Marie A. Bernard, MD
National Institute on Aging
"You can do virtually anything...the doors are wide open. There are so many things you can do in this field."
Research has been one of Dr. Marie Bernard's key interests since she decided—after starting her undergraduate career at Bryn Mawr—that her childhood dream of becoming an interpreter at the United Nations was unlikely to become a reality.
"My French with an Oklahoma accent did not cut it," says Dr. Bernard, who grew up in the Sooner State. Not long after that realization, however, she discovered both satisfaction and success in medicine and medical research. One notable success on her long list of accomplishments is Dr. Bernard’s appointment as Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging in 2008.
But the path to the No. 2 post at the agency that leads federal aging research efforts didn't always take the direction she anticipated, she notes. Though her job focuses on research, her career has, at other times, focused primarily on patient care, education, or academic development and administration. All of these experiences, she says, have helped prepare her for her role at the NIA.
The daughter of two physicians, Dr. Bernard earned her MD at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and completed her residency at Temple University Hospital, where she was chief resident. She held several positions at Temple's School of Medicine, starting as an Instructor in Medicine, then serving as Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Director of Medical Clinics, and Assistant Dean for Admissions. In 1990, the University of Oklahoma recruited her to build its geriatrics education and research programs. Until her move to the NIA, she was the founding director of Oklahoma's Reynolds Department of Geriatric Medicine, which launched in 1997. At the time, it was only the third department of geriatrics in the nation. In addition to founding and directing the department, Dr. Bernard also served as Associate Chief of Staff (ACOS) for Geriatrics and Extended Care at the Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Dr. Bernard's research, which she has pursued in addition to administrative and other roles, has focused on nutrition and functioning in older adults, with particular emphasis on ethnic minorities. She has published widely on geriatric care, nutrition, medication issues and health problems among minorities. She was a member of the NIA's National Advisory Council on Aging, and chaired its Minority Task Force. She has also been a member of the American Geriatrics Society's Board of Directors, President and Chair of the Board of the Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs, and a member of the Institute of Medicine committee that wrote the groundbreaking "Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce," released in 2008. Among the committee's key findings: The nation's healthcare workforce is too small and unprepared to meet the needs of its rapidly growing population of older adults.
So why did she choose geriatrics? “Early on in my medical career, I found I was most interested in older patients, who have more complex health problems and more life experiences than younger ones. My distant past may have contributed as well. When I was young, my grandparents had a significant role in my upbringing. My parents were physicians—they were both in residency when I was born—so my grandparents had a lot of responsibility for me until about age five. So that may have subconsciously affected my choices. But I was very conscious of the fact that I didn't find young patients nearly as interesting as the older ones.”
Eventually, Dr. Bernard’s interest led her to complete a mini-fellowship at the Geriatric Education Center (GEC) of Pennsylvania. The mini-fellowship was an epiphany for her. Her training there opened her eyes to the fact that there is a lot more to the care of the elderly. “The mini-fellowship was an epiphany for me. Prior to it, I thought that I knew geriatrics because I was skilled in diagnosing and treating hypertension, diabetes and other conditions common among older adults. The training at the GEC opened my eyes to the fact that there is a lot more to the care of the elderly—particularly the focus on function and quality of life, geriatric syndromes such as dementia and malnutrition, and interactions within geriatrics interdisciplinary teams.”
When advising young people about pursuing a career in geriatrics, Dr. Bernard offers this wisdom: “You hear a lot of doom and gloom about how there's not much funding for research, how you don't get paid appropriately in geriatrics. But the pendulum swings back and forth,” she says. According to Dr. Bernard, geriatrics will be the field to be in due to the wave of baby boomers that start turning 65 in 2011. “We boomers will be demanding better care and better research. Young people will be well positioned for a long and productive career in geriatrics.”
