Ashwin Kotwal, MD
Assistant Professor
Medicine
School of Medicine

He went on to complete his Internal Medicine residency at Harvard University’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and an integrated clinical fellowship in Geriatrics and Palliative Care at UCSF.

Dr. Kotwal devotes most of his time to research focusing on understanding and enhancing social connections of older adults to improve their quality of life and health care access. Recent work has investigated experiences of loneliness and social isolation among older adults with cognitive impairment, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social well-being. His research interests involve evaluation of community-based interventions to address loneliness and isolation, particularly among older adults with cognitive impairment or approaching the end of life.

Dr. Kotwal is funded by the National Institute on Aging K23 Career Development Award. He is currently a research scholar in the UCSF Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center and has received funding from the National Palliative Care Research Center, Hellman Family Fund, and Metta Foundation. He is co-Associate Director of the UCSF Division of Geriatrics NIH-funded T32 Aging Research Fellowship and has a strong interest in mentorship.

Dr. Kotwal's clinical work focuses on advancing telehealth palliative care at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) where he has been Director of the Outpatient Palliative Care Telehealth Program since 2019.

• Social Isolation and Worsening Health Behaviors Among Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
  The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences 2023 Choi KW, Waite LJ, Finch LE, Kotwal AA
• Association of Social Isolation With Hospitalization and Nursing Home Entry Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults.
  JAMA internal medicine 2023 Pomeroy ML, Cudjoe TKM, Cuellar AE, Ihara ES, Ornstein KA, Bollens-Lund E, Kotwal AA, Gimm GW
• Understanding Pandemic Experiences Among America's Elders.
  Health affairs (Project Hope) 2022 Aronson L, Kotwal A
• End-of-life health care use among socially isolated and cognitively impaired older adults.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2022 Kotwal AA, Cenzer IS, Yaffe K, Perissinotto C, Smith AK
• Loneliness Among Older Adults.
  Health affairs (Project Hope) 2022 Rudy ET, McNamara KC, Parker A, Kotwal AA, Perissinotto CM
• Key Elements and Mechanisms of a Peer-Support Intervention to Reduce Loneliness and Isolation among Low-Income Older Adults: A Qualitative Implementation Science Study.
  Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society 2022 Fuller SM, Kotwal AA, Tha SH, Hill D, Perissinotto C, Myers JJ
• Persistent loneliness due to COVID-19 over 18 months of the pandemic: A prospective cohort study.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2022 Kotwal AA, Batio S, Wolf MS, Covinsky KE, Yoshino Benavente J, Perissinotto CM, O'Conor RM
• A paradigm shift-Loneliness as a root cause of symptom distress among older adults.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2022 Kotwal AA, Meier DE
• Takes Two to Tango: Cognitive Impairment and Sexual Activity in Older Individuals and Dyads.
  The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences 2022 Waite LJ, Iveniuk J, Kotwal A
• The Experience of Homebound Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2022 Ankuda CK, Kotwal A, Reckrey J, Harrison KL, Ornstein KA
• A single question assessment of loneliness in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: A nationally-representative study.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2022 Kotwal AA, Cenzer IS, Waite LJ, Smith AK, Perissinotto CM, Hawkley LC
• Analyzing Birth Cohorts With the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project.
  The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences 2021 Waite LJ, Hawkley L, Kotwal AA, O'Muircheartaigh C, Schumm LP, Wroblewski K
• Social Health in the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project.
  The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences 2021 Waite LJ, Duvoisin R, Kotwal AA
• Engaging Diverse Older Adults With Cognitive Impairment and Caregivers in Advance Care Planning: A Pilot Study of the Interactive PREPARE Website.
  Alzheimer disease and associated disorders 2021 Kotwal AA, Barnes DE, Volow AM, Li BH, Boscardin WJ, Sudore RL
• Formal and informal social participation and elder mistreatment in a national sample of older adults.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2021 Yang EZ, Kotwal AA, Lisha NE, Wong JS, Huang AJ
• Pre-estimating subsets: A new approach for unavailable predictors in prognostic modeling.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2021 Aliberti MJR, Kotwal AA, Smith AK, Lee SJ, Banda S, Boscardin WJ
• Cancer Screening in Older Adults: Individualized Decision-Making and Communication Strategies.
  The Medical clinics of North America 2020 Kotwal AA, Walter LC
• A Toolkit for Community-Based, Medicaid-Funded Case Managers to Introduce Advance Care Planning to Frail, Older Adults: A Pilot Study.
  Journal of palliative medicine 2020 Nouri SS, Ritchie C, Volow A, Li B, McSpadden S, Dearman K, Kotwal A, Sudore RL
• Integration of an Objective Cognitive Assessment Into a Prognostic Index for 5-Year Mortality Prediction.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2020 Kotwal AA, Lee SJ, Dale W, Boscardin WJ, Waite LJ, Smith AK
• Geriatric oncology research at the 2019 American Geriatrics Society (AGS) annual meeting: Joint perspectives from the Young International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG) and AGS Cancer and Aging Special Interest Group.
  Journal of geriatric oncology 2019 Kotwal AA, Presley CJ, Loh KP, Huang LW, Lam V, Wong ML
• Are We Choosing Wisely? Older Adults' Cancer Screening Intentions and Recalled Discussions with Physicians About Stopping.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2019 Kotwal AA, Walter LC, Lee SJ, Dale W
• 'Til Death Do Us Part: End-of-Life Experiences of Married Couples in a Nationally Representative Survey.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2018 Kotwal AA, Abdoler E, Diaz-Ramirez LG, Kelley AS, Ornstein KA, Boscardin WJ, Smith AK
• Cognitive Function and its Risk Factors Among Older US Adults Living at Home.
  Alzheimer disease and associated disorders 2018 Dale W, Kotwal AA, Shega JW, Schumm LP, Kern DW, Pinto JM, Pudelek KM, Waite LJ, McClintock MK
• Cancer Screening in the Elderly: A Review of Breast, Colorectal, Lung, and Prostate Cancer Screening.
  Cancer journal (Sudbury, Mass.) 2017 Kotwal AA, Schonberg MA
• Differences between husbands and wives in colonoscopy use: Results from a national sample of married couples.
  Preventive medicine 2016 Kotwal AA, Lauderdale DS, Waite LJ, Dale W
• Novel physical activity interventions for older patients with prostate cancer on hormone therapy: A pilot randomized study.
  Journal of geriatric oncology 2016 Sajid S, Dale W, Mustian K, Kotwal A, Heckler C, Porto M, Fung C, Mohile SG
• Evaluation of a Brief Survey Instrument for Assessing Subtle Differences in Cognitive Function Among Older Adults.
  Alzheimer disease and associated disorders 2015 Kotwal AA, Schumm P, Kern DW, McClintock MK, Waite LJ, Shega JW, Huisingh-Scheetz MJ, Dale W
• Comorbidity and chronic conditions in the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP), Wave 2.
  The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences 2014 Vasilopoulos T, Kotwal A, Huisingh-Scheetz MJ, Waite LJ, McClintock MK, Dale W
• Measuring cognition: the Chicago Cognitive Function Measure in the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project, Wave 2.
  The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences 2014 Shega JW, Sunkara PD, Kotwal A, Kern DW, Henning SL, McClintock MK, Schumm P, Waite LJ, Dale W
• Relationship between persistent pain and 5-year mortality: a population-based prospective cohort study.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2013 Shega JW, Andrew M, Kotwal A, Lau DT, Herr K, Ersek M, Weiner DK, Chin MH, Dale W
• The influence of stress, depression, and anxiety on PSA screening rates in a nationally representative sample.
  Medical care 2012 Kotwal AA, Schumm P, Mohile SG, Dale W
• Interventions to improve decision making and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the management of prostate cancer: a systematic review.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2012 Sajid S, Kotwal AA, Dale W
• Remaining Life Expectancy Measurement and PSA Screening of Older Men.
  Journal of geriatric oncology 2012 Kotwal AA, Mohile SG, Dale W
• Physical and psychological health of first and second generation Turkish immigrants in Germany.
  American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council 2010 Kotwal AA
• Preoperative breast magnetic resonance imaging in early breast cancer: implications for partial breast irradiation.
  Cancer 2009 Tendulkar RD, Chellman-Jeffers M, Rybicki LA, Rim A, Kotwal A, Macklis R, Obi BB