The Weill Cornell Training Program in Behavioral Geriatrics This Postdoctoral Training Program in Behavioral Geriatrics will develop independent investigators capable of conducting patient-oriented research to improve the quality of life and quality of care of older adults. Behavioral Geriatrics is a scientific discipline that explicitly integrates social/behavioral approaches with biomedical approaches to study clinically significant and pressing issues of aging (e.g., pain, cognitive impairment, polypharmacy, caregiving, end-of-life medical decision-making, bereavement). The Program, led by Cary Reid, MD, PhD and Holly Prigerson, PhD, will accept both MD and PhD postdoctoral trainees (2/year) who seek careers at the intersection of biomedical and innovative social/behavioral approaches to improve care and care outcomes in older adults. The distinctive Year 1 Behavioral Geriatrics Didactic Core will cover topics including clinical and psychosocial epidemiology, community-based participatory research, health services research, and trial design as related to the study of older adults. Completing the Cornell CTSC Master's degree or Certificate Program in Clinical Research will be mandatory for MD trainees. All trainees will participate in monthly work- in-progress sessions and a monthly Trainees' Forum will provide instruction in the presentation and publication of results, ethical conduct of research, grant preparation, and help to build career development skills. Biostatisticians and data entry and management personnel from existing grants will be available to assist T32 trainees. The centerpiece of the training is Co-Mentored research in Year 1, culminating in a Year 2 research project for which the Trainee serves as PI under Co-Mentor supervision. Our cadre of experienced and successful Behavioral Geriatrics research mentors include PI Reid (management of multifactorial pain in later life), Co-PI Prigerson (care of patients and families at end of life), Dr. Ronald Adelman (palliative care), Dr. Mark Lachs (elder abuse) Dr. Martha Bruce (late-life depression), and Drs. Karl Pillemer and Elaine Wethington (social isolation/integration). Trainees will be immediately integrated into a large, research-ready network of New York City organizations serving ethnically diverse older adults. Unique Program recruitment resources include The New York Psychosocial Training Consortium, a curriculum for all tri-state area geriatric medicine fellows, many from underserved communities. Further strengths include: (1) geriatric and social/behavioral science co-mentorship, (2) well-established infrastructure and flexible, tailored mentorship plans; (3) clearl articulated metrics (published papers, national presentations, funded career awards); and (4) membership in a diverse network of behavioral geriatrics researchers. Institutional strengths include an outstanding pipeline of potential trainees and aging-related R01s. The Program will produce Behavioral Geriatrics researchers trained in the synergistic disciplines of geriatric medicine and social/behavioral science, uniquely capable of addressing one of the largest challenges to public health - the aging of the population.
This Training Program will serve the public health by developing MD- and PhD-trained independent investigators capable of conducting patient-oriented research to improve the quality of life and quality of care of the ever-increasing number and proportion of older Americans. Trainees will gain unique expertise in Behavioral Geriatrics, harnessing both biomedical and social/behavioral scientific approaches to study pressing problems of aging (e.g., pain, cognitive impairment, polypharmacy, caregiving, end-of-life medical decision making, bereavement).
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