Geriatric Fellowship Program

The clinical year of fellowship is divided amongst the following block rotations:

Subacute Care at Budd Terrace

Fellows practice and learn in a post-acute setting, taking care of patients recently discharged from the hospital who require skilled care in a nursing facility. Budd Terrace is the only Emory-owned nursing facility, and it specializes in caring for complex medical and surgical patients transferred from Emory and other tertiary care medical centers. Fellows on this rotation participate in quality improvement projects and nursing education, and also work with skilled therapists and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation specialists.

Subacute Care at the AG Rhodes Nursing Facility

Fellows practice subacute care in a community setting within the Wesley Woods campus, with a practice similar to community nursing facilities in the area.

VA Outpatient Clinic

Fellows serve as the primary care provider for a panel of Veterans enrolled in the Atlanta VA Geriatric Primary Care clinic.  Fellows spend one day each week working in the  VA Cognitive Disorders Center of Excellence, where geriatrics, neurology, geriatric psychiatry, psychology and social work faculty provide coordinated specialty care for Veterans and their caregivers. Trainees work within a "medical home" model, with a dedicated geriatric clinical pharmacist, social worker, and dietician in the clinic, and access to a full range of onsite ancillary services, including Physical and Occupational Therapy.

VA Community Living Center

Fellows work on an interdisciplinary team at the Atlanta VAMC Community Living Center (CLC), a skilled nursing facility on the campus of the Atlanta VA Medical Center.  The CLC serves as a home to Veterans requiring long term care, and also offers extended care rehabilitation, psycho-geriatric care, and hospice care.  While rotating at the CLC, fellows acquire skills in long term care, participate in a quality improvement project, and gain training in specialty services, such as wound care and continence care.

Domiciliary Care Program

Fellows work with faculty physicians, nurse practitioners (medical and psychiatric), as well as home health nurses, in providing care for elders in assisted living facilities and homes around the community.

Hospice and Palliative Care

Fellows spend a month in clinical practice with palliative medicine specialists at Emory and the Atlanta VA Medical Center. End-of-life expertise, such as that provided by palliative and hospice care, is a critically important component of providing high quality, high-value patient-centered care to geriatric patients.

Primary Care Geriatrics at the Emory Clinic

Fellows work with esteemed  Emory geriatrics faculty in this primary care geriatrics experience. Emory geriatrics clinics are located throughout the Atlanta area, including the main Emory campus at 1525 Clifton Road, Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital and Tucker, Georgia.  

Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Service at Grady Memorial Hospital

Fellows work with our geriatricians at Grady Memorial Hospital to provide inpatient consultation and coordinated care with an interdisciplinary team to older medical patients with complex care needs. Opportunities include evaluation and management of geriatric syndromes, such as delirium, falls, failure to thrive, and pre-operative evaluation.

Neurology and Psychiatry

Fellows work in outpatient practice with Emory neurologists and psychiatrists who specialize in caring for problems frequently seen in older adults. Fellows working in neurology will train with neurologists in clinics related to cognitive and movement disorders. Our fellows also work with Emory geropsychiatrists in clinics treating problems typical of our older population, like depression and behavioral problems related to dementia.

Continuity Experiences

Fellows enjoy continuity in outpatient clinic at both Emory Clinic and the Atlanta VA, with ½ day each week throughout the year in continuity outpatient clinic, alternating sites each week to allow exposure to a diverse patient population.  Fellows follow a panel of long term care nursing home patients for the duration of their training, allowing lasting relationships with patients and families.

Geriatric Medicine Conferences

Through our comprehensive lecture series, our fellows will have access to the knowledge base necessary for the practice of geriatric medicine and for passing their board exams. Conferences include:

Core Curriculum

Every week throughout the year, our fellows attend a lecture given by our faculty members on core geriatrics topics.

Core Curriculum in Palliative Care

Our fellows attend the first two months of core palliative care lectures given by our colleagues in our sister program in palliative medicine

Long-Term Care (LTC) Teaching Rounds

Fellows participate in monthly case-based conferences related to key topics in the long-term and subacute care settings. Fellows are provided the clinical, leadership and administrative skills necessary for medical directorship.

Clinical Skills Conference 

Fellows work with experienced geriatrics faculty to hone skills in physical exam and assessment of the geriatric patient.

Journal Club

Fellows participate in presenting articles on the cutting edge and from a body of core articles in geriatric medicine

Geriatric Medicine Grand Rounds and Geriatric Updates

Fellows attend these monthly lectures given by experts from Emory and from outside the institution.

Personal Development and Wellness Series

Fellows participate in quarterly sessions with faculty on topics such as job negotiation, writing a personal statement, and understanding your personal leadership style.

Aging and Dying Film Series

Fellows participate in a quarterly film series curated to explore themes of aging and dying with discussion with faculty.

Book Club

Fellows choose 2 books to read as a group during the year, and meet with a faculty member for discussion and commentary.  Previous selections included themes of leadership, success, and death and dying.

Second-Year Training Opportunities

Fellows interested in a second year of training have access to funding from sources like the VA Advanced Fellowship in Geriatrics, VA Quality Scholars Program, and the John A. Hartford Foundation to pursue their career development goals. In addition, opportunities for clinical and translational research training are enhanced by the presence of the NIH-funded CTSA award (Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute, or ACTSI) which was awarded to Emory University in collaboration with Morehouse School of Medicine and the Georgia Institute of Technology.  A major component of the ACTSI is the Research Education, Training and Career Development program, which includes the Master of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR).

Scholarly Activity

We are currently accepting applications from residents with training in internal or family medicine undertaken in the United States. We accept applications from foreign medical graduates with valid ECFMG certification.

All our applications our currently managed through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS).

Emory's Geriatric Fellowship program is also currently participating in the National Resident Matching Program. As of 2013, our program is only accepting applicants through the match, except under extraordinary circumstances.

For more information, please contact Margo Blake.