Geriatrics Center to train medical students in aging research

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has awarded a five-year, $662,450 grant to the Geriatrics Center that will enable one of the country's outstanding geriatrics research programs to provide medical students with exposure to and participation in aging-related research. U-M is one of seven sites selected to receive the award.

The grant will provide up to 18 medical students each year with the opportunity to learn research concepts from experienced investigators and assess whether they wish to pursue careers in aging-related research. The program will host medical students from across the country and specifically will target students from U-M and the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

The nation's aging population is growing rapidly, and a career development strategy aimed at increasing the number of physicians entering the geriatric field is imperative, say those in charge of the U-M program. The NIA grant will enable medical students to have an introduction to research careers in basic science, health services and clinical research.

"Engaging medical students in aging-related research has been shown to stimulate their future career development in geriatrics. We are pleased that this award allows us to continue to offer our students this opportunity," says the grant's principal investigator, Dr. Mark Supiano, professor of internal medicine and director of the Department of Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center.

The Geriatrics Center long has been a supporter of medical student research, says Dr. Jeffrey Halter, Geriatrics Center director. This grant will allow the center to provide broader exposure to the field to a greater number of students, giving them necessary training about the growing aging population, he says.

"I am grateful for the chance to spend the summer at Michigan as a visiting student from Brown Medical School," says David Zinn, a medical student at Brown University. "After my first year of medical school, the program gives me the chance to explore my research and career interests in geriatrics at one of the top research training programs in the country."

The program is a collaboration between NIA, the American Federation for Aging Research and the John A. Hartford Foundation, and several private sponsors that have had a long-standing interest in supporting medical student research in aging and geriatrics.

More Stories

• U-M FY2006 budget for Ann Arbor campus to increase tuition, financial aid
• School of Education names Ball to interim dean position
• University files brief in Marriage Amendment lawsuit
• U-M project one of 43 funded by Gates Foundation
• Health System receives $10M grant for Alzheimer's disease research
• Second-oldest campus building now part of Bentley
• Spotlight: Time for art
• Training available for upcoming M-Pathways upgrade
• New system will streamline P-Card process
• Paperless Web Grades gets an 'A'; ready for fall rollout
• UMHS again ranked among nation's top hospitals
• Ginsberg Center appoints new faculty director
• Geriatrics Center to train medical students in aging research
• Art Fair returns with Townie Party, more for kids--and all that art
• M-CARE employees get moving for the health of it
• Research Notes
• Circulatory system on a chip lets scientists mimic heartbeat
• On guard--annual mouth protector clinic is July 16
• Lighting up the mountains, illuminating people
• Photo: Gifts of Art swings