Mission. The Mission of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, as part of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine, is to develop and maintain an environment in which education and research are integrated with exemplary patient care.
UCLA has been a national leader in geriatric psychiatry since 1977, when we opened the first University-hospital based geriatric psychiatry inpatient unit (3-South) in the USA. That unit was soon joined by an intensive outpatient program (the GDTS) and several outreach programs in the community. We also had one of the first National Institute of Mental Health-funded Fellowship programs in Geriatric Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology. Our first Fellow was Gary Small, M.D., who began his training in 1981, and we have trained scores of others since, many of whom have gone on successful careers in academia and the public and private sectors. Division status was conferred in 1998, and we continue to provide training for general psychiatry residents, medical students, and Fellows in geriatric psychiatry and clinical psychology. Division faculty also treat patients in a number of venues, and conduct cutting-edge research in the key mental disorders of old age.
Major Research Areas
Investigators from the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry are focusing on better ways to diagnose and treat the major mental illnesses of old age. Studies in the early detection of Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias and more precise diagnosis of late-onset mood disorder are complemented by prevention and treatment studies aimed at these and related illnesses. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) related techniques such as MR Spectroscopy (MRS) and magnetization transfer (MT) are utilized to examine the status of myelin; membranes and macromolecular proteins in neocortical and subcortical regions of the brain. The relationship of biological changes to behavioral and cognitive components of late-life depression is also examined systematically.
Training Programs
The division is extensively involved in teaching, including the education of medical students, psychiatry residents, fellows in geriatric psychiatry and doctoral and postdoctoral trainees in geropsychology. We have one of the few psychology training programs in southern California that focuses on the elderly.In response to the growing need for quality geriatric healthcare a ssociated with the "graying of America," UCLA has emerged as a l eader in education and training in geriatric psychiatry and medicine. Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship
Anand Kumar, MD Director Geriatric Psychiatry
Kilby De Witt,
Administrative Co-ordinator
760 Westwood Plaza, 37-372A
Los Angeles, CA 90095-5919
kdewitt@mednet.ucla.edu
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