Dear Department of Medicine Community:
It is with best wishes that we announce the retirement of Suzanne Fields, M.D., Oberleder Professor of Geriatric Medicine, Division of General and Geriatric Medicine, and her transition to the role of Toll Professor after a distinguished 33-year career.
Dr. Fields joined the Department of Medicine in August 1992 as the first Division Chief of Geriatric Medicine. Shortly thereafter, she inaugurated an ACGME-accredited Geriatric Medicine Fellowship, which she directed for several years. After attending a Faculty Development Workshop at McMaster, she promoted Evidence-Based Medicine teaching at Stony Brook. Upon the resignation of then Division Chief of General Medicine, Dr. Richard Schwarz, Dr. Fields was appointed as Division Chief of a combined Division of Geriatrics and General Internal Medicine. Under her leadership, the clinical activity of the division expanded dramatically in both the inpatient and outpatient arenas. She spear-headed an Enhanced Geriatric Care Program for frail elders and PCMH Level III NCQA recognition for the outpatient practices. 
Dr. Fields inspired hospital leadership to institute an IHI Age Friendly Health System and recruited outstanding clinical educators, many of whom currently hold leadership positions within the department and institution. She served as PI of two successful HRSA grants to establish and build the Long Island Geriatric Education Center. The LIGEC resulted in the development of an interdisciplinary gerontology course for students in all 5 health professional schools, a student chapter of the American Geriatrics Society, and the awarding of several medical students with AFAR-funded summer research scholarships. Dr. Fields has mentored fellows, junior faculty, mid-career faculty, residents and students administratively, clinically and on research projects.
Dr. Fields served as a reviewer for ACP Journal Club and Evidence-Based Medicine, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, and JAMA. Board certified in Internal Medicine with the CAQ in Geriatric Medicine and CAQ in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Dr. Fields still serves as a core faculty member for the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship program. Additionally she served as a board member for the ADGAP (Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs) for six years, where she worked on innovative programs to attract more trainees to the field.
As part of this effort, Dr. Fields created a combined hospitalist/Geriatric Medicine Fellowship track at Stony Brook, which has been replicated at other institutions and recognized nationally.
Dr. Fields is also a faculty member for the Stony Brook Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease charged with educating primary care physicians on early recognition and evidence-based management of patients with dementia. In 2023, she became Interim Co-Director of a Center for Healthy Aging Research at Stony Brook with the goal of fostering collaborative basic science, translational and clinical research to improve the health of older adults.
Congratulations to Dr. Fields on an illustrious career. We wish to thank her for her services to the University, and we extend our best wishes to her in her future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Vincent W. Yang, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, AGAF, FAAAS
SUNY Distinguished Professor
Simons Chair of Medicine
Professor, Department of Medicine
Professor, Department of Physiology & Biophysics
Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine