The goal of the Yale program is to provide intensive research training for physicians interested in evaluating and developing innovative approaches to the care of older people. Clinical epidemiology is the "basic science" which provides rigorous methods for the investigation of clinical strategies, medical decision-making, outcomes, ethics, health policy and delivery.

A hallmark of the program is a special course, entitled "Methods of Clinical Research", taught by faculty of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program. This course, designed exclusively for physicians, provides the methodologic tools needed to design and implement clinical research and to critically evaluate the evidence used for making clinical decisions. The course contains three major components: research architecture, biostatistics, and data processing. The research architecture component includes comprehensive training in research design and epidemiologic methods. The biostatistics component includes a survey of statistical and data analytic methods, including newer strategies of multivariable analysis, decision analysis, and meta-analysis. The data processing component addresses the strategies and formats used for transferring information into coded data, and provides an introduction to computer programming and the use of standard statistical programs.

With the background provided by this course, as well as courses offered through the Investigative Medicine Program and School of Public Health, fellows will design, implement, and complete a research project under the mentorship of an experienced geriatric physician investigator.