Emory, UAB collaborate
on center for geriatric medicine
A collaborative venture between Emory and the University of Alabama at
Birmingham (UAB) is ensuring that as America's aging population grows, so
will the number of physicians trained to care for older adults.
The Southeast Center for Excellence in Geriatric Medicine, which began
operation Jan. 1, is the only such center in the South. Center co-directors
and physicians Joseph Ouslander of Emory and Richard Allman of UAB are structuring
the unique program to help meet current and future demands for specialists
in geriatric medicine. Experts claim the nation's 6,000 geriatricians should
more than double just to meet current needs, and they predict some 24,000
more will be needed as baby boomers move toward old age.
The collaboration will enhance the capabilities of both programs to attract
young physicians into careers in academic geriatric medicine and to provide
doctors new to the field the expertise, mentorship and environment they
will need to best manage the sometimes complex health challenges of older
patients.
"Many older adults in Atlanta, Birmingham and throughout the South
will benefit from this collaborative center as patients of center faculty
and doctors in training-all of whom will be practicing the latest in geriatric
medicine," said Ouslander, who heads the division of gerontology and
geriatric medicine in the School of Medicine as well as the Wesley Woods
Center on Aging. "Patients and their families will also benefit from
participation in center research projects and in the long run will benefit
from the results of center research."
Specifically, the center will provide training and support for senior
geriatric medicine fellows-doctors who have completed their medical residencies-and
junior faculty at both medical schools.
Support from the center will provide trainees the time and funding to
pursue research projects intended to answer scientific questions about the
health of older adults. They will have the opportunity to work in a variety
of clinical settings including the Center on Aging, the Atlanta VA Medical
Center and UAB clinical sites in Birmingham.
Areas of faculty research expertise at the center involve urinary incontinence
and related lower urinary tract disorders, mobility disorders and related
complications such as balance disorders, pressure ulcers and visual impairment,
and improving the delivery of health care to older adults.
The center is supported by institutional funds from Wesley Woods, Emory
and UAB and $825,000 in matching funds from the John A. Hartford Foundation,
a private philanthropy established in 1929, with a current focus on issues
related to health for older adults.
-Lorri Preston
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