Rebecca Brown

Rebecca Brown, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.12 Her research focuses on improving functional status and quality of life for socioeconomically vulnerable older adults.4

Education and Career Path

Dr. Brown completed her medical training at Harvard Medical School and received her MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health.12 She did her residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), followed by a fellowship in geriatric medicine at Harvard.13 After a research fellowship at UCSF, she joined their faculty in 2013 before moving to the University of Pennsylvania in 2018.13

Research and Clinical Work

Her research examines the epidemiology and outcomes of functional impairment and other geriatric conditions among vulnerable older populations.24 Dr. Brown's current work focuses on developing and testing interventions to optimize function for vulnerable older adults in both clinic and community settings.4 She holds grants from the National Institute on Aging and the VA Quality Enhancement Research Initiative to support this work.4

Clinically, Dr. Brown practices primary care geriatrics at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia.24 She also supervises and trains medical students, residents, and fellows in geriatric care.2

Additional Roles

In addition to her primary faculty appointment, Dr. Brown holds several other positions:

• Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics
• Research Associate at the Population Aging Research Center
• Senior Fellow at the Penn Center for Public Health
• Vice Chief for Research in the Division of Geriatric Medicine24

Dr. Brown has received multiple awards for her research and teaching, including the Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year Award from the American Geriatrics Society in 2016.3