Center of Excellence in Geriatric Psychiatry University of California, San Diego

Grant Summary

An important part of providing quality health care to older adults is the ability to meet their mental health needs. Increasing the nation's capacity to deliver effective care to older adults with mental disorders depends in large measure upon increasing the number and quality of physician faculty specializing in geriatric psychiatry. In order to develop geriatric psychiatry faculty who will teach future physicians to provide good mental health care to older adults and create new knowledge, the John A. Hartford Foundation is providing support to establish centers of excellence in geriatric psychiatry. The Foundation's long experience using the centers of excellence in geriatric medicine mechanism to develop academic careers makes it an ideal approach to apply to geriatric psychiatry. The Hartford Foundation's centers of excellence in geriatric medicine program was founded in 1988 to meet the need for physician-faculty trained to prepare physicians in the health care needs of older adults. There are currently 25 centers located around the nation. They have proven successful in increasing the number of academically-oriented physicians trained in geriatrics. Based on the success of this program, two centers of excellence in geriatric psychiatry were funded.