By Whitney Thomasson, MAP
Research Assistant
UAMS Arkansas Geriatric Education Collaborative
It is with great pleasure that the UAMS Arkansas Geriatric Education Collaborative (AGEC) announces its 2020 selection for the Geriatric Student Scholars program: Abbey Belote (Doctorate of Physical Therapy student), Caitlyn Crowder (Doctorate of Audiology student), Serena Van (Doctorate of Pharmacy student), Rebekah Ward (Physician Assistant student), and Sarah Wilson (Hendrix College Pre-Medical undergraduate).
The purpose of the Student Scholars program is to increase health professions students’ interest in and exposure to older adults, to improve knowledge of older adult health issues and the specialized care they need, and to promote interprofessional collaboration among health professions students. Throughout the program, the scholars are required to attend a minimum number of academic and community programs focused on older adults, and write reflections on their experiences. The scholars will also work collaboratively on a team project this spring, which will focus on a current geriatric-related issue.
We at AGEC are proud to support our second annual cohort of geriatric scholars. While keeping academic and community program participation at the center of the student experience, we made a couple of modifications to this year’s program for a more immersive learning opportunity. First, we extended the program from 4 months (spring semester) to 6 months (mid-fall and spring semester). This is in an effort to allow for more time for all the students to properly meet each other, to participate in more academic and community programs, and to fully plan and execute an interprofessional “capstone” project. As well, this was our first year accepting five student scholars instead of four. In fostering our partnership with Hendrix College, we accepted undergraduate applicants from the college for a fifth slot on our Student Scholars program for 2020. We are excited to see how an undergraduate perspective from another college will shape the interprofessional approach of the scholars.
To read more about our scholar selection, please visit our 2020 Student Scholar page. In addition, Hendrix College recently released a wonderful article about our undergraduate scholar Sarah Wilson, which you can read here.
We look forward to an exciting 2020 with our Geriatric Student Scholars!