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Established in 1995, the Paul B. Beeson Career Development program provides faculty development awards to outstanding junior and midcareer faculty committed to academic careers in aging-related research, training, and practice. This study evaluated the effect of 134 Beeson Scholars on their medical schools' aging and geriatric medicine programs and on the field of aging research from 1995 to 2007. Quantitative and qualitative survey data from multiple sources, including the American Geriatrics Society/Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs' Geriatrics Workforce Policy Studies Center, National Institutes of Health (NIH) rankings of research funding, and other governmental databases were used to compare 36 medical schools with Beeson Scholars with 34 similar medical schools without Beeson scholars and to examine the influence of Beeson Scholars on the field of geriatrics and aging. Most Beeson Scholars remained at the institution where they trained during their Beeson award, and 89% are still practicing or conducting research in the field of geriatrics and aging. Twenty-six (19.4%) of the scholars have led institutional research mentoring awards, 51 (39%) report leadership roles in institutional program project grants, and 13 (10%) report leadership roles in the Clinical and Translational Science Award programs at their institutions. Beeson Scholars are more likely than a matched sample of non-Beeson NIH K awardees to study important geriatric syndromes such as falls, cognitive impairment, adverse drug events, osteoporosis, and functional recovery from illness. Total Beeson Impact Years (the total number of years all Beeson Scholars have worked at each school) is positively correlated with more geriatrics research faculty, after controlling for NIH funding rank (P=.02). Beeson Scholars have made positive contributions to the development of academic geriatrics research programs at U.S. medical schools.

The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) created the Centers of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine and Geriatric Psychiatry in 1988 with the goal of establishing academic training environments to increase geriatrics-trained faculty. The initiative identified medical schools with the necessary components for training academic geriatricians. JAHF grants provided the resources to create a cadre of physicians whose research, teaching and practice leads to substantial contributions in geriatrics. Results from two evaluations show that the program has successfully increased geriatrics-prepared faculty who have achieved promotion and institutional retention, success in winning competitive research grants, and positions of leadership. The initiative strengthened the national network of geriatrics programs and served as a major driver of increased prestige for the fields of geriatric medicine and psychiatry.

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The NIA supports the Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) to build collaborations between scientists from the 6 NIA-sponsored center programs: Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers, Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging, Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers, Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging, Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research, and Roybal Centers for Translational Research on Aging. RCCN's premise is that researchers from different disciplines are most likely to collaborate when they are addressing common problems. To provide a forum for collaborative exchange, the RCCN has convened 6 workshops on topics that cross-cut the concerns of the various NIA center programs ranging from sustaining behavior change in older adults to measuring biologic age. After each Workshop the RCCN awards pilot funds related to the theme. This symposium will present key learnings from the workshops and present work of four RCCN pilot teams from the third and fourth workshops which focused on resilience and reserve, and life course perspectives on aging. Dr. Ramos will discuss how measurement of psychological resilience may predict physical resilience in older patients with lung cancer, while Dr. Reid will discuss positive affect as a source of resilience for older adults with chronic pain. Dr. White will discuss association between perceived discrimination trajectories and multimorbidity burden among middle-aged and older black adults, while Dr. Brooks will discuss development of a resilience index in chronic musculoskeletal pain. Dr. Kritchevsky will also summarize lessons learned across the first 6 workshops.