Affiliated Education
The Huffington Center on Aging is committed
to improving the quality of life for older people by training
scientists and physicians to become leaders in the fields
of gerontology and geriatrics. As a leader in medical education
for clinicians, the Center is actively involved in training
Baylor medical students, residents, and geriatric fellows.
For health care professionals, the Center provides educational
opportunities for care providers of all disciplines. The Center
also provides valuable educational programs for the community
at large.
HCOA faculty and faculty associates
are course directors as well as faculty in education and training
activities offered by the medical and graduate schools of
BCM and the postgraduate training programs of several clinical
departments.
• Opportunities for Medical Students
• Postgraduate Training
• Graduate School
Opportunities for Medical Students
The four year medical school curriculum begins with an 18
month pre-clinical phase during which the required curriculum
delivered by HCOA faculty introduces students to the biology
of normal aging, the pathophysiology underlying major geriatric
clinical problems, and the behavioral, social and ethical
issues associated with caring for older people. Preclinical
electives are also offered emphasizing comprehensive clinical
care of older people and families. During the 30 months of
clinical training a number of clinical clerkships, electives
and selective are offered in specialized geriatric ambulatory
and inpatient settings in medicine and psychiatry and in a
community hospice. Research electives in geriatric medicine,
psychiatry , physical medicine and health services also enable
students to pursue mentored projects in aging research.
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Postgraduate Training
Geriatrics residency rotations are required activities for
trainees in Medicine, Family Medicine, and Psychiatry. These
required rotations offer excellent opportunities to learn
the process of comprehensive geriatric assessment, the essential
tool for evaluating the elderly patient with numerous complicating
and interacting problems affecting quality of life. The residents
learn about diagnosis and treatment strategies employed by
geriatricians in the care of frail elders and their families
and learn to provide care for older adults as part of an interdisciplinary
team in varied health care settings, including managed care
and geropsychiatry clinics.
The Fellowship Program in Geriatric Medicine of the Department
of Internal Medicine is coordinated by the Huffington Center
on Aging at Baylor College of Medicine. It is a fully accredited,
two-year program for physicians designed to develop leadership
skills for successful academic careers as clinicians, investigators,
educators, and administrators in geriatrics. The exceptional
resources of the Baylor College of Medicine and its affiliated
institutions provide exposure to a wide variety of faculty,
clinical training sites, research, and teaching opportunities.
The Fellowship Program offers a broad range of clinical training
experiences in diversified sites. In addition to required
rotations in medicine, long-term care and geropsychiatry,
rotations in rehabilitation, neurology, and hospice are also
provided as electives. Development of a research project is
also an integral part of the Fellowship Program.
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Graduate School
The Biology of Aging
Program is a special track in the interdisciplinary Cell and
Molecular Biology graduate program. Participating faculty
members hold appointments in several of the basic science
departments and are HCOA Faculty Associates. In the first
year of the graduate program the students attend didactic
courses, including two courses on aging, seminars, and rotate
through the laboratories. The remainder of the program is
oriented toward full-time laboratory work and participation
in the Biology of Aging Seminar Series, the Journal Club in
Aging, departmental seminars, and other student activities.
The Baylor SMART (Student Medical and Research Training)
Program provides research experience for excellent undergraduate
science students. This program has provided the Huffington
Center on Aging basic science faculty the opportunity to train
and serve as mentors to several students each year in aging
research. The early exposure of these students to aging research
is an important mechanism for increasing the number of young
scientists interested in aging research.
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