Fellowships
We all know that the United States population is aging rapidly—and there is no doubt that the often-complex medical concerns of the elderly are best managed by a physician who has the skills, experience, and compassion to take on this challenge.
About Our Geriatric Fellowships
With its statewide community campus system and over twenty years of experience as a leader in geriatric education, Michigan State University has begun development of a network of geriatric fellowship training programs.
The one-year training program is designed to enhance physicians’ knowledge and understanding of the principles of excellent geriatric care delivered to patients at all levels of health and across a continuum of care settings.The curriculum includes:
- Extensive training in the care of the geriatric patient from the healthy to the frail
- Extensive training in the variety of venues in which the geriatric patient receives medical care – ambulatory sites, the home, the nursing facility, the hospital – with special attention placed on maintaining the functional health of the patient
- Special knowledge and skills to become educators of other health professionals in geriatric care
- Administrative skills required to manage geriatric programs in the community, assisted
- Living, and long-term care environments
- Experience in writing grants, and performing research with abstracts, papers and presentations at scientific meetings.
Geriatric fellowships are offered through Sparrow/MSU, the Grand Rapids Medical Education Partners, and Hurley Medical Center in Flint, and encourage applicants.
Sparrow Hospital/Michigan State University
The Sparrow/MSU Geriatrics Fellowship in Lansing, Michigan, is composed of 13 four-week block rotations integrated with longitudinal continuity of care experiences. The family medicine and internal medicine faculty are board-certified geriatricians who have patients in assisted living facilities, adult foster care, and traditional home settings that the fellow follows under attending supervision.
The program comprises an interdisciplinary group of health professionals including nurse practitioners, nutritionists, mental health specialists, and rehabilitation therapists as well as medical specialists in geriatrics brought together through the Geriatric Education Center of Michigan. For more information, contact marcie.powers@sparrow.org.
Grand Rapids Medical Education Partners
Grand Rapids, in affiliation with the Michigan State University Geriatric Consortium offers a one-year geriatric fellowship. The curriculum includes inpatient medicine, long term care, hospice and palliative medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and geropsychiatry. Opportunities for elective rotations are available.
Under the aegis of the Grand Rapids Medical Education Partners, this program takes advantage of the resources of Advantage Health Geriatrics, Faith Hospice, Mercy Health Saint Mary’s, Holland Home, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, and Michigan State University, as well as other prominent West Michigan health care entities. For more information, call 616-685-6774. The program is under the direction of Robert Riekse, MD. Dr. Riekse is a fellowship trained geriatrician with CAQ in Geriatrics.
Hurley Medical Center
The Geriatric Fellowship Program at Hurley Medical Center is a fully developed clinical and educational curriculum that provides a well-supervised, hands-on educational experience in the management of elderly patients with a wide variety of medical issues and preventive health needs. It is the only such program in the Flint area and is fully supported by Hurley Medical Center and the MSU College of Human Medicine.
The program prepares fellows in all fields of geriatric medicine, with special emphasis on multi-disciplinary outpatient geriatric care, inpatient care, nursing home and rehabilitation services. During the fellowship, research in geriatric medicine is required. Amy Daros, DO, is director of the fellowship program. For more information about the fellowship call 810-262-9682.
