Through a third round of NIA funding, UNC’s Medical Students Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) program will continue as a National Training Center from 2020 through 2025. Over 60 UNC faculty from 35 medical specialties across five Health Science Schools serve as volunteer student mentors.
Publications, promotions, awards, research, presentations, and more – enjoy this recent roundup of Division of Geriatric Medicine Faculty News, including a video featuring staff and providers saying why UNC Geriatrics clinic wins a UNC Health Carolina Care Excellence Award every year!
The Center for Aging and Health is a sub-recipient of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) “Building Our Largest Dementia Infrastructure for North Carolinians” (BOLD NC) funding, partnering with the NC Division of Aging and Adult Services (grant PI) and NC Division of Public Health to bring a public health, coordinated, systematic approach to our state’s brain health efforts.
Lindsay Wilson, MD, MPH, the John W. Foust Medical Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor, is the Division of Geriatric Medicine’s newest Associate Professor. She recently received the Foundation Phase Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award, recognizing a faculty member from the Foundation Phase curriculum who significantly contributed to the education of Foundation Phase students through their energy, dedication, and extraordinarily excellent teaching.
Joshua Niznik, PharmD, PhD, was awarded pilot funding from the US Deprescribing Research Network to study deprescribing bisphosphonates in nursing home residents with dementia. This pilot project will lay the foundation for further explorations of caregiver and provider perspectives and the implications of deprescribing for clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness in older nursing home residents with dementia.
UNC Geriatrics clinic’s SOCO program (Student Outreach to Older Adults) began in spring 2020, just after the pandemic sent most people into near lockdown conditions. At that time there was an immediate and widespread shift to telemedicine. SOCO’s initial focus was on connecting medical students to patients, through phone calls, to troubleshoot technical problems and … Read more
Kayla Darris, a 2019 UNC Medical Students in Aging Research (MSTAR) student from the University of Arizona College of Medicine at Tucson, and Brian Diekman, PhD, assistant professor in the UNC-NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering and member of the UNC Thurston Arthritis Research Center, have been awarded the American Geriatrics Society’s 2020 Best Abstract … Read more
“Why are you interested in working with older adults?” For five years, students at Middletown High School in New Jersey have written essays in answer to this question in hopes of earning a $1000 scholarship. The Brown / Kraus Scholarship is sponsored annually by Cristine Henage, EdD, herself a Middletown High School graduate with a … Read more
Physical therapists and the patients who need them are facing some significant barriers to connection and care during Covid-19. No demographic has been more impacted than older adults. “People don’t want to leave their house because of exposure to Covid-19, and, they’re also wary of letting anyone into their homes,” says Vicki Tilley, PT, GCS, … Read more
Due to Covid-19, UNC Health outpatient clinics are “seeing” fewer patients physically. Though most facilities remain open to patients needing an in-person visit, the coronavirus crisis rapidly accelerates the use of telehealth via virtual visits between providers and patients. In this Q&A UNC Geriatrics Specialty Clinic’s Assistant Medical Director, Dr. Meredith Gilliam, talks about benefits and challenges of video visits.