Louise Aronson

Louise Aronson (born 1963) is an American geriatrician, writer, and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Her book Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

Early life and education Aronson was born in San Francisco to Samuel Aronson and Mary Ann Goldman Aronson. She considers her family to be “secular but decidedly Jewish in sensibility,” and of German and French Jewish ancestry. With no intention of ever becoming a doctor, Aronson refused to enroll in colleges that had math or science requirements. This led her to enroll in Brown University's history and anthropology program for her Bachelor of Arts degree. After receiving her undergraduate degree, Aronson attended Harvard Medical School for her medical degree and earned her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Warren Wilson College.

Career In late 2006, Aronson accepted a position as an academic physician at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) health sciences campus. From 2010 until 2016, she was a member of UCSF's Academy of Medical Educators. During this time, she was also awarded an Arnold P. Gold Foundation Professorship for her project Fostering Humanism through Critical Reflection and Narrative Advocacy. Her research developed into her first novel titled A History of the Present Illness, a collection of fictional stories that explore the nature of medicine and humanity.

Following the success of her first novel, Aronson was encouraged by her editor to write a non-fictional account of medicine and aging. As a result, she wrote her second book titled Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life which included her own personal experiences in the medical field and confronting her parents aging. Aronson was named a 2019 Influencer in Aging In 2020, Aronson's book was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.