Geriatrics & Gerontology

Kevin T. Foley, MD, FACP, Director of Education and Clinical Operations, Geriatrics Program

Established in 2008 with a vision to be a leader in gerontology and geriatrics training and education, this multidisciplinary division provides support for education, scholarship and clinical service across Michigan. This new program collaborates across multiple disciplines, (family medicine, internal medicine, nursing, social work, and nutrition, two colleges, College of Human Medicine and College of Osteopathic Medicine). This program will also enhance the education of fellows seeking certification of added qualifications, and of 200 residents physicians in affiliate programs of Family and Internal Medicine from both the Colleges of Human Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine.

From Our 2010 Annual Report

Significant progress has been made this past year in our continued efforts to build the Division of Geriatric Medicine at MSU and the statewide geriatrics fellowship network. Several noteworthy goals were achieved that are vital to the planned expansion of academic and clinical programs in geriatric medicine and gerontology:

  • The Sparrow/MSU Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program was re-accredited for five years by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
  • The Marquette Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program was accredited in May and their first fellow has been selected for the 2011-2012 academic year.
  • The Grand Rapids Geriatric Medicine Fellowship will graduate its first fellow on June 30, 2011.
  • A geriatrics fellowship faculty development seminar series for the network program directors and teaching faculty sponsored by MSU last spring facilitated the initial development of a fellowship training curriculum that will be completed in the next year and disseminated throughout the network.
  • The first clinical skills evaluation of our four net work fellows – from Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Flint – was conducted at the MSU Learning and Assessment Center utilizing simulated patient care cases.
  • Clare Luz, PhD, was hired by the Department of Family Medicine into the tenure system to support research and education in geriatric medicine and gerontology.
  • Kevin Foley, MD, became the medical director of the Burcham Hills Retirement Community in East Lansing and our faculty began to provide care in this setting.
  • A campus-wide Geriatric Collaborative Research Group was formed to facilitate networking among faculty from across the MSU campus who have an interest in geriatrics and gerontology research.

 

Our vision for geriatric medicine in the Lansing community will be redefined in the next year as the nation moves towards new systems of health care delivery that emphasize coordinated “accountable” care. Seamless transition between primary and other community-based care sites and hospitals using a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach has become a key focus area for all health care organizations. As experts on care systems and team-based management of older adults, geriatricians are well positioned and qualified to participate in the care delivery restructuring process. Opportunities for partnering with our community’s health care organizations and increasing the involvement of geriatricians in inpatient and post-acute care settings are currently being explored. I remain enthusiastic about our future growth as a division, both clinically and academically, and confident that the specialty of geriatric medicine will thrive and attract new trainees into this most satisfying and rewarding career.

~Kevin T. Foley, MD, FACP, Director of Education and Clinical Operations, Geriatrics Program