Geriatrics Center of
Excellence News
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The Medical School at the University of Colorado Denver was named a Center of Excellence (COE) in Geriatrics by the
John A. Hartford Foundation beginning January 1, 1998. The COE is
funded for 3 years at over one million dollars including cost sharing
provided by the Chancellor, Dean and Department of Medicine. The goal
of the COE is to train outstanding physicians for academic careers in
geriatrics, to expand geriatric training opportunities throughout the
medical school, and to enhance collaboration in aging research.
The COE is funded for 3 years at
over one million dollars including
cost sharing provided by the
Chancellor, Dean, and Department
of Medicine.
A major focus of the COE will be to provide funding and mentorship to
enable clinically-oriented faculty from outside the Division of
Geriatric Medicine to reorient both clinical and research activities
to the field of aging. To these ends, the following types of awards
will be granted.
Assistant Professor Faculty
Development Awards:
These awards will provide a stipend for two
years (75% time) for faculty who have completed fellowships
(preferably in geriatrics) and are committed to academic careers in
geriatric medicine.
Mid-career Awards:
These awards for advanced assistant
professors and associate professors from any division or department
include a one year stipend (50% time) to increase research and
clinical activities in geriatrics.
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The goal of the COE is to train
outstanding physicians for
academic careers in geriatrics,
to expand geriatric training
opportunities throughout the
medical school, and to enhance
collaboration in aging research at
the Medical School.
Grants Program:
Grants of $15,000 per year for up to two years
will be provided to fund new investigators or to encourage established
investigators to extend their work into the field of aging.
Recipients of awards will have the opportunity to attend a national
meeting sponsored by the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR)
for the Center of Excellence program. Other activities of the COE
include publication of this quarterly newsletter, a Center on Aging
Web page, and research forums on aging-related research.
Each issue of this newsletter will feature a different Medical School
research program in aging in the "Focus" section. The "
Profile" section will describe different faculty members who are
involved in aging research, while the "Research Grant" and
"Funding Opportunities" sections will be updated each
quarter.
Detailed information about the program and applications can be
obtained from
Danielle Holthaus 303-315-0128;
e-mail: danielle.holthaus@uchsc.edu.
Awards will be made by March 31, 1998. Faculty stipends will begin
July 1, 1998.
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Focus:
Center on Aging Research
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The Center on Aging Research Section began in July 1995 with the dual
mission of conducting health services research and teaching faculty
and fellows health services research methods relating to aging. Under
the direction of Dr. Andrew Kramer, they conduct national studies
relating to: nursing home and post-acute care, quality and outcome
measurement, and managed care. The ten faculty collaborate with other
researchers from the Center for Health Services Research, the Division
of General Internal Medicine and other departments, as well as
community organizations such as Kaiser Permanente of Colorado. The
following summaries pertain to four of the projects conducted by the
Center on Aging Research Section.
The Center on Aging Research
Section began in January 1995
with a dual mission of conducting
health services research and
teaching faculty and fellows health
services research methods relating
to aging.
Subacute Care Study
The purpose of this study was to assess whether outcomes and costs
for elderly patients with hip fracture and stroke differed among acute
rehabilitation hospitals, subacute nursing homes, and traditional
nursing homes. The study involved collection of comprehensive data on
1003 admissions to 92 facilities from 17 states. Main outcome measures
included community residence, recovery to premorbid function in 5
activities of daily living, and Medicare costs at 6 months. Findings
of this study revealed that for stroke patients, rehabilitation
hospitals had the best overall outcomes and the highest cost, while
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