Geriatrics Fellowship

Fellowship training | Contact information | Application | Research Conference |Faculty | Current and recent fellows

Fellowship training

The Geriatrics Fellowship Training Program offered at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The fellowship is designed to train leaders who will provide clinical care for older people, teach others how to care for older people and conduct research to better understand the aging process.

Curriculum

The traditional fellowship is one year. Fellows spend approximately 12 months working on clinical rotations, thus allowing the fellow to be board eligible for the Certificate of Added Qualification exam.
Our geriatric program was awarded a $1.8 million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to strengthen physicians’ training in geriatrics. With the support of this grant we underwent a major expansion in geriatric education. The fellows participate in the educational and teaching opportunities that this grant created. For more information see the Geriatrics Program Web page.

Conferences

Conferences include bimonthly Geriatrics Grand Rounds, weekly conferences that include journal club, research conference, case conference, plus board review and a weekly core curriculum (for the months of July and August). Fellows also are encouraged to participate in the planning and delivery of these lectures.

Research training

Fellows have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with ongoing research projects, choose a mentor and start a research project or collaborate in ongoing projects. Although a research project is not required for the geriatrics fellowship, past fellows have been very productive. Research interests include sexual dysfunction, benign prostatic hypertrophy, prostate cancer, nutrition, wound care, osteoporosis, spirituality, and care systems for the chronically ill. To better refine research skills, fellows are encouraged to take classes at VCU and may complete the Master’s of Public Health or Master’s of Health Administration program. Up to six credit hours per semester are provided at no cost.

Clinical training

The fellows rotate through the following clinical sites:

• Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center
  The VAMC is a 427-bed facility offering primary, secondary, and tertiary health care. The medical center has a strong and mutually beneficial affiliation with the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center.
  • The Nursing Home Care Unit is an 80-bed unit contiguous with the acute care hospital. Patients receive rehabilitation and/or skilled care.
  • The Geriatric Health Care Center provides primary care and consultative care to outpatients age 65 and older.
  • The Osteoporosis Clinic provides outpatient services to patients with metabolic bone disease.
  • The Memory Disorders and Evaluation Center provides outpatient services by a neurologist who specializes in Memory Disorders
  • The Erectile Dysfunction Center provides outpatient services by a nationally known geriatrician who specializes in erectile dysfunction of older males.
  • The Psychiatry Consult Service provides consultative care to hospitalized older patients.
  • Home Based Primary Care provides primary care to frail, home bound older veterans.
  • The Hospice Unit provides end of life care for patients with a life expectancy less than 6 months.
• Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center
  
• VCU offers a variety of advanced degree programs including an excellent Masters in Health Administration and a Master’s in Public Health. A new School of Public Health will shortly offer a doctoral degree as well.
• The 700 bed modern urban medical center offers a full range of tertiary and quaternary inpatient services, supported by a new informatics system. The geriatrics program includes ambulatory care, house calls, nursing home care, inpatient geriatric consults, and transitional care. Physician-nurse practitioner teams are the center of all our services. Fellows will rotate in these areas, and will be involved in teaching other learners (medical students, pharmacy students, medical residents):
  • The Geriatric Consult Service provides inpatient consults for hospitalized older patients with 1 to 5 new consults each day including Orthopedics, Neurosurgery, General and Trauma Surgery, Vascular Surgery, other surgical services, Geriatric Psychiatry, and all adult units generally. The service is supported by internal medicine residents and a geriatric pharmacist.
  • The House Call Program is a unique community outreach program, providing longitudinal primary care for home bound, frail older people. Fellows are exposed to this method for delivering health care.
  • Ambulatory Care Clinic provides outpatient evaluation and primary care for well and frail elders

Fellowship contact information

Program director

Angela Gentili, M.D.
1201 Broad Rock Blvd., Suite 181
Richmond, Virginia 23249
Phone: (804) 675-5181
E-mail: Angela.Gentili@med.va.gov          

Associate program director

Arline Bohannon, M.D.
Richmond, Virginia 23298-0102
Phone: (804) 828-5306
E-mail: abohannon@mail1.vcu.edu

Coordinator

Loretta Morris
1201 Broad Rock Blvd., Suite 181
Richmond, Virginia 23249
Phone: (804) 675-5181
E-mail: loretta.morris@med.va.gov

Application

Download the fellowship application form. (Acrobat pdf file)

 

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2006/02/23