine (Zunveyl) in July 2024 for Alzheimer’s disease, it was hailed by its manufacturer as a ‘major breakthrough’.1 In reality, benzga...

Eric Widera, MD reposted

GeriPal Podcast
@geripal.bsky.social

Join us at the GeriPal Pub Crawl The GeriPal pub crawl in San Diego during the Annual Assembly of #hospice and #palliativecare. We start at 8pm on Thursday night, March 5th. Details are on the link below: geripal.org/geripal-pubc...

geripal.orgGeriPal Pubcrawl is Back in San Diego for the 2026 AAHPM-HPNA Annual AssemblyWe haven’t lost that loving feeling. The GeriPal pub-crawl is back, and this time we are bringing it to San Diego during the AAHPM-HPNA Annual Assembly. The Pub Crawl starts at 8 pm on Thursday, March...

Eric Widera, MD reposted

UCSF Geriatrics
@ucsfgeriatrics.bsky.social

@ewidera.bsky.social, MD just published in JAMA Internal Medicine: "Importance of Function for Alzheimer Diagnosis and Management—More Than Memory". #geriatrics #HPM #palliativemedicine #ucsf Read more here: tiny.ucsf.edu/B6anHu

tiny.ucsf.eduNew JAMA Internal Medicine Editorial by Eric Widera, MD | GeriatricsEric Widera, MD published an editorial in JAMA Internal Medicine highlighting why the push to adopt blood biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease should not replace the essential role of primary care. He…
Eric Widera, MD
@ewidera.bsky.social

I wish I could write as well as @jbriscoe.bsky.social. His take on AI and medicine was priceless. Just to quote from it: "Are we prepared for this? I think we're prepared for it in the same way a turkey is prepared for Thanksgiving..." familymeetingnotes.substack.com/p/notes-in-t...

familymeetingnotes.substack.comNotes in the Margin - 9 February 2026Notes from a Family Meeting is a newsletter where I hope to join the curious conversations that hang about the intersections of health and the human condition.
Eric Widera, MD
@ewidera.bsky.social

“…the growing enthusiasm for biomarkers risks obscuring a fundamental truth: biomarkers only reflect disease pathology. They cannot assess cognition or illuminate the functional changes that transform memory concerns into meaningful impairment.” #alz jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

jamanetwork.comImportance of Function for Alzheimer Diagnosis and ManagementThis Viewpoint offers a reminder, amid new laboratory testing for Alzheimer disease, of the primary care practitioner’s important role in functional assessment of activities of daily living.

Eric Widera, MD reposted

Barack Obama
@barackobama.bsky.social

The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.

Eric Widera, MD reposted

Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS
@dimitridrekonja.bsky.social

Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him. White. Hot. Rage.

Eric Widera, MD reposted

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS)
@agsjournal.bsky.social

Prolonged hallway care was found to be associated with an increased risk of delirium and severe agitation in patients living with dementia, but not in our entire cohort of older adults. #geriatrics agsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

agsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.comEmergency Department Hallways Are Associated With Incident Delirium and Severe Agitation in Older Adults Living With DementiaProlonged hallway care was found to be associated with an increased risk of delirium and severe agitation in patients living with dementia, but not in our entire cohort of older adults in our multiva...