Geriatric Care

At UTHealth, we have developed an innovative and truly interdisciplinary focus on aging-related care, education, research, and community outreach, which combines expertise from across all six of our schools.

Our inter-professional education program provides geriatric and gerontology training to clinicians including nurses and social workers, and our medical students gain an understanding of geriatrics as a unique discipline. This holistic approach ensures that we help fill the growing need for trained geriatricians and geriatric specialists, and that older adults benefit from advances in technology and care.

• We are developing smart home technologies, such as pill bottles that register when opened to monitor medication adherence, doors that log when opened to ensure regular eating and to evaluate for social isolation, and wheeled robots with communication and video feeds to facilitate virtual visits from clinicians, family, and caregivers.
• We are expanding and improving telehealth to make care more accessible to seniors, especially in light of COVID-19.
• We are tailoring elder care to the needs and preferences of specific age groups through the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative, a nationwide program operated by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to improve health care for older adults.
• We are reducing elder mistreatment by connecting older adults and family members to resources and support through the Texas Elder Abuse and Mistreatment Institute: the first and longest standing academic medical school and Adult Protective Services partnership in the United States, which includes nationally renowned experts in elder abuse clinical assessments, service delivery, and research.

The challenges that come with treating and caring for older adults are unique, and they require equally unique attention. Your generosity to Many Faces. One Mission. can help us define what it means to live happily and healthily as an older adult in Texas and beyond.