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Our
Mission
The UCLA AGRC is implemented in the four health science
schools (Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health),
the Department of Social Welfare in the School of Public
Policy and Social Research, at the undergraduate level
in the College of Letters and Sciences, at the Center
on Aging (CoA) and is administered through the Multicampus
Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology (MPGMG).
The
seven programs of the UCLA AGRC include:
- Interdisciplinary
Campus and Community Education
- Undergraduate
Education
- Medical
Education and Training
- Dental
Education and Training
- Nursing
Education and Training
- Public
Heath Education and Training
- Social
Welfare Education and Training
The
activities under these programs range from faculty recruitment,
program maintenance, program development, resource development,
student recruitment, and training site development.
Target audiences for these programs include professional
students, residents, undergraduate students, fellows,
health care professionals, and the general public.
Program Activities
In accordance with the mission of the AGRP, the UCLA
AGRC programs include the following activities:
Program
1: Interdisciplinary Campus and Community Education
Current
Programs:
- Annual
Research Conference on Aging. An annual event
held on campus features research on aging by faculty
and doctoral students within the UCLA community (CoA).
- Book
and Author Luncheon. Features authors with a focus
on aging (CoA).
-
Center on Aging Newsletter. Published three
times a year highlighting programs and events (CoA).
- Center
on Aging/Skirball Cultural Center Lifespan Program.
A series of educational lectures, cultural and multigenerational
events.
- Senior
Scholars Program. Older adults in the community
audit regular UCLA undergraduate courses (CoA).
- Community
Meetings. Meetings feature speakers addressing
issues in aging, and are held three times a year (CoA).
- Distinguished
Professorship. An annual event in which a nationally
recognized faculty member in the field of aging visits
the campus and participates in formal and informal
activities with AGRC programs and the general public.
- Guided
Autobiography. Older adults review their lives
and plan for their futures (CoA).
- MPGMG
Lecture & Seminar Series. A weekly two-hour multidisciplinary
series featuring speakers from within and outside
the UCLA community.
- Pilot
Research Grants. Annual awards are granted through
the CoA and are funded by major donors (CoA).
- Teach
for America. Retired educators mentor first-year
teachers throughout the greater Los Angeles area (CoA).
- Collaboration
with the California Geriatric Educational Center on
various programs to provide more and augmented continuing
education programs
- Annual
ICON Award Gala. Event recognizes individuals
who have continued to make outstanding contributions
to society throughout their lives (CoA).
- Senior
Resource Directory. A comprehensive listing of
services for older adults and caregivers in West Los
Angeles and Santa Monica (CoA).
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Program
2: Undergraduate Education
Current
Programs/Products:
- Geron
Club- a student interest group.
- CD-ROM
which increases awareness of the UCLA-GMP in the Los
Angeles area in cooperation with the Undergraduate
Health Sciences Organization.
- Gerontology
Minor Program.
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Program
3: Medical Education & Training
Current
Programs:
- Increasing
Geriatrics Training for Primary Care Residents (Dr.
D. Reuben).
Initially
funded by the Hartford Foundation, and now supported
by the institution, primary care and internal medicine
residents are trained in geriatrics using curriculums
developed that employ block rotations, longitudinal
primary-care experiences, specialty clinic experiences,
community experiences and didactic sessions.
- The
John A. Hartford/American Federation for Aging Research
Medical Student Geriatric Scholars Program (Dr. A.
Moore)
provides eight- to twelve-week opportunity in clinical
geriatrics and aging research to Medical Student Geriatric
Scholars at UCLA (and other National Training Centers).
- The
John A. Hartford/UCLA Program for Advanced Training
in Geriatrics Research (Dr. D. Reuben)
provides two years of research training in health
services and clinical epidemiological research for
fellows in geriatric medicine, selected medical subspecialty
and non-medical specialty fellows.
- Geriatric
Medicine, Psychiatry, and Neurology courses
at the graduate and undergraduate level will continue
as described in the 1998-99 progress report.
- VA-UCLA
Geriatric Medicine Fellowship (Dr. B. Ferrell)
will continue as in the past; 11 first-year fellows
have been accepted for the 2002-2003 program (a record
high).
- VA
Special Fellowship Program in Advanced Geriatrics
(Dr. C. Alessi). A two-year post-residency experience
in research and other scholarly activities in geriatric
medicine or geropsychiatry. Separate paths are available
including a Physician Investigator (research path)
and a Clinician Educator-Administrator path. Trainees
must have already completed a qualifying year of clinical
geriatrics training.
- Fellowship
Programs in Geriatric Psychiatry and Psychology
(Drs. G. Small and J. Dunkin). Since 1981, the Department
of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences has offered
a two-year post-residency National Institute of Mental
Health (NIMH) funded fellowship designed to train
academic leaders in Geriatric Psychiatry.
- Dementia
and Behavioral Neurology Research Fellowships (Dr.
J. Cummings).
This NIA-funded fellowship provides research and clinical
experience in the areas of dementia and Behavioral
Neurology.
- Geriatric
Neurology Fellowship (Drs. M. Mendez and J. Cummings).
This Fellowship is funded by the Department of Veterans
Affairs and is fully integrated with the Dementia
and Behavioral Neurology Research Fellowship.
- CME
Programs.
The AGRC will continue to co-sponsor continuing education
programs with the California Geriatric Education Center
(CGEC).
- "Brain
Matters" Lecture Series.
The UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Center sponsors this
series as a part of the ClinicoPathology, Brain Research
Institute and Neurobehavior and Dementia Lectures.
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Program
4: Dental Education & Training
Current
Programs:
- Dental
clinical at the Jewish Homes for the Aging (JHA) (Reseda,
CA).
- Providing
oral health training for geriatric residents at UCLA.
Current
Training Sites:
- UCLA
- Venice
Dental Center
- Proposed
new site for JHA
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Program
5: Nursing Education & Training
Current
Training Sites:
- Alta
Med Health Center
- Arroyo
Vista Family Health Center
- Center
for Healthy Aging
- Center
for Aging Research and Evaluation at Granada Hills
Hospital
- Eichenbaum
Health Center
- Kaiser
Facilities in Baldwin Park, Downey, Harbor City, Los
Angeles, and Panorama City
- Motion
Picture Home
- Olive
View Medical Center
- Rehabilitation
Center of Beverly Hills
- Santa
Barbara Medical Foundation
- Sharp
community Medical Group of San Diego
- UCLA
Alzheimer's Disease Center
- VA
facilities: West LA, Sepulveda, Long Beach, and Loma
Linda
- Various
private medical practices in Los Angeles, San Fernando
Valley, San Gabriel Valley, Antelope Valley, and Orange
County
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Program
6: Public Health Education & Training
Current
Programs:
- Coursework
in health and aging is available in the departments
of Community Health Sciences, Epidemiology, and Health
Services. Regularly offered courses include (CHS)
Images of Aging; Health Behavior and Aging; Health
Policy and the Elderly; Race, Class, Culture and Aging;
Social Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases; (HS) Medicare
Reform; Women, Health and Aging; (EPI) Cardiovascular
Epidemiology; Epidemiology of Aging; Epidemiology
of Injuries in the Aging; Epidemiological and Clinical
Issues in Research on Aging.
Current
Training Sites:
- AARP
- AltaMed
Health Services Corp., Los Angeles
- Alzheimer's
Association
- California
State Dept on Aging
- Center
for Healthy Aging, Santa Monica
- International
Institute, Los Angeles
- Jewish
Homes for the Aged, Reseda
- LA
County Department of Health Services
- Los
Angeles City Area Agency on Aging
- Los
Angeles County Area Agency on Aging
- National
Senior Citizens Law Center
- West
LA Veteran's Administration, GRECC
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Program
7: Social Welfare Education & Training
Current
Programs:
- UCLA
Undergraduate Cluster in Aging - "Frontiers in
Aging". A group of 120 honors freshman entering
UCLA Fall 2001 were the first undergraduates to take
a year-long intensive program devoted exclusively
to aging. The cluster program, entitled "Frontiers
in Aging" examines the aging process from the
vantagepoint of a variety of disciplines - biology,
sociology, psychology, and public policy - and demonstrates
how these disciplines can work together to address
a common issue. As one of seven general education
"clusters", this innovative program is part
of the Chancellor's initiative to provide a more interdisciplinary
approach to undergraduate education. This undergraduate
program will act as a major feeder program to the
UCLA Minor in Gerontology and the Southern California
GSWEC (see below). This gerontology cluster was developed
over a two-year period, thanks to funding from the
Hewlett Foundation, the UCLA Multicampus Program in
Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, the AGRC, and
the UCLA Center on Aging. Visit the website at www.sscnet.ucla.edu/02W/ge80b-1/.
- Southern
California Geriatric Social Work Education Consortium
(SGWEC). The Southern California Geriatric Social
Work Education Consortium (GSWEC) is the nation's
first major regional consortium to create a comprehensive,
replicable model for integrated field and academic
graduate geriatric social work education. A program
of the Center for the Advancement of Aging Programs
and Practice with the Partners in Care Foundation,
the consortium unites Southern California's four CSWE-accredited
graduate social work programs; five premier geriatric
social service agencies which function as Sponsoring
Sites for the new Geriatric Social Work Education
Centers of Excellence (CoEs); and fifteen prominent
social and medical aging service providers (Associate
Sites), including the Los Angeles County Area Agency
on Aging. Three of these associate sites were selected
specifically because they offer specialized practice
in end of life care, and three sites are minority
led and targeted, collectively representing the full
spectrum of Hispanic, Asian, and African American
ethnic and racial diversity of Southern California.
A series of seminars based on GSWEC geriatric social
work competencies and best practices and offered for
networking across schools and leaders in the field
of aging. The consortium was selected by the John
A. Hartford Foundation as one of six sites in the
country for implementing new geriatric social work
field training models. The Archstone Foundation has
also awarded GSWEC with matching funds. Visit the
website at www.geriatric
socialwork.org.
- Supplemental
AGRP Grant. Through a one-time supplemental AGRP
grant, a comprehensive curriculum review has been
carried out for aging content as related to GSWEC-established
competencies in the UCLA Department of Social Welfare's
graduate level program. A curriculum analysis framework
that was developed is being disseminated, and findings
are being followed up in curriculum development efforts
in synergy with GSWEC.
- UCLA
Gerontology Career Tracking Study. The UCLA Gerontology
Career Tracking Study is a longitudinal study tracking
undergraduate career outcomes as a result of taking
one or more UCLA undergraduate courses on aging that
are part of the UCLA Minor in Gerontology. It examines
student attitudes toward aging, knowledge of aging,
contact with older adults, course and demographic
variables as related to career outcomes. Nearly 800
UCLA undergraduate alumni have participated in the
Attitude and Knowledge surveys in 1997 and 1999. 420
have participated in the first Career Tracking Survey
and the next one is being carried out in 2002. Multiple
national presentations have been made at scientific
meetings and an article entitled "Undergraduate
Interest in Aging: Is it Related to Contact with Older
Adults" was published in Educational Gerontology
(2000, volume 26). Another article on undergraduate
student attitudes toward aging and older adults is
expected to be published this year. For more information,
email funderbu@sppsr.ucla.edu.
For
more information, please visit the UCLA Department of
Social Welfare website at www.sppsr.ucla.edu.
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