Welcome to the Section of Geriatrics

The mission of the Section of Geriatrics in the Department of Internal Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine is to improve the function, independence, and quality of life of older persons. The Section trains resident physicians, medical students, fellows, and attending physicians in the most effective care of the elderly, promotes innovative multidisciplinary research programs, trains junior investigators to become future leaders, and offers our patients the highest level of clinical care.

Training the general physician in the special problems of the frail elderly is a high priority for the Section. Yale was one of the first medical schools to mandate a required rotation in Geriatrics for all of its resident Internal Medicine physicians over twenty years ago. The Section's role in medical student education has been recently enhanced by the IMAGE program, funded by the Reynolds Foundation. Our one, two and three-year fellowship program in clinical, clinical educator, and investigative geriatrics is to train young physicians in the skills of clinical investigation of the problems of the frail elderly.

Over the past decade, Yale Geriatrics researchers have conducted the first studies of the causes and prevention of common health problems such as falls, injuries, delirium, functional decline, and difficulty with driving. These investigators have helped replace the prevailing opinion that these are inevitable problems of growing older, with the knowledge that these conditions, while common and associated with morbidity, are predictable and preventable.

Our clinical programs include direction of a special inpatient Acute Care for the Elderly Unit at Yale-New Haven Hospital , consultative services for the frail elderly at the Dorothy Adler Geriatric Assessment Center, and a Geriatrics Services which cares for individuals in life care and assisted living centers, as well as nursing homes. In addition, the Geriatrics Faculty directs an outpatient consultative clinic, inpatient Geriatric Consultative Program, a hospital-based home care program, and a unique co-treatment program with the General Surgical residents and faculty at the VA Connecticut Health Care System at its West Haven campus.

Leo M. Cooney, Jr., M.D.

Humana Foundation Professor of Geriatric Medicine
Chief, Section of Geriatrics