One in four Medicare patients with dementia is receiving a medication that could make things significantly worse. Not because of negligence but because of a system that rewards doing more, not doing better. This conversation gets into the mechanics of that problem, and what it's actually going to take to fix it.

Dr. David Ganz sits down with Dr. John Mafi, one of the country's leading researchers on unnecessary care in older adults. They cover why over treatment has been a documented problem since Hippocrates, how a single sentence can change a doctor's prescribing behavior, and why every major attempt at healthcare reform has expanded access without ever seriously addressing cost.

RESOURCES
Register For Intensive Course

UCLA Geriatric Medicine Board Review Course — September 2025 https://web.cvent.com/event/8180d94f-f261-4184-af2b-8733d348cedf/websitePage:b72f2e65-ac9a-4e42-9aec-c6ebbcf735ba

Aging Now Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/agingnowpodcast

UCLA Geriatrics Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/uclageriatrics/

UCLA Division of Geriatrics: https://www.uclahealth.org/departments/medicine/geriatrics/education

FEATURED PHYSICIANS

Dr. David Ganz
Geriatrics

Dr. John Mafi
Internal Medicine

The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider for guidance specific to your situation.

Most people starting GLP-1 therapy are focused on one number: the weight on the scale. But for adults over 50, what's happening beneath that number may be more important and more dangerous than anyone warned them about.

In this episode, Dr. Matthew Mulroy sits down with Dr. Zhaoping Li, a clinical nutrition specialist at UCLA Health, to break down what GLP-1 therapies actually do to the aging body the muscle loss, the regain risk, the mood changes, and why the goal was never just a lower number on the scale. If you or someone you love is on or considering GLP-1 therapy, this conversation will change how you think about it.

RESOURCES
Register For Intensive Course

UCLA Geriatric Medicine Board Review Course — September 2025 https://web.cvent.com/event/8180d94f-f261-4184-af2b-8733d348cedf/websitePage:b72f2e65-ac9a-4e42-9aec-c6ebbcf735ba

Aging Now Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/agingnowpodcast

UCLA Geriatrics Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/uclageriatrics/

UCLA Division of Geriatrics: https://www.uclahealth.org/departments/medicine/geriatrics/education

FEATURED PHYSICIANS

Dr. Matthew Mulroy
Geriatrics

Dr. Zhaoping Li
Clinical Nutrition

The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider for guidance specific to your situation

Most people think dizziness is simple. It's not. For millions of older adults, a dizzy spell can mean a dozen different things and the difference between the wrong diagnosis and the right one can be the difference between missing a stroke warning and catching it in time.

In this episode, Dr. Matthew Mulroy sits down with vestibular and dizziness specialist Dr. Gail Ishiyama to decode one of medicine's most frustrating complaints. From the crystals in your inner ear to the imaging test most doctors forget to order this conversation changes how you think about dizziness permanently

RESOURCES
Register For Intensive Course

UCLA Geriatric Medicine Board Review Course — September 2025 https://web.cvent.com/event/8180d94f-f261-4184-af2b-8733d348cedf/websitePage:b72f2e65-ac9a-4e42-9aec-c6ebbcf735ba

Aging Now Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/agingnowpodcast

UCLA Geriatrics Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/uclageriatrics/

UCLA Division of Geriatrics: https://www.uclahealth.org/departments/medicine/geriatrics/education

FEATURED PHYSICIANS

Dr. Matthew Mulroy
Geriatrics

Dr. Gail Ishiyama
Neurology

The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider for guidance specific to your situation

What if you could find out you were developing dementia 17 years before you had a single symptom? That's not science fiction anymore and the doctor who built one of the country's most replicated dementia care programs says what's coming for baby boomers should concern every single one of us.

Dr. Cathy Lee sits down with Dr. David Reuben founding director of the UCLA Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Program, now operating across 34 health systems nationwide for a conversation about what's changed in dementia science, what's coming in 2036, and what you can actually do about it.

RESOURCES
Register For Intensive Course

UCLA Geriatric Medicine Board Review Course — September 2025 https://web.cvent.com/event/8180d94f-f261-4184-af2b-8733d348cedf/websitePage:b72f2e65-ac9a-4e42-9aec-c6ebbcf735ba

Aging Now Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/agingnowpodcast

UCLA Geriatrics Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/uclageriatrics/

UCLA Division of Geriatrics: https://www.uclahealth.org/departments/medicine/geriatrics/education

FEATURED PHYSICIANS

Dr. David B. Reuben
Geriatrics

Dr. Cathy Lee
Geriatrics

The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider for guidance specific to your situation

Most people think of hearing loss as an inconvenience. What they don't realize is that untreated hearing loss quietly rewires how the brain processes information, pushes people out of conversations they once loved, and as new research is showing dramatically increases the risk of ending up back in the emergency room.

In this episode, two geriatricians explore the hearing loss crisis hiding in plain sight: the patients who nod along in clinic visits without hearing half of what was said, the simple amplification tools that change everything, and the question no one seems to be asking often enough.

RESOURCES
Register For Intensive Course

UCLA Geriatric Medicine Board Review Course — September 2025 https://web.cvent.com/event/8180d94f-f261-4184-af2b-8733d348cedf/websitePage:b72f2e65-ac9a-4e42-9aec-c6ebbcf735ba

Aging Now Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/agingnowpodcast

UCLA Geriatrics Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/uclageriatrics/

UCLA Division of Geriatrics: https://www.uclahealth.org/departments/medicine/geriatrics/education

FEATURED PHYSICIANS

Dr. Dan Osterweil
Co- Director, Geriatrics | UCLA Health

Dr. Joshua Chodosh
Director, Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Care | NYU Langone Health

The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider for guidance specific to your situation

A new class of drugs can now remove the protein behind Alzheimer's disease from the brain. But it doesn't restore memory. It doesn't cure the disease. And not everyone qualifies. So what does it actually do and who is it for?

Dr. David Reuben and Dr. Alejandra Sanchez Lopez walk through everything families and patients need to know before considering anti-amyloid therapy from eligibility criteria and side effect risks to what the clinical trial data really means in plain language.

RESOURCES
Register For Intensive Course

UCLA Geriatric Medicine Board Review Course — September 2025 https://web.cvent.com/event/8180d94f-f261-4184-af2b-8733d348cedf/websitePage:b72f2e65-ac9a-4e42-9aec-c6ebbcf735ba

Aging Now Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/agingnowpodcast

UCLA Geriatrics Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/uclageriatrics/

UCLA Division of Geriatrics: https://www.uclahealth.org/departments/medicine/geriatrics/education

FEATURED PHYSICIANS

Dr. Alejandro Sanchez Lopez
Neurologist | UCLA Health

Dr. David Reuben
Geriatrician | UCLA Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Program

The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider for guidance specific to your situation

Most people know sleep gets harder with age. What nobody tells you is that the sleep problems you're ignoring right now the insomnia, the restless nights, the medication you've been on for 20 years may be doing more damage than you think.

In this episode, Dr. Arun Karlamanga sits down with Dr. Cathy Alessi, Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Sleep Medicine at UCLA, to talk about what's actually happening with sleep in older adults and what clinicians and patients need to know but rarely hear. They cover why the sleeping pill that "worked" for two decades may have stopped working long ago, the surprisingly strong link between sleep disorders and cognitive decline, and the one question your doctor should be asking at every visit but probably isn't.

Most families navigating dementia know what memory loss looks like. What no one prepares them for are the behavioral and psychological symptoms the agitation, the refusals, the personality shifts that can make caregiving feel impossible.

In this episode, Dr. Aaron Kaufman sits down with Kemi Reeves, DNP, Associate Director of the UCLA Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Program, to talk about what managing symptoms of dementia actually looks like in real families and what caregivers and clinicians can do about it.

They cover the limits of medication, the practical strategies that actually work, how to reframe resistance and refusal, why the caregiver is as central to the treatment plan as the patient and what most families are never told about dementia-related sleep problems, apathy, and how to ask for help.

RESOURCES
Register For Intensive Course

UCLA Geriatric Medicine Board Review Course — September 2025 https://web.cvent.com/event/8180d94f-f261-4184-af2b-8733d348cedf/websitePage:b72f2e65-ac9a-4e42-9aec-c6ebbcf735ba

Aging Now Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/agingnowpodcast

UCLA Geriatrics Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/uclageriatrics/

UCLA Division of Geriatrics: https://www.uclahealth.org/departments/medicine/geriatrics/education

FEATURED PHYSICIANS

Dr. Aaron Kaufman, MD
Geriatric Psychiatrist | UCLA Health

Kemi Reeves, DNP
Associate Director, UCLA Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Program

The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider for guidance specific to your situation