Archstone Foundation has expanded the endowed chair in geriatrics now held by Dr. David Reuben, chief of the geriatrics division in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Under the 10-year, $1 million expansion of the Archstone Foundation Endowed Chair, Reuben will guide the division’s educational efforts, program and workforce development, and research into improving the care of older people. Innovations in these areas will assist health care providers, health systems and policy makers to better serve the nation’s increasingly aging population.
In particular, the expansion will build upon past UCLA successes. Much of the work will focus on sharing the care models developed by UCLA, such as those for falls prevention and for Alzheimer’s and other dementias, with other locations in an effort to improve the health of older persons. Another focus of the expansion will be to address the personal goals of older persons who have the disease, which to date cannot be cured.
“This enhancement comes at a perfect time to take lessons learned as the Archstone Foundation Endowed Chair and work to extend them to older persons beyond UCLA,” Reuben said.
These efforts are in response to the Institute of Medicine’s2008 report “Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce,” a three-pronged strategy aimed at meeting the healthcare needs of the increasing number of older Americans. Reuben was on the committee that drafted the report.
