Aging, the Medical Subspecialties, and Career Development: Where We Were, Where We Are Going

Abstract

Historically, the medical subspecialties have not focused on the needs of older adults. This has changed with the implementation of initiatives to integrate geriatrics and aging research into the medical and surgical subspecialties and with the establishment of a home for internal medicine specialists within the annual American Geriatrics Society (AGS) meeting. With the support of AGS, other professional societies, philanthropies, and federal agencies, efforts to integrate geriatrics into the medical and surgical subspecialties have focused largely on training the next generation of physicians and researchers. They have engaged several subspecialties, which have followed parallel paths in integrating geriatrics and aging research. As a result of these combined efforts, there has been enormous progress in the integration of geriatrics and aging research into the medical and surgical subspecialties, and topics once considered to be geriatric concerns are becoming mainstream in medicine, but this integration remains a work in progress and will need to adapt to changes associated with healthcare reform.

Big ‘G’ and Little ‘g’ Geriatrics Education for Physicians

“…Train‐the‐trainer models and integrated and mini‐fellowships could ensure little “g” competency across specialties and practice sites, but a preceptor does not have to be a geriatrician. As noted above, many specialties, aided by career development awards supported by the National Institute on Aging have geriatrics champions who are increasingly taking responsibility for teaching their trainees core geriatric content to provide quality care for older adults . The principles‐of‐change theory suggests that this is the most effective way to mainstream geriatrics into these disciplines.…”

Leadership Lessons: Developing Mentoring Infrastructure for GEMSSTAR Scholars

“…This mechanism evolved from two earlier programs, the Dennis W. Jahnigen (American Geriatrics Society [AGS]) and T. Franklin Williams (Association of Specialty Professors) Career Development Scholars Awards (Jahnigen and Williams, respectively). Recognizing that providing infrastructure for innovative and impactful group or peer‐to‐peer mentoring under the tutelage of successful mentors is an essential component of transspecialty research involving aging populations, both the Jahnigen and the Williams programs included scholar networking meetings and events (both stand alone and at the AGS) . Together, the Jahnigen (79) and the Williams (104) programs trained 183 scholars, in 24 specialties, many of whom are now mentoring the next generation of researchers pursuing aging research through the GEMSSTAR and other award mechanisms …”

Finding Someone Like Me: The Secret to Successfully Mentoring Specialists in Aging Research

“…Over the last 2 decades, three programs have sought to develop specialists in medical or surgical disciplines with an academic focus in aging and/or geriatrics. The Dennis W. Jahnigen Scholars (DWJS) and T. Franklin Williams Scholars (TFWS) were both funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation and Atlantic Philanthropies, Inc. Recipients of awards from the Grants for Early Medical and Surgical Specialists Transition to Aging Research (GEMSSTAR) program were and are funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA).…”

“…Together the three programs have now trained nearly 300 such scholars, and the count continues to rise. They have achieved unqualified success within their alumni ranks by any measure: grant funding, published papers, career advancement, leadership achievement, and impact on their specialty fields in research, education, and clinical care …”