ANN ARBOR, MI -The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has awarded a five-year, $662,450 grant to the University of Michigan 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 this 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 U-M program will host medical students from across the country and will specifically 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 program at U-M. 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, Mark Supiano, M.D., professor of internal medicine and director of the Department of Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center.

The U-M Geriatrics Center has long been a supporter of medical student research, says Jeffrey Halter, M.D., director of the U-M Geriatrics Center. This grant allows 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. 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,” says David Zinn, medical student at Brown University.

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

NIA is one of the 27 institutes and centers of the National Institutes of Health. It leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life. NIA’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of older Americans through research, and specifically to support and conduct high-quality research on aging processes, age-related diseases, and special problems and needs of the older adult. In addition, an emphasis is placed on the training and development of highly skilled research scientists from all population groups.

Founded in 1987, the Geriatrics Center is the umbrella organization for geriatrics research, education and patient care at the U-M Health System. The Geriatrics Center has consistently ranked in the top 10 of graduate programs and best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report.

Written by Laurie Galia

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