Training Future Leaders in Aging Research

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One resounding success of modern public health and medicine is the fact that most of us can now expect to live a long life and die in old age. There is a growing consensus that the medical education system is unable to meet the health care needs of the population in an appropriate way; this reform is overdue. One of the ways to prepare the future generation is by developing their interests in aging research early on. Research is a valuable part of medical education. Even at a rudimentary level, engaging in research implicates medical students in the creation of knowledge. They need to understand that knowledge is not an inert substance they passively receive, but is continually created, debated, and reformulated—and they have a role to play in that process. The proposed training program in aging research builds upon the strong and successful existing foundation of clinical, education and research training at the Mount Sinai Health System and the highly successful Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The overall aim of the proposed 8- to 12-week training program called Training Future Leaders in Aging Research is to provide 15 promising medical student trainees per summer with the basic knowledge and skills in aging and palliative medicine research and to stimulate and nurture their beginning interest in geriatrics and palliative medicine. We propose to accomplish these goals by developing a highly structured program in aging and palliative medicine research for medical student trainees that will include: 1) Participation in aging and palliative medicine research initiatives with established and successful research investigators with proven track records in student mentoring; 2) Development of formal mentoring relationships with these leading research faculty and partnering with prior student trainees who will serve as near-peer mentors for additional support; 3) Development of individual learning and research contracts for goal settings; 4) Participation in structured activities on basic research methodology and leadership topics; 5) Clinical exposures in geriatric and palliative medicine nested and aligned with their research project goals and; 6) Guided mentorship for research presentation and dissemination. We expect that these mentee-mentor relationships will endure beyond the training period or even the research project and develop into a lifelong mentorship. We hypothesize that a positive introduction to aging and palliative medicine research and to clinical care of older adults will lead many program trainees to pursue careers in geriatrics and/or palliative medicine, assume academic leadership roles, and become relentless advocates of older adult health.