MetLife Foundation Awards $200,000 Grant to Provide Geriatric Training to Medical Students
01 Octubre 2009 - 7:05AM
PR Newswire (US)
Program Addresses Growing Public Health Problem of Too Few Doctors
to Care for a Rising Aging Population NEW YORK, Oct. 1
/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Federation for Aging
Research announces that it has been awarded a $200,000 grant from
MetLife Foundation for its Medical Student Training in Aging
Research (MSTAR) program. The funding will provide 50 medical
students with the opportunity to participate in an eight- to
twelve-week research, educational, and clinical mentorship program
alongside top experts at some of the leading academic institutions
in the country. Geriatric training is an increasing necessity, when
one considers that over the next two decades, the number of older
adults in the United States is expected to increase to 70 million.
According to the Institute of Medicine, more than 75 percent of
adults over 65 suffer from at least one chronic medical condition
that requires ongoing care and management; and 20 percent of
Medicare beneficiaries have five or more chronic conditions.
Despite a rising elderly population, however, the Association of
Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs (ADGAP) reports that in
2008 there were only 7,590 board certified geriatricians -- one
geriatrician for every 2,500 Americans 75 or older. The ratio is
expected to decrease to one geriatrician for every 4,254 older
Americans by 2030. An April 2008 report by the Institute of
Medicine called for more and enhanced geriatrics training for all
health professionals and the offering of financial incentive plans
to boost recruitment and retention of geriatric specialists. To
address these challenges, the MSTAR program was launched to attract
more physicians to geriatric research, teaching, and clinical
practice by providing early exposure to the field and reinforcing
students' interests throughout their medical training. Since 1994,
the program has trained approximately 1,350 medical students from
almost all of the medical schools in the United States. Students
train at nationally renowned training centers supported by the
National Institute on Aging, another sponsor of the program or in
some cases, at their home institution. "Given the demographic
realities of the next 20 years and beyond, our healthcare system
desperately requires more researchers in geriatrics and more
clinicians trained to meet the special needs of older patients,"
said Corinne Rieder, EdD, Executive Director of The John A.
Hartford Foundation. "The MSTAR program is a powerful and
cost-effective vehicle for introducing talented future physicians
to the field. We are so pleased that MetLife Foundation is joining
us -- their generosity will help us reach many more students, who
will in turn serve as resources for their peers." "For the past
several years, the MSTAR program has successfully brought medical
students and mentors together in the interest of aging research.
This has encouraged some of the best and brightest in medicine to
pursue either a basic science, health services, or clinical
research career for the benefit of our aging population," notes
Richard J. Hodes, MD, Director of the National Institute on Aging
(NIA), a component of the National Institutes of Health, which
contributes to the support of MSTAR and administers the program
with AFAR. "We welcome MetLife Foundation's recognition of the
MSTAR program and its commitment to MSTAR's enhancement and
expansion." "MetLife Foundation is pleased to support this
initiative, which is designed to encourage students to choose
geriatrics or gerontology as a profession," said Dennis White,
president and CEO of the MetLife Foundation. "This support is
critical to ensuring that the health care system is better prepared
to handle the needs of a dramatically increasing elderly population
in the decades to come." On September 25, the NIA issued a new
Request for Applications (RFA) for the short-term research training
opportunities. For more information about funding and applications,
please view the pertinent section of the NIH Guide at
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-AG-10-007.html.
In addition to MetLife Foundation, the program, which was initiated
by The John A. Hartford Foundation, is supported by the National
Institute on Aging, the Lillian R. Gleitsman Foundation, the
Community Health Foundation of Western & Central New York, the
Henry Adelman Fund for Medical Student Education and the Carmen
Pettapiece DO Student Research Fund, and administered by the
American Federation for Aging Research. The American Federation for
Aging Research is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to
support biomedical research on aging. It is devoted to creating the
knowledge that all of us need to live healthy, productive, and
independent lives. Since 1981, AFAR has awarded approximately $124
million to more than 2,600 early and mid-career scientists and
medical students as part of its broad-based series of grant
programs. Its work has led to significant advances in our
understanding of aging processes, age-related diseases, and healthy
aging practices. AFAR communicates news of these innovations
through its organizational web site http://www.afar.org/ and
educational web sites Infoaging (http://www.infoaging.org/) and
Health Compass (http://www.healthcompass.org/). MetLife Foundation
was established in 1976 by MetLife to carry on its long-standing
tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. The
Foundation has been involved in a variety of aging-related
initiatives addressing issues of caregiving, intergenerational
activities, mental fitness, health and wellness programs and civic
involvement. For more than 20 years, MetLife and MetLife Foundation
have invested more than $17 million for Alzheimer's research and
public information programs, including over $11.5 million through
the Awards for Medical Research in Alzheimer's Disease program. For
additional information about the Foundation, visit
http://www.metlife.org/. Contacts: For MetLife: Ted Mitchell (401)
827-3236 For MSTAR: Stacey Harris (212) 703-9977 DATASOURCE:
MetLife Foundation CONTACT: Ted Mitchell for MetLife,
+1-401-827-3236, ; or Stacey Harris for MSTAR, +1-212-703-9977, Web
Site: http://www.metlife.org/
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