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Press Release
Program on Aging/Division of Geriatric Medicine
September 2003

Program on Aging Receives Donald Reynolds Grant
- Elizabeth Thomas

CHAPEL HILL--The Program on Aging (POA) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine recently received a four-year, $2 million grant that will significantly strengthen the care of older adults across North Carolina.

“With this grant support, we will ensure that every graduate of the medical school receives the skills necessary for quality care for older patients. It is important that these students know how to deal with the complex problems of the elderly population, because the older population represents well over half of all physician visits each year,” said Jan Busby-Whitehead, POA director and principal investigator of the grant.

In 90 percent of the nation’s medical schools, students can graduate with no formal training in caring for older adults. Most geriatrics programs that do exist greatly lack the financial support, faculty and research necessary for expansion.

This initiative, funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, will greatly enhance geriatrics content in all levels of medical training. In addition, the POA will increase the number of faculty, fellows, residents, researchers and preceptors who have the level of expertise to train additional physicians.

“This grant will enable us to develop a focused and standardized geriatrics curriculum to train all residents in family and internal medicine.” said Debra Bynum, MD, assistant professor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine. “This will add a necessary dimension to residency training and will ensure quality health care delivery in the future.”

In North Carolina, the number of adults 65 and older is expected to reach more than two million by 2030, leaving the state scarcely prepared to deal with the health needs of this segment of the population. For each 6,282 older patients in the state, there is only one geriatrician. Of the 650,000 physicians practicing in the nation, less than 9,000 are certified in geriatrics.

“Our goal is to build on this institution’s capacity to prepare future physicians for leadership in geriatrics, while also expanding this training to include physicians across North Carolina. We really want to guarantee that physicians in the entire state are able and ready to care for older patients,” said Busby-Whitehead. “With the aging population growing at a rapid rate, the state must be prepared to address the needs of this population.”

Throughout the initiative, the POA will train physician-leaders to conduct educational outreach to community physicians across the state. “ North Carolina’s health care providers need to be continually updated with the latest information on the care of the elderly. Through this collaboration, we will be able to offer continuing education and other information resources to the widest possible audience,” said Thomas Bacon, director of the North Carolina Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program.

The initiative, which begins on Sept. 1, will draw on the collaborative strengths of the POA, UNC Hospitals, the North Carolina AHEC Program, and the UNC Departments of Medicine, Family Medicine, Neurology, Obstetrics/Gynecology and Psychiatry.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, it is one of the 50 largest private foundations in the United States.