Welcome to the Section of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine
Welcome to the Section of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. Our team of health professionals provides compassionate primary and consultative care to older adults and those with serious illnesses across various settings, including inpatient, outpatient, facility, and home care. We collaborate with several healthcare systems, including Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, Ben Taub Hospital, the VA Medical Center, Houston Methodist, and Saint Dominic Village, focusing on improving the quality of life for aging individuals and those with serious conditions.
Our scientists and clinician scientists work collaboratively to advance the body of knowledge in the science of aging, symptom science, and healthcare delivery. The Huffington Center for Aging, led by Dr. Hui Zheng, is renowned for programs emphasizing translational research from basic science to clinical impact. Our faculty lead research efforts, and our fellows and other trainees benefit from opportunities to join research teams and contribute to advancing the science of aging and serious illness.
The Kvale Lab is focused on developing and testing models of care for people living with cancer as they transition into survivorship. This work includes preventive interventions for cancer survivors through projects funded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Healthcare delivery science is increasingly important as demographic shifts mean that our societal need for subspecialized geriatric and palliative care will far outstrip workforce constraints in traditional healthcare delivery models.
We work with our partners in the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety at the VA, led by Dr. Laura Petersen, to drive innovations through science and implementation that ensure our most vulnerable community members have access to high-quality geriatric and palliative care when and where they need it.
We are thrilled to support the next generation of investigators, several of whom have recently secured competitive funding from the NIH (K12) and the ALS Association to build their research careers in aging, serious illness, and healthcare innovation.
The geriatrics and palliative medicine faculty also see our roles as educators as critical. We provide clinical opportunities for students, residents, and fellows to learn from and about older and seriously ill people, all across the care spectrum. We are excited that BCM students begin learning about the joy and challenges of caring for these populations during their formative years with the didactics our faculty provide in the curriculum. Residents and non-geriatric or palliative fellows have opportunities to embed with our teams and consistently rate their experiences with us as among their most impactful rotations.
Our Geriatrics Fellowship, under the leadership of Dr. Kristina Little and Dr. Joel Salazar, is one of the largest in the nation and consistently fills with outstanding future geriatricians. We take full advantage of the multiple venues in and around the Texas Medical Center to provide robust training fellows can use to support their preparation for a chosen career. We are thrilled that many of our fellows undergo additional training in Oncology, Pulmonology, Palliative Care, and other subspecialties. Our fellowship focuses on producing the next generation of leaders and thinkers caring for our aging population. We have developed specialized wound care and research training for second-year geriatrics fellows and collaborate with leaders in other subspecialty programs to assist our fellows in finding the training they need.
Our Palliative Medicine Fellowship operates in partnership with MD Anderson Cancer Center. We provide training in non-cancer diagnoses that their fellows need, and we also match two fellows into our non-cancer fellowship track that focuses on chronic advanced illness and geriatric care.
As Section Chief of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, I am privileged to stand on the shoulders of our prior leaders, including our founder, Dr. Robert Luchi. I have inherited a faculty with an unwavering commitment to improving healthcare for our most vulnerable community members. If you are a person or a care partner for a person seeking clinical care from our geriatrics or palliative programs, you can learn more and schedule an appointment. You can learn more about a fellowship in geriatrics or palliative medicine. At any level of training, there is no better place to learn to be a doctor than the Baylor College of Medicine in the Texas Medical Center, where the air crackles with intellectual excitement and curiosity!
Thank you for visiting.
Elizabeth Kvale, M.D., M.S.P.H.
Chief, Section of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine