The center is supported by institutional funds from Wesley Woods, Emory, UAB, and matching funds for the next three years from the John A. Hartford Foundation. One of only 12 in the country, the center will prepare future faculty members in geriatric medicine as well as offer support for current junior faculty members in that speciality. Because Emory and UAB offer similar programs and share overlapping research interests, they chose to collaborate rather than compete for the grant. The combined faculty strengths of the two schools will better prepare young academicians in geriatric medicine. Training in geriatric medicine, a speciality that has existed only in the past 15 years, becomes particularly important in this age of managed care, Ouslander says.
Geriatricians treat people with very special needs.
When young people get ill, for example, their acute medical problem is treated, and it goes away. Many middle-aged people have one chronic problem. They are on multiple medications. Superimpose on that dementia, depression, or socio-economic challenges. Then they develop an acute medical problem.