Northwell Health today announced the launch of the Northwell Institute for Healthy Aging, a systemwide initiative designed to transform how healthcare is delivered as people age. The health system’s 28 hospitals, physician practices, outpatient programs, research facilities and community programs will be unified under a single mission: to help adults and their loved ones not just manage illness, but prevent it – preserving health, independence and quality of life across the aging journey.

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Clinician-scientist Liron Sinvani, MD, meets with a patient and his family member during a check-up. Photo credit: Northwell Health

Clinician-scientist Liron Sinvani, MD, meets with a patient and his family member during a check-up. Photo credit: Northwell Health

The launch comes at a critical inflection point. In New York, more than 17 percent of the population is now over 65, based on U.S. Census data. By 2034, adults aged 65 and older are projected to outnumber children under 18 in this country for the first time in history. Meanwhile, according to the AARP, one in four adults serves as an unpaid family caregiver. Additionally, more than 90 percent of adults say they want to remain in their own homes as long as possible – a goal that requires coordinated medical, social and community support that few health systems currently provide at scale.

“As we age and our health changes, we need a health care system that is agile and can evolve with our individual needs,” said John D’Angelo, MD, president and chief executive officer of Northwell Health. “The Northwell Institute for Healthy Aging connects our clinical expertise; our research capabilities and our community programs so healthy aging is not a matter of luck — it is a matter of design. We are committed to healthy aging while also addressing the complex health care and social needs of older adults and those facing serious illness in our facilities and our community programs.”

A new framework for healthy aging

The Institute for Healthy Aging is guided by the principle that health care should help people not only live longer, but live better.

“Today, most health systems treat aging as a series of separate problems — one doctor for your heart, another for memory, another expert after a fall — with little coordination between them,” said, Maria Torroella Carney, MD, executive director of the Northwell Institute for Healthy Aging, president of Glen Cove Hospital, and system chief of geriatrics and palliative medicine. “The Institute for Healthy Aging changes that by connecting experts in brain health, cardiac health, mobility and other specialties, while also addressing medication safety, emotional well-being, healthy lifestyle, and caregiver support into one plan coordinated around the whole person, not just a diagnosis.”

Northwell’s Institute for Healthy Aging has embodied the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Age-Friendly Health Systems and its nationally recognized 4Ms framework: What Matters Most, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility. The 4M’s provide a practical framework for ensuring that care is aligned with each person’s goals and priorities while addressing medication safety and optimization, cognitive and emotional health and the ability to remain mobile and function safely.

“Our clinicians have been using the framework of the 4Ms for several years, delivering, patient-centered care,” noted, Dr. Torroella Carney. “The Institute strives to make these principles part of how care is delivered across the health system, not as a separate specialty but as a standard approach to caring for people as they age.”

As a practicing geriatrician, Dr. Torroella Carney explained how the 4Ms are weaved into care. “This framework takes a multidisciplinary, whole-person approach, using research-based methods to fully assess physical, cognitive, mental health, and social needs, as well as what matters most to individuals. This comprehensive view affords care teams the opportunity to identify concerns earlier and develop care plans that reflect each person’s priorities and goals.”

Advancing the research of healthy aging

Driving the Institute’s scientific engine is the SinMak Lab for Aging Research, co-directed by Liron Sinvani, MD and Alex Makhnevich, MD, both clinician-scientists. Their research is embedded in hospitals and ambulatory settings and collaborates with many clinical departments. As clinician-scientists, Dr. Sinvani and Dr. Makhnevich hold academic positions at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Institute of Health System Science at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research.

To date, the SinMak Lab has secured more than $30.2 million in funding, produced over 97 peer-reviewed publications and 14 NIH grants and generated clinical programs that are already changing patient care — including the $1 million Nancy and Neal S. Kaplan Dysphagia Program, focused on swallowing issues.

The lab’s researchers work embedded in the real-world environment of hospitals and clinics, studying the complex, interconnected challenges that older patients face and translating their findings directly into better care. Their work spans wearable technology, machine learning, data analytics, and clinical trials.

“What makes the SinMak Lab so powerful is that it studies older adults where they actually live, receive care, and recover — not in a controlled laboratory, but in the real world,” said Karina Davidson, PhD, senior vice president of research at Northwell Health. “Researchers tackle the problems that matter most to patients and families: How do we prevent cognitive decline before it starts? Why does my father suddenly become confused during a hospital stay? Why can’t my mother swallow safely anymore? How can we support family caregivers who are overwhelmed? By embedding researchers directly in hospitals and clinics, the SinMak Lab can identify risks earlier, prevent disease before it happens and turn discoveries into better care — helping older adults not just live longer, but live well.”

Dr. Davidson added, “We have an unprecedented convergence — a demographic wave unlike anything we’ve seen before, paired with technological capabilities that finally allow us to understand aging in ways that were impossible even a decade ago. The Northwell Institute for Healthy Aging allows us to harness that opportunity, turning groundbreaking research into real-world care that can write the playbook for future generations.”

For more information, contact the Northwell Institute for Healthy Aging at: 866-277-9355 or website: https://www.northwell.edu/institute-for-healthy-aging.

About Northwell Health

Northwell is the largest not-for-profit health system in the Northeast, serving residents of New York and Connecticut with 28 hospitals, more than 1,000 outpatient facilities, 22,000 nurses and over 20,000 physicians. Northwell cares for more than three million people annually in the New York metro area, including Long Island, the Hudson Valley, western Connecticut and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Northwell is New York State’s largest private employer with over 106,000 employees – including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners and Nuvance Health Medical Practices – who are working to change health care for the better. Northwell, named a TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2025, is making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. Northwell is training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.

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