Geriatric Medicine: A Brief History

Abstract

In 1498, Gabriele Zerbi published the first book ‘Gerontocomia’ in the field of geriatrics. Modern geriatrics was born with the coinage of the word ‘geriatrics’ by Ignatz Leo Nascher. If Nascher was the father of geriatrics, Marjory Warren was its mother. The American Geriatrics Society was organized in 1942 and Journal of the American Geriatrics Society was published in 1946. The Japan Gerontological Society started in 1959, consisting of the Japanese Geriatric Society and the Japan Socio-Gerontological Society. The Korean Geriatrics Society was inaugurated on October 3rd in 1968 and the Korean Geriatrics Association was established for financial replenishment of research and academic activities in 2008. In 2002, 1st Joint symposium between Korean Geriatrics Society and Japanese Geriatrics Society was held. In Seoul, the 6th Asia-Oceania Congress of International Association of Gerontology was held in 1999 and the 20th World Congress of International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics in 2013.