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Mission
The mission of the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Program at Dartmouth Health is to train excellent clinical geriatric psychiatrists to become leaders in the field, as clinicians, educators, researchers, and advocates.
Program aims
Foremost, the program will ensure that graduates are well prepared to practice geriatric psychiatry wherever older adults receive healthcare services. To accomplish this, our clinical rotations span a broad range of inpatient, outpatient, and long-term care settings.
In addition to the longitudinal experience in the program’s geriatric psychiatry outpatient clinics, fellowship rotations include: a primary care geriatric medicine clinic, a behavioral neurology clinic, a neuromodulation service including ECT, TMS, and esketamine, a palliative care service, a consultation-liaison service, several longitudinal care facilities, a state hospital, and neuroradiology.
The program strives to prepare fellows for future professional leadership roles as the healthcare delivery system evolves. Fellows will learn principles of program development and consultation, staff development and mentorship, asynchronous patient consultation, team-based care, and population health, as it applies to geriatric psychiatry. To accomplish this, fellows will participate in a variety of educational offerings within Dartmouth Health, development of novel care delivery models, a telephone consultation program as well as admissions and utilization decisions at New Hampshire Hospital, and electronic asynchronous consultations at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.
A weekly seminar, in which fellows and faculty discuss readings from a curated syllabus, exposes fellows to the core concepts and tenets of geriatric psychiatry and a monthly case conference/journal club allows exposure to the cutting edge of the science of geriatric psychiatry.
Completion of the fellowship prepares the trainee to sit for the examination for Added Qualifications in Geriatric Psychiatry offered by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
Training for medical leadership
The goal of the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship is to prepare the psychiatrist to assume a leadership role in training other health care professionals in the essentials of diagnosis and management of psychiatric problems in the elderly and in treating older patients with complicated comorbid conditions.
Training in biological, psychological, and social systems are given equal importance and their integration is emphasized. Fellows become proficient in evaluating and managing patients with neurocognitive disorders, late-life major psychiatric disorders, and acute and chronic medical problems. Interaction with other disciplines including neurology, medicine, neuropsychology, nursing, and social work is an essential aspect of the training experience.
In addition, didactic training in normal aging, evaluation techniques, and research is provided; and a scholarly or clinical research or quality improvement project is strongly encouraged.
Teaching while learning
Teaching activities comprise approximately half of the fellow's clinical time and includes:
- Liaison with medical and surgical units
- Supervision and clinical teaching of residents and medical students
- Formal and informal seminars for residents, medical students, other departments, and nursing home staff
- A monthly case conference and journal club with multiple institutions in New England (hosted by Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center Geriatric Psychiatry)
- Supervision of multidisciplinary treatment teams during the New Hampshire Hospital and Cottage Hospital/Ray of Hope rotation
Clinical research opportunities
Research opportunities include internally and externally funded programs such as treatment effectiveness for depression in primary care, clinical drug trials for patients with Alzheimer's disease, neuroimaging and novel biomarkers, medical education social support for the medically ill elderly, and health services research.
For additional information, please contact:
Dax Volle, MD, Program Director Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
1 Medical Center Drive, Dept. of Psychiatry 5D
Lebanon, NH 03756
Phone: 603-650-4725;
Fax: 603-650-0614
Email: dax.c.volle@hitchcock.org
Rebecca D. Roberts, Fellowship Program Coordinator, Geriatric Psychiatry
1 Medical Center Drive, Dept. of Psychiatry 5D
Lebanon, NH 03756
Phone: 603-650-4523
Fax: 603-650-0819
Email: rebecca.d.roberts@hitchcock.org
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.