Research Training Grant in Geriatrics and Gerontology

The goal of this Training Program in Geriatrics and Gerontology is to produce independent academic investigators in clinical and health services research, whose focus is improving the lives of older adults.  The program will accept 2 postdoctoral fellows per year, for a 2-year interdisciplinary training program.  Trainees will be recruited primarily from the University of Rochester geriatrics fellowship based at Monroe Community Hospital, and will also be accepted from the Departments of Community and Preventive Medicine, Psychiatry, and the School of Nursing’s Center for Clinical Research on Aging. 

They will participate in a 3-part training program, namely:

1) a mentored research experience

2) a series of didactic courses aimed at acquiring the knowledge necessary for conducting clinical research, including biostatistics, epidemiology, and design of clinical trials

3) a series of workshops to build research skills, including research ethics, scientific communication, medical informatics, and grant writing.

The latter two components of this training plan will utilize the Rochester Clinical Research Curriculum, a multidisciplinary program to train clinical researchers.  Trainees will have the option of completing additional classes to obtain an MPH in Clinical Investigation. 

In planning their mentored research project, trainees will work with a mentorial panel, comprised of one Primary Research Mentor and one or more Geriatrics / Gerontology Faculty Advisors.  Mentors will be chosen from 5 research “clusters”:  cardiology, geriatric health services, neuropsychiatry, oncology, and infectious diseases. Trainees will be expected to write a career development grant by the end of their training period, to assure that they have protected time as they transition to being a junior faculty member. 

The training program was funded in 5/05, through a T32 grant from the NIA.  The program is directed by William Hall, MD, and co-directed by Susan Friedman, MD, MPH, Paul Katz, MD, and Thomas Pearson, MD, PhD, MPH.