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Linda Fried
A world-renowned geriatrician and epidemiologist, Linda Fried has defined frailty and its causes, conducted research on the prevention of disability and cardiovascular disease, and proposes that investments in health for longer lives could build a Third Demographic Dividend. She is the designer and founder of Experience Corps, an evidence-based senior volunteer program in public schools, which was found to prevent cognitive loss and functional decline in volunteers. Under her leadership, the Columbia University Mailman School has developed new dimensions of public health science, from the university-wide Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center to the health impacts of pollution and climate change, and has become a key leader in innovation in public health education. Fried was named one of the 1 percent most influential scientific minds of the past decade in 2014 by Thomson Reuters. She is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine and of its executive Council. In 2017, she received the French National INSERM International Prize in Medical Research.