To best meet the health care needs of the aging population, we need both well-trained designated geriatricians as well as subspecialists with a geriatric perspective providing clinical care, teaching, and conducting basic and applied research.
The aim of this award is to develop a geriatric subspecialty research fellowship program at Yale School of Medicine to complement the existing excellent research fellowship training program for designated geriatric physicians. 1-2 medical subspecialty fellows at Yale School of Medicine will be selected each year based on the following criteria: 1) completion of the clinical component of their subspecialty fellowship; 2) completion of at least one year of the research training component; 3) selection of a research project of clear relevance to aging; 4) the support of their subspecialty mentor; and 5) potential for, and interest in, pursuing an academic research career with a focus on age-related issues. The educational and clinical requirements of the planned program were selected to expose the fellows to the knowledge base and concepts of geriatrics. Research requirements include completion of a research project; participation in research seminars both within their subspecialty and within geriatrics; presentation at a national meeting; preparation of a manuscript; and submittal of a grant application. The planned fellowship will take advantage of several research and training programs available at Yale. The training of a cadre of fellows through this program will enhance the focus on age-related issues within the subspecialties by at least three mechanisms. First, the fellows themselves will bring an increased geriatric focus to their own clinical and investigative work. Second, because fellows will be co-mentored by both geriatric and subspecialty faculty, there will be further development of collaborative relationships between geriatric and subspecialty faculty. Third, because Yale is a leading institution, the fellows and faculty associated with this new program are, or will become, leaders at institutions throughout the country and will bring their """"""""geriatric perspective"""""""" with them, thus educating and influencing their entire subspecialty field.
