Dr. Sharon Inouye is a Professor of Medicine and the Milton and Shirley F. Levy Family Chair at Harvard Medical School, and Director of the Aging Brain Center in the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew Senior Life. Dr. Inouye is one of the world's leading researchers in the field of geriatric care and has developed a widely used validated assessment tool to identify delirium called the Confusion Assessment Method. Dr. Inouye is also known for creating the Hospital Elder Life Program which is commonly referred to as HELP. The mission of HELP is to prevent delirium in hospitalized patients.

Geriatric Therapists specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues that occur more commonly in older patients, such as delirium, dementia, depression, anxiety, late life addiction disorders. Geriatric Therapists focus on the aging process and related psychological and biological issues and may look for the psychological effects of a chronic or acute physical illness. A geriatric therapist's evaluation will take into consideration a geriatric patient's needs and perhaps modify their treatment plan to accommodate the aging person. They often will want to focus on prevention, environment, and social supports as a way to improve psychiatric symptoms and improve functioning and may even look to reduce or change medications depending upon the patient's needs.

Dr. Sharon Inouye on Twitter: @sharon_inouye