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Geriatrics – Fellowship Program


Message from our Program Director: Aman Nanda, MD

“Our nearly 20-year-old geriatrics fellowship includes training in the full spectrum of care settings, including VA, mentored by experienced faculty across our partner programs. Our program has graduated over three dozen specialists, most of whom have continued their careers in academic programs. We aim to produce new clinical and academic leaders and inspire careers that share our vision to improve the quality of lives of older adults.

  • Overview

    The Brown Geriatric Medicine Fellowship offers a one-year ABIM-accredited clinical track, a two-year advanced academic track and a three-year research-intensive program that includes a 2-year MPH program, in close collaboration with Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research of the Brown School of Public Health.

    Graduates of the Brown Geriatric Medicine Fellowship program will be able to demonstrate the ability to:

    • Deliver expert clinical care of ill older persons in the continuum of care, including acute care hospital, ambulatory care, long-term care, geropsychiatry, hospice, home care and rehabilitation.
    • Understand the health care delivery system relevant to older adults, including funding, long-term care, and how health policy is made.
    • Effectively understand and participate in aging research – in basic, clinical, or health services investigations.
  • Highlights of our Fellowship Program

    • We offer several educational tracks: A one-year clinical ABIM track, a two-year track for advanced academic careers, and a three-year research-intensive program.
    • Our Division is diverse, equitable and mutually respectful; the culture is supportive and family friendly. In addition to our experienced physician faculty, fellows learn and work in collaboration with experienced geriatrics and palliative medicine nurse practitioners, who hold Brown faculty appointments.
    • Nationally eminent Co-management programs with Orthopedics (fracture and joint replacement), Trauma surgery, and Colorectal surgery.
    • A highly structured research program with both didactics as well as project mentorship, led by our Division Chief, Stefan Gravenstein, MD, MPH, David Dosa, MD, MPH, James Rudolph, MD, and other faculty. Opportunities abound for fellows to take on research projects based on clinical questions, yielding a poster and/or manuscript by the end of year 1 of fellowship. For example, currently, 4 funded NH Covid-19 projects are available for fellow participation.
    • Fellows learn and collaborate closely with Palliative Medicine and Geriatric Psychiatric faculty and fellows in weekly education-driven 3-hour sessions.
    • The founder of our Division, Dr. Richard Besdine is still working as faculty, teaching, doing research and mentoring of fellows and faculty.
    • Highly structured both Block and longitudinal nursing home experience, mentored by experienced faculty and nursing home Medical Director.
  • Fellowship Tracks

    1-Year Track:
    The training program, as specified by ACGME, is one clinically intensive year; all fellows have the same didactic and clinical curriculum, as well as Medical Directorship in nursing homes and Research Skills course

    2-Year Track:
    Fellows have the option of additional training; a second year emphasizes learning to teach and scholarship to pursue a faculty career as educator-clinician.

    Each fellow undertakes a scholarly project in year 2. The balance among research, teaching, and administrative training in year 2 is determined individually, depending upon career goals.

    3-Year Track:
    For fellows pursuing research-intensive careers, a 3-year program includes master’s in public health at the Brown School of Public Health.

    For more information on Brown MPH program, please visit: https://www.brown.edu/academics/public-health/home.

Fellowship Curriculum

  • Clinical Experience

    Fellows provide direct patient care during all rotations mentored by a teaching faculty.

    Clinical components consist of the following rotations:
    (Click here for a sample rotation schedule)

    • Longitudinal Ambulatory Primary Care: 1/2 day per week with a personal patient panel for the duration of the fellowship
    • Nursing Home Rotation: Two 1.5 month blocks
    • Inpatient Geriatric Medicine, Ortho and Trauma surgery Co-management: 1.5 months
    • Hospice Rotation: 1month
    • Inpatient Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care Consultation: 1 month
    • Acute inpatient Rehabilitation: 0.5 month
    • Geriatric Psychiatry In-patient rotation: 1 month
    • Hospitalist Rotation/Colorectal co-management service: 0.5 month
    • Geriatric Psychiatry In-patient Consult Rotation: 0.5 month
    • Ambulatory Care Rotation: 1.5 months
    • Research- One month
    • Subspecialty Clinics: Half day a week all year long
      • Outpatient Geriatric Psychiatry – 8 weeks
      • Dementia- 4 weeks
      • Movement and Gait Disorders – 8 weeks
      • Rheumatology – 4 weeks
      • Endocrine – 4 weeks
      • Urogynecology – 4 weeks
      • Outpatient Neuropsychology – 4 weeks
      • Dermatology – 4 weeks
      • Wound Care – 8 weeks
  • Conferences

    Fundamentals of Geriatrics
    For the first 10 Thursdays of the academic year beginning in July, core clinical topics in geriatric medicine, palliative medicine and geriatric psychiatry are presented from 8-11 AM. Speakers are Brown faculty experts.

    Case Conference
    One geriatric medicine or palliative medicine or geriatric psychiatry fellow is assigned every other week to present a case conference under the supervision of one faculty member, from 8-9 AM on Thursday morning, following completion of the summer Fundamentals of Geriatrics series (above).

    Journal Club
    One fellow or Internal Medicine Resident rotating through geriatrics is assigned monthly to choose 1-2 recent and important geriatrics-relevant articles from peer-reviewed general medicine or geriatrics journals to present on Thursday morning from 8-9 AM. The assigned individual describes and analyzes each article.

    Advanced Geriatric Seminars
    During the 9-11 AM session, seminars during the remainder of the year cover additional topics that were not covered in the summer. Senior faculty or invited guests present topics on aging.

    Multidisciplinary Ambulatory Care Conference
    Once a month, geriatrics fellows take turns presenting a complex case during the conference to discuss challenging questions/dilemmas in the patient’s management

    Research Lectures
    Faculty members cover basic concepts and strategies of clinical research in aging; emphasis is on critical reading of the literature and quality improvement.

    Department of Medicine Grand Rounds
    Medicine Grand Rounds are held once a week, on Tuesday mornings at 8 AM

    Medical Directorship in Nursing home
    Aman Nanda, MD, CMD, conducts a 5-lecture series on administrative and clinical issues related to nursing home care and medical directorship.

  • Patient Care Sites

    • Geriatrics Outpatient Practice
    • Rhode Island Hospital
      • Geriatric Trauma Co-Management Program – Iva Neupane, MD
      • Geriatric Fragility Fracture Co-Management Program – Nadia Mujahid, MD
      • Geriatric Oncology Clinic – Sakeena Raza, MD
    • The Miriam Hospital
      • Geriatric Elective Joint Co-Management Program – Mriganka Singh, MD
      • Colorectal/general surgery/vascular surgery Co-Management Program – Sevdenur Cizginer, MD
    • VA Medical Center
    • Butler Hospital
    • Kent Hospital
    • Hope Hospice of RI
    • Steere House Nursing Home
    • Tockwotton at Waterfront Nursing Home
    • St. Elizabeth Home, East Greenwich
    • Wingate Assisted Living

Our Fellows

  • Current Fellows

    Brinda Basida, MD (Geriatric Medicine)
    Ciera Leeder, MBBS (Advanced Geriatric Medicine)
    Aaron Nepaul, MD (Geriatric Medicine)
    Nishay Tariq, MBBS (Geriatric Medicine)

  • Past Fellows - Where Are They Now

    2021
    Sohaib Mannan, MD – Nocturnist, Tower Health Reading Hospital, Reading, PA
    Haseeb Siddique, MD – Nocturnist, Tower Health Reading Hospital, Reading, PA
    Rachel Sluder, DO – Geriatric Medicine, Maine Medical Partners, Norway, ME

    2020
    Salah Elhamamsy, MD – Milford Regional Medical Center, Milford, MA
    Ashna Rajan, MD – Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine Fellowship, Long Island Jewish Hospital, Long Island, NY
    Thomas Bayer, MD –Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Providence, RI
    Marilyne Cadieux, DO – MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Washington DC

    2019
    Rama Krishna Vura, MD – Attending at Akron Medical Center, Akron, OH
    Philip Tsoukas, MD – Rheumatology Fellowship at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

    2018
    Syed Ashad Abid, MD- Geriatrician and Palliative Medicine specialist, GA

    2017
    Yasin Abul, MD – 3rd year Resident, Internal Medicine, Kent Hospital, Warwick, RI
    Matthew Levin, MD – Geriatrician, Laureate Medical Group, Atlanta, GA

    2016
    Bradley Minter, MD – Hospitalist, Port Jefferson, NY
    Stelley Smith, MD – Geriatrician and Palliative Medicine, Geenboro, NC

    2015
    Manoj Bhattarai, MD – Private Practice, Belle Glade, FL
    Iva Neupane, MD – Faculty, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI

    2014
    Erkan Ozturk, MD- Geriatrician, Medstar Health, Baltimore, MD
    Yusuf Konuk, MD – Hospitalist, Southcoast Physician Group, New Bedford, MA

    2013
    Sevdenur Cizginer, MD – Faculty, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI
    Sylvester Sarfraz, MD – Faculty, Alpert Medical School of Brown University; Hospitalist, The Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI
    Ramesh Adhikari, MD – Hospitalist, Terre Haute, IN

    2012
    Stephanie Chow,MD – Faculty, Mount Sinai Health System, New York, NY
    Christina Rincon,MD – Geriatrician, Santa Cruz, CA

    2011
    Mriganka Singh,MD – Faculty, Brown University, Providence, RI

    2010
    Kapil Sharma, MD – Faculty, University of Maryland Medical System, Bel Air, MD
    Yew-Xin Teh, MD – Faculty, Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor, ME
    Nadia Mujahid,MD – Faculty, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI

    2009
    Anne-Halli-Tierney, MD – Faculty, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
    Anna Troncales, MD – Geriatrician, Hallandale Beach, FL

    2008
    Gary Blanchard, MD – Faculty, UMass Medical School, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Worcester MA2008
    Mia Tomas, MD – Geriatrician, Portland, OR

    2007
    Rebecca Starr, MD – Medical Director, Geriatrics, Cooley Dickinson Health Care, Northampton, MA
    Timothy Farrell, MD – Faculty, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT
    Porpon Rotjanapan, MD – Faculty, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

    2006
    John Kleckley, MD – Geriatrician, Mount Pleasant, SC
    Deepak Thiagarajan, MD – Chair – Division of Medicine, San Bernardine Medical Center, San Bernardino, CA

    2005
    Ana Tuya, MD – Faculty, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, RI

    2004
    Michael Gerardo, DO, MPH – Mercy Clinic Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, St. Louis, MO
    Terri Lee Spencer, MD – Brockton, MA

    2003
    Sourya Mahapatra, MD – Geriatrician, Nashua, NH
    Ramona Rhodes, MD, MPH – Faculty, UT Southwestern Med Center, Dallas, TX

    2002
    Rollin Wright, MD, MPH – Faculty, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA
    Howard Nachamie, MD – Geriatrician, Bedford, MA
    Steven LaFond, MD – Geriatrician, Kaiser Permanente, San Diego, CA

Applying for the Geriatrics Fellowship

Eligibility criteria for Geriatrics program: Preference will be given to applicants who have strong letters of reference; who have demonstrated excellence in residency training in Internal Medicine or Family Medicine; and whose personal statement demonstrates interest in and commitment to geriatrics.

The Brown Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program participates in the National Residency Matching Program. Applications are accepted through the ERAS system at www.aamc.org/eras. Completion of a U.S. internal medicine / family medicine residency program is required. To request additional information, please contact our Program Coordinator, Amethys Nieves at amethys.nieves@lifespan.org or 401-444-5248 or Dr. Aman Nanda, Program Director at Aman_Nanda@Brown.edu.

Fellow Benefits: Benefits include four weeks of vacations per year, CME allowance, funding to attend one national meeting, health and dental insurance (individual or family), disability insurance, and life insurance. Details can be obtained through the Rhode Island Hospital Graduate Medical Education office.

Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine

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About Us

The Department of Medicine at Alpert Medical School is comprised of eleven distinct Divisions. These Divisions, working in conjunction with the community doctors who comprise our Primary Care offerings, provide patients with an outstanding level of care both within the Brown affiliated hospitals and throughout several community-based clinical locations. In addition to patient services, several of our Divisions offer exceptional programs for Residents and Fellows within their designated areas of expertise.

Useful Links

  • Brown Internal Medicine Residency
  • Alpert Medical School
  • Brown University
  • Rhode Island Hospital
  • The Miriam Hospital
  • Providence VA Medical Center
  • How To Reach Us

    Office of the Physician-in-Chief
    Louis B. Rice, MD
    593 Eddy Street
    Providence, RI 02903