News Release

Montefiore and Einstein receive $2-million grant from Donald W. Reynolds Foundation

Funds to be used for training doctors to care for the elderly

Grant and Award Announcement

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

New York City, New York – A $2-million dollar grant has been awarded to Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center to develop a program to train doctors in caring for the elderly. The initiative, known as the GeriEd Program, will contain both educational and clinical components. The project is funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation of Las Vegas.

"Almost all physicians will be caring for older adults in the years to come," said program co-leader, Laurie Jacobs, M.D., division chief of Geriatrics at Montefiore and director of the Resnick Gerontology Center at Einstein, while noting that there are currently only about 6,000 geriatricians – physicians who specialize in the care of the elderly – in the nation. "Our goal," she said, "is to improve physicians' skills in medicine as well as in navigating the healthcare system so they can expertly and appropriately access available services and programs for their elderly patients."

The GeriEd Program is highly innovative. It addresses fragmentation in geriatric care by targeting physicians who provide acute or chronic primary care for the elderly – including doctors who care for hospitalized patients, emergency room physicians, internists and family practitioners. They, in turn, will influence and improve geriatric care provided by Montefiore now and in the future.

"The program allows us to bridge the academic and research environment at Einstein with the clinical and patient care settings throughout Montefiore, offering innovative mentoring and research opportunities that hopefully will lead some to consider geriatrics as a focus for their careers at a time when we find ourselves treating more and more patients who are elderly," said Joe Verghese, M.D., the grant co-leader and associate professor of Neurology at Einstein, who is active in research regarding aging, falls, and dementia, as well as in clinical care and training. "Also, by teaming Neurology with Geriatrics, we will work toward increasing awareness and recognition by medical students, residents, and physicians of such common neurogeriatric syndromes as dementia. At the same time, they will witness, firsthand, how such collaborations benefit the needs of older patients."

"Because Montefiore is an integrated healthcare delivery system that treats patients throughout their lives, Montefiore is an ideal place for this kind of program," Dr. Jacobs said. "We see an enormous number of elderly patients who need to be linked to a system of care so that they are provided with appropriate treatments overall, and their conditions tracked over time."

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Montefiore Medical Center, which is the main teaching hospital for Albert Einstein College of Medicine, houses one of the largest residency programs in the United States and will develop the GeriEd Program. The program will target 157 practicing physicians and residents and 750 medical students annually.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, it is one of the largest private foundations in the United States.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, established in 1955, is one of the nation's leading centers for medical research and education. It is consistently among the national leaders in terms of peer-reviewed research support. Particular areas of research strength for which Einstein is widely renowned include Alzheimer's disease, neuroscience, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, liver diseases, immunology, and molecular genetics. Einstein is also among the most selective medical schools in the country. In recent years it has received approximately 6,000 applications for the 180 places in its first-year class.

Montefiore Medical Center, The University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, ranks among the top one percent of all US hospitals based on its investments in medical innovation and cutting-edge technology. Montefiore's unique combination of 'state-of-the-art' technology with 'state-of-the-heart' medical and nursing care in a teaching and research environment offer patients access to world-class medical experts, the newest and most innovative treatments and the best medical center experience anywhere. This 1,062 bed medical center includes the Henry and Lucy Moses Division, the Jack D. Weiler Hospital and The Children's Hospital at Montefiore, a large home healthcare agency and a 21-site medical group practice located throughout the Bronx and nearby Westchester.

Montefiore treats all major illnesses and has distinguished centers of excellence in cardiology and cardiac surgery, cancer care, tissue and organ transplantation, children's health, women's health, surgery and the surgical subspecialties. Montefiore Medical Center focuses on providing family-centered healthcare in a nurturing environment that extends well beyond its hospital and ambulatory settings.


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