Fellowships

Welcome from the Fellowship Director

Greetings,

Thank you for your interest in our Geriatric Medicine Fellowship! Our one-year program is set in the nation’s capital and reflects the diverse communities and opportunities of the city around us. We provide experience and training in the world of geriatric medicine and hope to help you find the best career track for you.

We emphasize clinical excellence and exposure to the full range of healthcare models. We prize resiliency, self-care, team-work and fun!

Fellows become experts in transition management and interdisciplinary leadership. We work with faculty, fellows, residents and medical students in all specialty areas to care for our patients and their families. Welcome to the best year of your professional life, and we look forward to meeting you!

Elizabeth L. Cobbs MD, FACP, AGSF, FAAHPM

Geriatric Medicine Fellowship

The ACGME accredited George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences Geriatric Medicine Fellowship provides one-year training and experience in an unsurpassed range of clinical settings. It promotes physician leaders with particular expertise in teaching, quality improvement and interdisciplinary team-building. Training settings include geriatrics clinics, memory disorders clinic, home care programs, inpatient rehabilitation, acute care hospital, hospice, assisted living and skilled nursing facilities. Weekly core conferences, quality improvement projects and personal mentoring prepare fellows to be expert clinicians, master teachers and medical directors.

Locations

Fellows work and learn in basic and advanced settings, assuming increased levels of responsibility over the Fellowship year

• Washington, DC, VA Medical Center: The VAMC has an in-depth program in Geriatrics, Extended Care, and Palliative Care.  Fellows have clinical rotations in the Geriatrics Clinic, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Consult Service, Community Living Center (nursing home care unit) and Inpatient Rehabilitation service, as well as Home Based Primary Care, Geropsychiatry, and ALS clinic. Seven geriatricians serve as primary faculty in collaboration with multiple interdisciplinary teams to provide a tremendous variety of clinical and academic exposure.
• George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences: Fellows work in both inpatient and outpatient settings seeing a diverse patient population. Inpatient geriatrics and palliative medicine consultation service and continuity geriatrics clinic provide invaluable opportunities to hone skills in educational and interdisciplinary leadership. A Memory Disorders Clinic sharpens skills in diagnosis and treatment of dementia and other memory disorders. Wound Care Clinic trains fellows to become experts in wound management.
• Home Visits: Fellows gain exposure to home care through the GW Medical Faculty Associates (MFA) Medical House Call Program and the Washington DC VA Home-Based Primary Care Program
• Capital Caring Inpatient Hospice: Fellows spend two weeks in the inpatient hospice unit of the largest regional hospice organization and gain experience in acute symptom management and end-of life care.
• Thomas Circle Residences: Fellows provide care to residents in a continuity nursing home and assisted living practice to learn how to help patients receive needed services in the most independent setting possible. 

Didactic and Interactive Teaching

Weekly web-based interactive conference topics include:

• Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Medicine
• Grand Rounds
• Palliative Care topics
• Evidence Based Medicine Conferences
• Just In Time Journal Club
• Ethics Topics
• Geropsychiatry
• Quality Improvement Projects
• Morbidity and Mortality
• Skill Building
• Geriatric Medicine topics
• Autopsy Conferences

Other regular conferences include:

• Weekly lunch conference at GW
• Brown Bag Board Reviews
• Geriatric Syndromes Conference at the VAMC
• GW Medicine Grand Rounds
• VA Medicine Grand Rounds
• Weekly Life Conference at VAMC

Integrative Medicine:

All Fellows will have exposure to Integrative Medicine. A special track for up to two Fellows will include extended participation in our established GW Center for Integrative Medicine.

Scholarly Work

While a research project is not required, faculty mentorship for scholarly work is abundant. All fellows are encouraged to develop at least one project for publication or presentation at the annual meeting of The American Geriatrics Society.

Quality Improvement Projects    

Fellows are mentored by faculty to participate in Quality Improvement Projects in collaboration with interdisciplinary teams throughout the year.  

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