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 Bronx VAMC, 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.

The Department provides a variety of clinical services, an ambulatory care center with over 11,000 patient visits annually; Mobile Acute Care for the Elderly (MACE) program; a Geriatrics Consultation Service; 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 Bronx VAMC 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.