History

The Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development was established in 1982 as the first Department of Geriatrics in an American medical school. In conjunction with our Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) program at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center, we provide expert clinical care for the most frail and complex patients. We conduct clinical research in aging, with an emphasis on medical decision-making, ethics, palliative medicine, and neurobiology. We teach geriatrics medicine to medical students, house staff, attending physicians, and other health professionals.

Mount Sinai has made an institution-wide commitment to excellence in geriatrics and gerontology through a broad range of innovative and comprehensive programs in research, education, and clinical care. Rosanne M. Leipzig, M.D., Ph.D., a well-known geriatrics educator and the Department's Vice Chair for Education has developed a solid educational infrastructure that fosters academic leadership in geriatrics and gerontological research for junior faculty and fellows. Since the Department’s inception, more than 80 fellows and 40 junior faculty have been mentored in geriatrics and aging research. The Department's Fellowship Program is currently one of the largest in the country, with 16 physicians currently enrolled in the two-year program.

The Department provides a variety of clinical services, an ambulatory care center with over 11,500 patient visits annually; a 34-bed inpatient Acute Care for the Elderly (ACE) unit; a Geriatrics Consultation Service; a recently expanded Geriatrics-Psychiatry program; and an inpatient Palliative Care Consultation Service. The Department, with its 33 full-time faculty, is a national leader in each of these areas. Long-term care services are provided at the Jewish Home and Hospital, our affiliated 1,300-bed teaching nursing home and at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center which has a 112-bed nursing home.

The Department houses a number of special programs. The Division of Experimental Diabetes and Aging, is the only program of its kind in the nation. The Division's research agenda spans the spectrum of basic science and clinical research on the role of glycoxidative damage in diabetes. Other major programs include the Lillian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Advanced Palliative Care, both headed by Diane Meier, M.D., Gaisman Professor of Geriatrics, Medicine and Medical Ethics. The Department also recently received a grant from the Kornfeld Foundation to establish a National Palliative Care Research and Training Center.