Steven Landers, a geriatric physician with a history of health care leadership, will become the next president and chief executive of Hebrew SeniorLife in July, the nonprofit said Sunday.

The appointment comes in advance of the retirement of Lou Woolf, who has headed the Boston senior living organization for 14 years.

Landers, who heads the New Jersey-based Visiting Nurse Association Health Group, said he hopes to push innovation and education at Hebrew SeniorLife, capitalizing on its relationships with other Massachusetts institutions and its status as a leader in aging — “to make an impact on aging not just in Boston, but really throughout the country.”

“How do we as a society do a good job and be a healthy place to age?” Landers said on a Sunday phone call. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”

One of the largest geriatric research organizations in the country, Hebrew SeniorLife oversees the care of more than 3,000 older adults across Greater Boston, according to a statement announcing Landers’ appointment.

Landers is an associate professor of family medicine and community health at Rutgers’ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, and he has previously worked as the director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Home Care and Community Rehabilitation.

Landers said he has honed a strong understanding of seniors in need of aging services and their families through his work as a geriatric physician — experience he also said allows him “connect deeply” with the needs of frontline workers.

He said he is especially concerned with the future of care for those over 80, who may face chronic illness or mobility and cognition issues.

Amid a national shortage of caregivers, “families are under a lot of stress,” Landers said, especially those in what he called the “sandwich generation” — adults who care for their parents while also supporting a family of their own.

“There’s a risk in all that stress and need that the basics for vulnerable older people go unaddressed and unmet,” Landers said. “There’s a lot to be concerned about in terms of our society’s readiness to make that a great experience.”

Hebrew SeniorLife “is in a position to really help lead the way,” he said, developing new approaches to care and training the next generation of caregivers, Landers said. He said he hopes to expand the organization’s research and education initiatives, citing its affiliations with Harvard Medical School and the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research.

Landers called Hebrew SeniorLife “a leader in personalized care,” but said there needs to be increased focus on maintaining a robust workforce of aides and nursing assistants and developing career pipelines into nursing and administration for those workers.

He said the pandemic reemphasized the significance of frontline workers, many of whom were “lifelines” for vulnerable seniors, but who are departing the profession nationally. A recent survey found around a fifth of Massachusetts nurses are looking to leave the field.

“We need to go into this next era deeply committed to growing and advancing that nursing and direct care workforce,” Landers said. “There’s so much opportunity to build on what’s being done.”