Research:  Molly Shores, MD conducts research on the association between low testosterone and adverse health outcomes in older men.   Symptoms of low testosterone include muscle wasting, osteoporosis, irritability, low appetite, decreased concentration, decreased libido, and fatigue.  Low serum testosterone (hypogonadism) is a common condition in older men. Due to the aging of our society, an increasing number of men are affected by low testosterone, with approximately 2.5 million men with low testosterone levels and 500,000 new cases occurring every year.  Some of the symptoms of low testosterone, such as fatigue, irritability, decreased concentration and decreased libido, overlap with symptoms of major depression. Given that even mild depressive disorders can complicate other medical conditions and decrease quality of life, an association between low testosterone and depression could have important health care implications.  Dr. Shores has received grants from the American Federation on Aging Research (AFAR), the National Alliance on Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (NARSAD), and two grants from the Royalty Research Fund of the University of Washington to examine the effects of low testosterone on the health of older men.   She recently found that older men who had low testosterone levels had a significantly greater risk to develop depression compared with men who had normal testosterone levels and that testosterone treatment decreased depression in men with low testosterone and mild depression.  In another study, she recently reported that men with low testosterone had an increased risk of death when compared to men with normal testosterone.  In future studies she plans to examine potential mediators of the effects of low testosterone.

Clinical:  Dr. Shores is the Clinical Director of the GRECC outpatient psychiatry clinic, the Geriatric Mental Health Clinic.  This Clinic was recently reorganized into three specialty areas: Memory Disorders, Complicated Mood Disorders and General Geropsychiatry. She also serves as a consult attending on the Psychiatry Consult service .
Education: Dr. Shores is the Assistant Training Director for the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship, supervises Psychiatry Residents and Fellows in the Geriatric Mental Health Clinic and on the Psychiatry Consult Service, gives lectures in the Psychiatry Residency and Geriatric Fellowship programs, and is a faculty mentor for Psychiatry residents.