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Fellowship Program Description
One-year clinical fellowship
Two-year academic fellowship
Three-year research fellowship

Drs. Laura Hanson, Anthony Caprio, Terrence Holt, C. Glenn Pickard (recently retired), and Racquel Daley-Placide of the Division of Geriatric Medicine

A Critical Need
Elderly people are now the most rapidly growing segment of the national population. Greatly needed are inspirational teachers, caring clinicians, effective administrators, and imaginative researchers in the field of geriatrics.

A Positive Response
The Geriatric Fellowship Program at Chapel Hill prepares physicians for leadership in geriatric care. UNC offers three fellowships: Clinical, Academic, and Research. Each program provides an integrated interdisciplinary experience tailored to the needs of each fellow.

What distinguishes UNC's Fellowship?

• A Tradition of Excellence. We train a small number of highly accomplished and successful fellows.
• A Flexible and Tailored Program. As a smaller program, we are flexible and will create a training program designed to meet each fellow's individual career goals.
• Superior Resources. There are four highly-ranked health affairs schools literally across the street from MacNider Hall, the home of the School of Medicine. Other schools, divisions, and departments are only one or two blocks away. UNC's health professions schools consistently achieve the highest rankings in the U.S. Research and health policy opportunities are available in collaboration with the School of Public Health, Cecil B. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, to name only a few. UNC Hospitals and its clinics are ranked nationally for excellence in service delivery. The Program o n Aging is a unique, nationally-ranked, 25-member, interdisciplinary program that engages in clinical services, research and educational activities. The Southern Gerontological Society has awarded the Program on Aging and its Interdisciplinary Clinical Team its Best Practices Award.

One-Year Clinical Fellowship

The One-Year Clinical Fellowship forms the basic core of each of the three fellowships offered at UNC. It provides:

an integrated, interdisciplinary, clinical approach experience with ambulatory, inpatient, and home care outreach to rural and underserved populations consultative evaluation clinics clinical opportunities in long-term care in nursing homes and nationally-recognized Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC's) as well as in UNC's Continence Clinic responsibility for patients throughout the year

Former UNC-CH Fellow Hong Yu, MD with a patient

Time allocation:
A majority of time is spent performing clinical work, with additional time spent in educational mentoring sessions. Emphasis is placed on educational activities such as participation in the journal club, interdisciplinary team conferences and the geriatrics core curriculum.

Achievements:
Upon completion of the Clinical Fellowship, fellows have fulfilled the clinical requirements for board certification and are eligible for the geriatric certification examination.

Two-Year Academic Fellowship

The Two-Year Academic Fellowship helps prepare trainees to become skilled clinical investigators or administrators. The Academic Fellowship builds upon the One-Year Clinical Fellowship and adds research or administrative opportunities during the second year. Trainees select research topics based on areas of personal interest. Fellows who are interested in administration have opportunities to work with medical directors as mentors in premiere retirement communities.

Time allocation:
During the second year of the fellowship, trainees spend a predominant amount of time in research with remaining time allocated to clinical work (approximately 20-30%). The mentoring relationship plays a critical role during this process. Trainees are paired with a mentor whose interests complement those of the fellow and the selected project. In addition, trainees have an opportunity to participate in administrative educational activities such as organizing and running the journal club.

Achievements:
During this second year, fellows begin a comprehensive research project which can last one to two years. In addition, depending upon the course of the study, trainees may fulfill the requirements for American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) board certification, and upon completion of the year, are eligible to take the Certified Medical Director examination.

Three-Year Research Fellowship

Dependent upon funding availability, the Three-Year Research Fellowship builds upon the foundation established in the Two-Year Academic Fellowship. Fellows have in-depth research opportunities including quantitative and qualitative research in clinical, administrative, and health services and health policy research areas. Special focus areas for the Program on Aging currently include urinary incontinence, functional assessment, dementia, rural health and end-of-life issues.

Time allocation:
During the third year of the fellowship, trainees spend a predominant amount of time in research with remaining time allocated to clinical work (approximately 20-30%). Many trainees have opted to earn a Masters in Public Health from the School of Public Health during their second and third fellowship years.

Achievements:
During this third year, fellows are highly involved in research. Most trainees earn a MPH and/or complete the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Core Curriculum, which is awarded on a competitive basis. Most pursue research careers.

Last updated 2/9/2008