Interests
Thiago Avelino-Silva, MD, PhD
Academic Geriatrician
Education and awareness should be foremost in our efforts to fight global brain health inequity.
Current Work
Thiago is an academic geriatrician and researcher who has focused his academic activities on the care of acutely ill older adults. His main research interest is exploring the clinical context in which delirium occurs and understanding its long-term effects on cognition, function, and survival.
Personal Hero
Prof. Sharon K. Inouye
Words of Strength
Open-mindedness, Diligence, Collaboration
Vision
In countries like Brazil, where disparities extend to most aspects of society, persons living with dementia and their needs are often invisible. Thiago believes education and awareness should be foremost in our efforts to fight global brain health inequity.
Strategy
Thiago is establishing an international network to look into the underdiagnosis and outcomes of hospitalized older adults with dementia. The network will also serve as a platform for providers to learn about dementia-related issues.
Impact
As an Atlantic Fellow, Thiago aims to develop leadership and communication skills that will help bring awareness regarding the substantial gaps in the quality of hospital care for older adults with dementia in Brazil.
Motivation
In Brazil, a substantial proportion of hospitalized older adults have undiagnosed cognitive impairment or dementia, which increases their vulnerability to adverse outcomes, including delirium, disability, and inappropriate prescription.
Education & Experience
Thiago J. Avelino-Silva received his medical training from the University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Brazil. He completed his Internal Medicine residency and Clinical Geriatrics fellowship at the same institution, where he also received his doctorate. During his doctoral studies, Thiago spent one year (2014-2015) as a visiting scholar at the Division of Geriatrics, University of California, San Francisco, with a focus on improving his research expertise. Dr. Avelino-Silva is currently Vice-Director of the Medical Research Laboratory in Aging (LIM-66) of the University of Sao Paulo Medical School, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Albert Einstein Israeli School of Health Sciences, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He is passionate about investigating new mechanistic pathways and the complex interactions between delirium and multimorbidity, particularly in persons with pre-existing cognitive decline and dementia. More recently, Prof. Avelino-Silva has also led initiatives to investigate the association between frailty and adverse outcomes in older adults with COVID-19 in Brazil. He is currently leading an international multicenter study on hospitalized older adults, the CHANGE (Creating a Hospital Assessment Network in Geriatrics) Study, and hopes to help improve the care of older patients with cognitive impairment through this work.
Featured Publications
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Thiago
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