[MUSIC PLAYING] My name is Tia Kostas. I am a geriatrician, so I specialize in geriatric medicine, which is the care of people over 65. So when I was growing up in South Bend, Indiana, many of my family members worked at a nursing facility. And I used to volunteer at this facility.

So I would help feed the patients who lived there. I would help do arts and crafts, and come up with activities to do with them. And as I went through my education, I realized that really, the best way I could try to help people was through becoming a physician, and help people live as healthy as they could. And I felt like if I did that, I could really help patients such as those at the nursing facility that I helped care for.

When I was looking to move to Chicago, I really wanted to be in a place that really put the patients first. And I also wanted to participate in teaching new physicians. And so what I really love about University of Chicago Medicine is that here, I feel like everyone I work with really cares about the patients. I feel like we put the patients first.

And I also have the opportunity to work with medical students, residents, fellows. I feel like UChicago Medicine really prioritizes education of new medical professionals as well.

As a geriatrician, I'm the primary care physician for the majority of my patients. And so I really feel like I am my patients quarterback. So I'm the person who will talk to their specialists, coordinate with other members of their health care team, you know, whether that's physicians from other specialties, or like a physical therapist, a pharmacist, social worker, you know, I really think inter-professional health care is the best way to give patients the care that they need. And so I really feel like as someone's primary care physician, I'm the person who should be sort of coordinating with that team to make sure everything happens.

One of the things that I offer for my patients is, I am very interested in medication safety. And so for all of my patients, I will do a medication review. And this will happen the first time I meet someone, and then at all of our follow ups thereafter.

So in a medication review, I will really go over with a fine tooth comb someone's medications, figure out what might be potentially inappropriate, what might be unnecessary, what could be simplified. Is there one medicine we could use instead of two that they're on? And try to really come up with a list of medicines that is everything that's really necessary for someone to be on, and nothing that is likely to cause harm.

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