Volume 2, Issue 1
April 2007

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In This Issue

1. Student Poster Session: May 2007
2. Spotlight on 2006 MSTAR Scholar Rajitha Devadoss
3. MSTAR’S New Selection Committee Chair, Dr. Anita Woods, Discusses Her Work with Medical Students at Baylor College of Medicine
4. 2000 MSTAR Scholar Camille Pedigo Vaughan, M.D., Now a Geriatrics Fellow at Emory
5. Recruiting Medical Trainees to Geriatrics

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Student Poster Session: May 2007

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Spotlight on 2006 MSTAR Scholar Rajitha Devadoss, the First Graduate of the UCSF Geriatric Scholars Program

Rajitha Devadoss, a second year medical student at SUNY Upstate Medical University, had an amazing summer in sunny California. But unlike other students, Devadoss did not spend her days at the beach. She was studying symptoms outcomes in prostate cancer patients at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) as a 2006 MSTAR Scholar. "It was amazing!" she exclaims. "I had a great time."

That doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard work. Prior to recent research, physicians had looked for three main types of symptoms in prostate cancer patients: sexual, urinary, and bowel. Devadoss studied transcripts from 13 focus groups conducted with prostate cancer patients who had undergone various treatments. She found that the men actually experienced a much wider range of symptoms, including systemic (weight changes, fatigue, etc.), emotional/psychological (such as anxiety and depression), life impact (decreased time with family, being unable to meet responsibilities, etc.), dermatological (such as burning or hair loss), and gastrointestinal (nausea, vomiting, etc.). Because none of the treatment options for prostate cancer currently has a clear advantage in survival, it’s critical for patients to understand all of these possible symptoms in order to make an informed decision on treatment. As a continuation of the study, Devadoss’ fellow researchers are creating a survey for newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients to ensure that they’re aware of the full range of symptoms and that their doctors understand their concerns.

Devadoss, who is President of the Internal Medicine Club at SUNY Upstate, presented her research last fall at her school’s Student Research Day. Her poster received the "outstanding poster" award. Devadoss will also present her research at the AGS Annual Meeting in May, about which she is very excited.

UCSF was a new participant in the MSTAR program last year, and Devadoss was its very first graduate. "They did a great job," she notes. "There were three students, and they really focused on our needs." Her project was also funded by a new MSTAR program sponsor, the Community Health Foundation of Central and Western New York. She was the scholarship’s first recipient.

Devadoss chose her project because of its emphasis on clinical research. "Second year medical students do not have many opportunities to interact with patients, so I really wanted to do something hands on," she says. "I got to be involved in all aspects of the research – not just reading transcripts from previous studies, but also recruiting patients and designing the study. It was exactly what I had wanted for the summer."

But Devadoss’ great experience as an MSTAR Scholar extended beyond just her research. She says she worked with "amazing mentors" – especially Dr. Sara Knight, Ph.D., the principal investigator for the project. Devadoss sat in on some of the third year medical students’ classes and attended MSTAR lectures. She also visited older patients at assisted living centers and in their homes, and shadowed physicians at hospitals and assisted living centers. "The physicians were phenomenal," she says. "They were really focused on the patients’ goals and values, not solely on the latest treatment modality."

Devadoss says she will definitely consider becoming a geriatrician now that she’s taken part in the MSTAR program. "This program opened my eyes to the many opportunities within geriatrics and beyond my limited scope of medicine."

But whatever field she ultimately chooses, Devadoss’ experiences as an MSTAR Scholar will be invaluable. "This has been an incredible experience that I will carry throughout my medical career," she says. "I want to thank AFAR, the Community Health Foundation of Central and Western New York, my mentors, and UCSF for providing me with this wonderful opportunity!"

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On March 23, when the MSTAR selection committee gathered to choose the 2007 Scholars, it was with a new Chairperson – Anita Woods, Ph.D. Dr. Woods has served on the committee since 2000. She took over as Chair for Patricia Barry, M.D., M.P.H., who has retired. "Dr. Barry is very enthusiastic. It won’t be nearly as much fun without her," says Dr. Woods. But the MSTAR Program knows Dr. Barry has left the committee in great hands!

Dr. Woods, on the Medicine faculty at Baylor College of Medicine, has been in the field of gerontology since 1975. In 1980, she received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Southern California under the mentorship of Dr. James Birren, the "father of the psychology of aging." She has focused on issues regarding mental health and aging – how changes in the brain affect behavior over time. "I’ve always been attracted to older people, and I still am. They are like a magnet for me," she says.

In 1986, Dr. Woods founded a geriatrics student interest group at the University of Texas Medical School (UT), where she was on the faculty. Within a year, the student group at UT had invited Baylor College of Medicine to create a joint student interest group between the two medical schools. Dr. Woods eventually left UT to work at Baylor, where the student interest group has held strong. Though the group has varied in size, it has grown to 30 to 40 students over the past few years. Many geriatrics faculty and fellows involved with Baylor’s Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine have contributed to this growth.

Dr. Woods started this joint medical student group because of the ongoing difficulty in attracting students to geriatrics. "Older people are very complex and challenging, and can be intimidating to medical students," she says. "That’s why it’s so important to expose them to all different kinds of aging, not just the very sick older people in the hospital." The student group hosts panels of "visiting professors" – people in their 80’s who speak to the students about what it’s like to be old. "We have given the students medical histories, and they are expecting frail elders," she says. "Then, in walk these very high-functioning, dapper, articulate old people. It gives the students a jolt." Last fall, the students visited a subsidized housing complex for older adults, where they met some spunky older women who invited them on a bus trip to a winery. "It was an eye-opener for the students to meet these dynamic older people who had such humor and joy," Dr. Woods recalls.

But that’s just a taste of what the students experience in the group. They attend monthly seminars on topics they help select. They perform community service. Second year students can take part in a Geriatrics Skills Workshop, where they learn everything from taking care of bed sores to doing cognitive assessments. They go through sensory deprivation experiences, like wearing cataract glasses and ear plugs, so they can experience what it’s like to have functional challenges. And they work with older adults at assisted living centers and clinics. "For most of these second year students, it’s their very first time to be hands on with patients, and they just love it," says Dr. Woods.

Perhaps as important as the educational activities are the semi-annual social events, which bring together the students and Baylor’s geriatrics faculty and fellows. "We like to give students positive faculty role models, and they really identify with the younger faculty," she says. The gatherings also give the students a chance "to see how much fun people are who work in geriatrics." At the most recent event, for example, the students danced in a samba line with the geriatrics fellowship director.

Dr. Woods sees the MSTAR program as an opportunity to get even more students interested in geriatrics. When reviewing applications, she and the committee look for some demonstrated history of an interest in the field – like a research background or experience volunteering in a nursing home – in addition to the student’s interest in academic medicine. Even if the Scholars don’t become geriatricians after taking part in the program, "they’re going to feel much more competent and comfortable working with older people when they do become physicians," she says.

Hopefully, Scholars will also gain a deeper understanding of medical research. "When you get a motivated student, and you see them get excited about research and really understand how that research translates into improved clinical care, it’s so powerful," says Dr. Woods. "It’s been a real gift for me to be involved in the MSTAR program."