The Pitt medical school’s Department of Psychiatry has been chosen to receive a newly created Center of Excellence in Geriatric Psychiatry grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation, one of the nation’s prominent supporters of geriatric research.
The center in geriatric psychiatry is the second Hartford Foundation Center of Excellence designated here—in 2001, the University received an initial Center of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine, recently renewed—making Pitt the only academic medical center in the nation to have two Hartford Foundation centers of excellence.
The Center of Excellence in Geriatric Psychiatry was established to address a critical need: Without an immediate and sustained flow of new geriatric psychiatrists into the healthcare system, mentally ill elderly patients will outnumber geriatric psychiatrists by a 6,000-to-1 ratio within 25 years.
“The University of Pittsburgh’s enormous capacity to train physician faculty in geriatric psychiatry makes it an outstanding partner in developing the careers of researchers who will develop new knowledge and teachers who will communicate that knowledge to future physicians and other healthcare professionals,” said Christopher A. Langston, senior program officer of the John A. Hartford Foundation. “We believe that Pittsburgh can nurture the careers of geriatric psychiatrists who will make an important difference in the care of older adults across the country.”
Neil M. Resnick, professor of medicine, chief of the Pitt medical school’s Division of Geriatric Medicine, and director of the University’s Institute on Aging, said: “Having two Hartford centers is recognition that the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is one of the top training centers for physicians who treat elderly patients. We are appreciative of the Hartford’s great support of our mission.”
The Center of Excellence in Geriatric Psychiatry, directed by Charles F. Reynolds III,professor of psychiatry, neurology, and neuroscience in Pitt’s School of Medicine, will increase the University’s role in training both new researchers in the field and more experts to educate primary care physicians.
“The importance of training physician educators can not be overstated,” said Reynolds. “Now and in the future, a primary care doctor will be the first point of entry for elderly who seek treatment for mental illness. It is critical that these doctors receive specialized training in identifying and treating mental illness in this population.”
The center will enable Pitt’s Department of Psychiatry to augment a training program that already has produced nearly 20 percent of the academic geriatric psychiatrists now working in the United States. Through the Hartford Center of Excellence, the University’s psychiatry department and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic will train future geriatric psychiatrists to specialize in one of two areas: research or physician education.
Two new geriatric psychiatry Centers of Excellence—one at Pitt and a second similar center at the University of California-San Diego—will add to the Hartford Foundation’s 22-site Centers of Excellence program in geriatrics, but differ significantly from the others, because they mark the first time the foundation has funded centers outside of internal and family geriatric medicine.
Jules Rosen, Pitt professor of psychiatry and chief of long-term care services, will oversee the Pitt center’s physician educator track; Pitt psychiatry professor Benoit Mulsant will oversee the research track. Each year, two Hartford Scholars will be named.
The Center of Excellence in Geriatric Psychiatry will be funded for an initial period of three years for a total amount of $450,000.
Pitt’s renewed Center of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine, directed by Resnick, will continue to focus on new and effective ways of training and educating physicians. The initial grant was a three-year, $525,000 award. The center’s funding has been renewed for $300,000 over the next three years.
