The Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research

Postdoctoral Program

Generally speaking, this is a two-year program. Since postdoctoral fellows arrive with different backgrounds and career goals, there is both a general curriculum, which all trainees must follow, and a trainee-specific curriculum. The general curriculum includes weekly, informal meetings with the program director, bi-weekly seminars in epidemiological or health services research methods, and monthly seminars on clinical or health policy issues in geriatrics delivered by leaders in the field. The trainee-specific curriculum consists of participation in a “major” and a “minor” research project, as well as coursework either in the graduate program in epidemiology, biostatistics, and health services research or in the various
summer institute programs in research methods.

Two tracks exist to accommodate differences in background:

• For the physician who comes without prior research training, enrollment in the master of public health is desirable (see bms.brown.edu/pubhealth/mph). Over the two years of the fellowship, the physician fellow completes the MPH degree in concert with the other fellowship activities. He or she also continues seeing patients one half-day each week. Clinical activities are developed in conjunction with faculty in the affiliated hospital.

• For the non-physician, formal coursework is usually limited to specialty methods courses that provide methodological expertise.

At the beginning of each quarter throughout the fellowship, each fellow meets with his or her mentor and the program director. Goals for the coming three months are set and at each subsequent quarterly review, these are reviewed to determine whether they have been met and strategies for overcoming any barriers to achieving goals are reviewed. During the second year, major project activities continue, but fellows spend much of their time preparing manuscripts for publication and presentations for national meetings, working on grant proposals, and securing a research and/or academic position. Before the end of the second year, fellows present their research at both a departmental seminar and a fellows’ seminar.