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When Dr. Ali was a master’s student at NYMC, his grandparents moved into his family home for additional support. “I learned how to become a caregiver for my grandmother who became paralyzed after a massive stroke,” he said. “I became more aware of the psychosocial issues surrounding the older population.”

Not only did that time with his grandparents provide Dr. Ali with more insight into the social and mental experiences of the elderly community, but it also revealed the ageism that is prevalent throughout the health care system. “It took me ‘doctor shopping’ to find a doctor who would be more attuned to older patients and wouldn’t judge them just by their age, but by their vitality,” he recalled. Years later, after becoming a resident physician in internal medicine, Dr. Ali still noticed this trend which forced him to rethink his original career plan.

“I was always interested in cancer. That’s the field I I wanted to work in,” he said. As a resident, his attending physician noticed that Dr. Ali had a knack for working with families of patients in difficult disease states, so he encouraged Dr. Ali to focus on palliative care or geriatrics. He was skeptical at first and at that point still actively applying for cancer fellowships. He was then introduced to the late Arti Hurria, M.D., who was a national leader in geriatric oncology - a brand new field at the time. She took Dr. Ali under her wing before tragically passing away from an automobile accident in October 2018. Dr. Ali took that experience to heart and was accepted into a two-year geriatric fellowship at the University of Connecticut Center on Aging that same year. “Since then, I have been working on older adults dealing with cancer,” he explained.

The systemic agism throughout health care still weighs heavy on Dr. Ali’s mind. Instances like age restrictions for bone-marrow transplant recipients or questions on board exams regarding the treatment for older patients stick out. “The answer had to be ‘go to hospice’ or ‘review goals of care’,” he recalled. “It was never correct to select ‘explore treatment’ on the multiple-choice question.” Occurrences like these motivated Dr. Ali to become an advocate for the older population.

An effective way to communicate on behalf of a certain group is through the media. Journalism has always been a field of interest for Dr. Ali. As an undergraduate student at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, he was a news anchor for the college radio station. “That’s when it really hit me that I could make something out of this and match my love for medicine and journalism at the same time,” he said. While applying for medical news internships, an opportunity for Dr. Ali presented itself in an unconventional way.

“I was at Grand Central Station, and I just bumped into a news anchor at CNN,” he explained. “We started talking and he introduced me to Dr. Sanjay Gupta.” At that time, there was no formal internship program at the CNN New York City Bureau. Its medical unit was based out of Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Ali’s passion for medical journalism shined through in that conversation with Dr. Gupta and, as a result, he became the first medical news intern for CNN in New York City.

Fast forward to today, Dr. Ali has appeared on countless media outlets at both the local and national levels, offering his expertise on medical issues and public health. He was a prominent voice in the media throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and is a member of the National Association of Medical Communicators. He is currently a contributing medical writer and producer for ABC News, as well as a medical contributor for Good Morning CT.

“I realized the power of the media in shaping not only patients being more educated, but also policy,” said Dr. Ali. “Now I have focused a lot of my segments on older adults, trying to dispel the myths and addressing the aging beat.”

As a Dr.P.H. candidate in SHSP, Dr. Ali is preparing his dissertation concerning the role of certified nursing aids (CNAs) in the daily care planning of patients; he is eager to assess the capacity of CNAs during a crisis. He credits his time as a GSBMS student for fostering his love of research and providing him with the tools needed to write a thesis.

Through his research and media presence, Dr. Ali aims to effect change at the policy level. He knows there is still a lot of work to do, especially when it comes to caring for older citizens during times of crisis. “We’re still not ready,” he said. “We still do not have plans that work for all kinds of issues. It doesn’t have to be a pandemic. It can be any disaster.”