Geriatric Fellowship Research Training

Geriatric Medicine Fellowship at University Hospitals Includes Scholarly Project Research

All fellows in the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship (Internal Medicine) Program at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center must complete a scholarly project during their training. Using their elective month to work on the project, it may take one of the following forms:

Case report
Chart review
Quality improvement study
Other research endeavors

Fellows in the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship (Internal Medicine) Program will be assisted in finding an appropriate mentor to guide them during their research project development and completion. Fellow trainees can pursue virtually any interest related to geriatrics and have access to the following faculties:

UH Cleveland Medical Center
Case Western Reserve University
Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center

Prior geriatrics fellows participated in the following research areas:

Ambulatory care
Hospital medicine
Infectious diseases
Long-term care
Medical education
Palliative care
Post-acute care

The Geriatric Research, Education and Clinic Center (GRECC) at the VA offers select eligible fellows an opportunity to continue their research interests beyond their one year of clinical geriatric fellowship. Collaborative programs exist with the Infectious Diseases Division in study areas, including:

Adult vaccinations
Common nosocomial infections in the geriatric population
Influenza
Urinary tract infections

Fellows may work with neurology specialists in the Brain Health & Memory Center to study memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Fellows considering an academic career can participate in developing and evaluating curriculum materials for trainees rotating through geriatrics.

Several educational efforts are ongoing with the Palliative Care Program at University Hospitals.

Fellows can also work with University Hospitals Quality Institute to conduct a quality improvement project that impacts patient care.