Kenneth Lam, MD, MAS

Assistant Adjunct Professor

I am a geriatrician, health services researcher, and Assistant Professor in the Division of Geriatrics at UCSF. My primary research and work interests are on institutionalization; as a geriatrician who regularly counsels persons as they encounter health crises and declining function and are debating whether it is safe to stay at home, I am interested in investigating the experience of disability in late life, how disability threatens independence, methods for objectively measuring the “need” for institutionalization, and what services and equipment can be provided to postpone institutionalization and help people “age in place” instead.

Education
MAS, 2021 - Clinical Research, University of California, San Francisco
Fellowship, 2019 - Geriatric Medicine, University of Toronto
Residency, 2017 - Internal Medicine, University of Toronto
MD, 2014 - , Western University
BSc, 2009 - Chemical Engineering, Stanford University
Honors and Awards
  • New Investigator Award, American Geriatrics Society, 2022
  • MSTAR Best Clinical Mentor Award, UCSF, 2019
  • Hollenberg Research Award, Education/Quality Improvement Research, University of Toronto, 2017
  • Honours Society, Western University, 2014
Publications

  1. Lam K, Cenzer I, Ankuda CK, Levy CR, Smith AK, Covinsky KE, Kotwal AA. Social Participation Among Older Adults Before and After Long-Term Care Facility Entry. JAMA internal medicine 2025. PMID: 40758370


  2. Lam K, Garfield T, Anderson TS. Towards a Balanced View of Benefits and Harms in Deprescribing Trials. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2025. PMID: 40231793


  3. Su K, Maitra MR, Peeples AD, Goodman O, Tsai J, Lee D, Lam K, Lubens P, Zamora K, Shak E, Brown RT. Developing an Intervention to Enhance Aging in Place for Older Veterans Living in Permanent Supportive Housing. The Gerontologist 2025. PMID: 39878691


  4. . "Nobody Can Be Equipped for This": Advice From New Residents of Long-Term Care Facilities. . PMID:


  5. de Sola-Smith K, Growdon M, Chary AN, Portz JD, Lam K. Designing a Best Possible Caregiver History to Facilitate Disposition Planning for Older Adults in Emergency Departments. Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine 2024. PMID: 40727537


  6. Galske J, Chera T, Hwang U, Monin JK, Venkatesh A, Lam K, Leggett AN, Gettel C. Daily care hours among caregivers of older emergency department patients with dementia and undiagnosed cognitive impairment. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2024. PMID: 38970304


  7. Lam K, Kleijwegt H, Bollens-Lund E, Nicholas LH, Covinsky KE, Ankuda CK. Long-term outcomes after rehabilitation in Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service beneficiaries. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2024. PMID: 38597342


  8. Lam K, Cenzer I, Levy CR, Matlock DD, Smith AK, Covinsky KE. The Natural History of Disability and Caregiving Before and After Long-Term Care Entry. JAMA internal medicine 2023. PMID: 37930717


  9. Simning A, Caprio TV, Lam K. Older Adults Receiving Rehabilitation Services Are More Likely to Get Bathing and Toileting Equipment Installed. The American journal of occupational therapy : official publication of the American Occupational Therapy Association 2023. PMID: 36791425


  10. Lam K, Cenzer I, Covinsky KE. Return to community living and mortality after moving to a long-term care facility: A nationally representative cohort study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2022. PMID: 36420717


  11. Lam K, Covinsky KE. Ensuring Assisted Living Provides the Assistance Residents Need. JAMA network open 2022. PMID: 36173635


  12. Lam K, Haddock L, Yukawa M. More POLST forms are being completed in nursing homes, but is this meaningful? 2022. PMID: 35642687


  13. Lam K, Gan S, Nguyen B, Jing B, Lee SJ. Sliding scale insulin use in a national cohort study of nursing home residents with type 2 diabetes. 2022. PMID: 35357692


  14. Lam K, Price EL, Garg M, Baskin N, Dunchak M, Hooper S, Fabiny A, Eng JA. How an Interdisciplinary Care Team Reduces Prolonged Admissions Among Older Patients with Complex Needs 2021. PMID:


  15. Savage RD, Hardacre K, Bashi AM, Bronskill SE, Faulkner C, Grieve J, Gruneir A, McCarthy LM, Chamberlain SA, Lam K, Stall NM, Zhu L, Rochon PA. Perspectives on ageing: a qualitative study of the expectations, priorities, needs and values of older people from two Canadian provinces. 2021. PMID: 34228777


  16. Lam K, Shi Y, Boscardin J, Covinsky KE. Unmet Need for Equipment to Help With Bathing and Toileting Among Older US Adults. JAMA internal medicine 2021. PMID: 33749707


  17. Lam K, Lee SJ. Prediabetes-A Risk Factor Twice Removed. 2021. PMID: 33555307


  18. Lam K, Lu AD, Shi Y, Covinsky KE. Assessing Telemedicine Unreadiness Among Older Adults in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA internal medicine 2020. PMID: 32744593


  19. Mehta N, Zhu L, Lam K, Stall NM, Savage R, Read SH, Wu W, Pop P, Faulkner C, Bronskill SE, Rochon PA. Health Forums and Twitter for Dementia Research: Opportunities and Considerations. 2020. PMID: 32894780


  20. Lam K. Comment on: Antipsychotics and the Risk of Mortality or Cardiopulmonary Arrest in Hospitalized Adults. 2020. PMID: 32462736


  21. Savage RD, Visentin JD, Bronskill SE, Wang X, Gruneir A, Giannakeas V, Guan J, Lam K, Luke MJ, Read SH, Stall NM, Wu W, Zhu L, Rochon PA, McCarthy LM. Evaluation of a Common Prescribing Cascade of Calcium Channel Blockers and Diuretics in Older Adults With Hypertension. 2020. PMID: 32091538


  22. Lam K, Arnold CG, Savage RD, Stall NM, Zhu L, Wu W, Piggott K, Bronskill SE, Rochon PA. Does Physician Retirement Affect Patients? A Systematic Review. 2019. PMID: 31647590


  23. Lam K, Rochon PA, Steinman MA. Often Off-label: Questionable Gabapentinoid Use Noted at Hospital Admission Warrants Deprescribing. Journal of hospital medicine 2019. PMID: 31507352


  24. Lega IC, Bronskill SE, Campitelli MA, Guan J, Stall NM, Lam K, McCarthy LM, Gruneir A, Rochon PA. Sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors and risk of genital mycotic and urinary tract infection: A population-based study of older women and men with diabetes. 2019. PMID: 31264755


  25. Lam K, Abrams HB, Matelski J, Okrainec K. Factors associated with attendance at primary care appointments after discharge from hospital: a retrospective cohort study. 2018. PMID: 30510042


  26. Lam K, Gandell D. The Top Articles in Geriatrics 2016-2017. 2018. PMID: 30271509


  27. Okrainec K, Lau D, Abrams HB, Hahn-Goldberg S, Brahmbhatt R, Huynh T, Lam K, Bell CM. Impact of patient-centered discharge tools: A systematic review. 2017. PMID: 28182809


  28. Fralick M, Lam K, Himmel ME. Toxic Alcohol Calculations and Misinterpretation Of Laboratory Results-Reply. 2016. PMID: 27479670


  29. Himmel ME, Lam K, Fralick M. Hemodialysis in a Healthy Patient--A Case of an Erroneous Laboratory Result: A Teachable Moment. 2016. PMID: 26903235


  30. Lam K. "And you, my father, there on the sad height". 2014. PMID: 24446458


  31. Lam K, Hwang SW, Dhalla IA, Hota S, Thorpe K, Palda VA, Brown A, Klein DJ. Creating the right evidence for system change. 2013. PMID: 24034773