Geriatrics Programs Garner National Support
Indiana University’s geriatrics program has received important
new support from the National Institute on Aging and from a foundation
whose sole mission is to improve quality of care for the aging population.
The John A. Hartford Foundation has recognized the IU Geriatrics
Program as a Center of Excellence (CoE). The CoE initiative supports
advanced training in geriatric medicine for academic physicians
to teach and conduct research. The three-year, $450,000 grant, matched
with support from the IU School of Medicine, Wishard Health Services,
the Roudebush VA Medical Center and Clarian Health Partners, will
allow the IU Geriatrics Program to increase the number of geriatric
specialists trained from four to seven in each of the next three
years.
“This recognition is important to the aging population in
Indiana,” says Steven R. Counsell, MD, the Mary Elizabeth
Mitchell Professor of Geriatrics and director of the IU Geriatrics
Program. “We currently lag behind many other states in the
number of geriatricians available to treat the specific problems
of aging. And demand will continue to grow; we expect our senior
population to double in the next 25 years.”
Additionally, the IU Center for Aging Research, the research arm
of the IU Geriatrics Program, is one of six newly established Edward
R. Roybal Centers for Research on Applied Gerontology. The National
Institute on Aging has awarded this designation to only 10 centers
in the United States.
The Roybal Center award includes a five-year, $1.25 million grant.
“This grant is a tribute to the progress our program has made
in geriatric health services and behavioral research,” says
Christopher M. Callahan, MD, the Cornelius & Yvonne Pettinga
Professor in Aging Research and director of the IU Center for Aging
Research.
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