Deborah Kado

Deborah Kado is a board-certified, fellowship-trained geriatrician and Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. She serves as Co-Director of the Stanford Longevity Center, Chief of Research for the Geriatrics Section in the Department of Medicine, Division of Primary Care and Population Health, and Director of the Geriatrics Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC) at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.

Kado takes a personalised approach to care, developing individualised plans to help her patients maintain optimal health, function, and quality of life as they age. Her clinical and research interests include healthy aging, bone health, osteoporosis, and hyperkyphosis, a condition she helped establish as a geriatric syndrome in 2007. Kado has received continuous National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for her research since joining the UCLA faculty in 2000. She has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals, including Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, Osteoporosis International, Journal of Gerontology and Medical Sciences, Journal of Geriatric Oncology, and Nature Communications. Her research on hyperkyphosis has been featured in Annals of Internal Medicine and incorporated into UpToDate, a leading evidence-based clinical resource used by physicians worldwide.

Before joining Stanford, Kado practiced at UC San Diego, where she established a dedicated osteoporosis clinic integrating patient care and research. Her research has since expanded beyond musculoskeletal aging to encompass broader questions in aging, including the gut microbiome in older adults and the effects of cancer treatment on aging in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer.

Kado completed her medical training at UCSF and UCLA and earned a Master of Science degree in Epidemiology from the UCLA School of Public Health, supported by the John A. Hartford Foundation. She is a member of the American Geriatrics Society, American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, Gerontological Society of America, The Endocrine Society, and other professional organisations. She also co-chairs the NIH National Institute on Aging Workshop for the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research and participates in the Bone Health Working Group of the Society for Women’s Health Research.