Geriatric training thrives under Reynolds Foundation grant

February 21, 2004 - Half way through a four-year grant of almost $2 million from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, the Medical College of Wisconsin has taken great steps forward to strengthen physicians' training in geriatrics.

The result is a continuum, beginning with exposing medical students to geriatric medicine and resulting in a faculty member in geriatrics, said Edmund H. Duthie, MD, Professor and Chief of Medicine (Geriatrics). He and G. Richard Olds, MD, the Linda and John Mellowes Professor and Chairman of Medicine, are principal investigators for the grant.

"We are raising interest in geriatrics among MCW graduates," Dr. Duthie said. "Where would we be without the Reynolds grant? We wouldn't have the palpable enthusiasm we do have about geriatric education."

One of the four goals for the project is to increase medical student interest in geriatric medicine. During the 2002-03 academic year, the number of students registering as members of the Medical College student chapter of the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) increased by 40%. Attendance at AGS events also increased significantly.

To meet the project goal of increasing student knowledge of geriatric medicine, the College developed an innovative "virtual patient" program. Students are introduced to geriatrics through the cases of elderly patients via CD-ROMs that contain video and audio clips, X-rays, MRIs and other information.

The patients, who are actually actors filmed for the roles, are made to age, helping students learn about the progression of health and disease in elderly patients. The five planned cases have already been filmed and four CDs completed. Also, students can now fulfill an internal medicine graduation requirement with a geriatrics third-year option.

To recruit high quality candidates into the field of geriatric medicine, the College created and implemented a combined Medicine/Geriatrics residency training program. The project team has successfully recruited two excellent Medicine/Geriatrics residents, who began the program in July 2003. The new residents joined two already in training.

Meeting the fourth goal, the College developed a geriatric medical education fellowship to prepare the next generation of clinician educators. At the end of the academic year, the College will have two faculty members who have participated in this faculty development effort and launched their careers in geriatrics – Kathryn M. Denson, MD, and Diana R. Kerwin, MD, both Assistant Professors of Medicine (Geriatrics/Gerontology).

"We are pleased with the progress being made by the Medical College of Wisconsin under the Reynolds Foundation grant supporting efforts to strengthen physicians' training in geriatrics," said Richard S. Sharpe, Executive Vice President of the Foundation. "The collaboration of Drs. Olds and Duthie has been an important factor in the success, along with the broader institutional commitment to the project's goals."

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, it is one of the 50 largest private foundations in the United States.

"The Reynolds Foundation grant has opened new worlds of opportunity here in the field of geriatrics," said College President and CEO T. Michael Bolger, JD. "An entire career track in geriatrics is now available, from student, to resident, to fellow to faculty member, all possible at the College."