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A Few Words From Your New FIT Chair

Dear Fellows:

As Chair-Elect of the Fellows-In-Training Section, I am excited to welcome you to geriatric medicine. I developed an interest in geriatrics and palliative care during my residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle. In addition, I completed a chief resident year at the Seattle Puget Sound Veterans Hospital. Following these experiences, I moved to Chicago for the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program (RWJCSP) to pursue research in end of life care.

As our population ages, geriatricians are expected to offer our unique perspective on the complexity of aging and to collaborate with other disciplines. As geriatricians, our focus on functional status and life expectancy is unique among physicians, and this needs to be expanded into the public policy and research arenas. I am eager for your feedback. Based upon your interests, I will plan annual meeting activities. Presently, I intend to include topics such as job seeking, new Medicare pharmaceutical benefits and other health policy relevant issues.

I look forward to meeting many of you at the AGS meeting in Orlando (May 11-15). Please feel free to contact me regarding any fellow-in-training issues now and throughout the year.

Sincerely,

Rachelle Bernacki, MD, FIT Chair-Elect
University of Chicago