THE FIRST SUMMER RESEARCH-INSTITUTE IN GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY

In July 1995, the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP) sponsored the first annual week-long Summer Research Institute (SRI) in Geriatric Psychiatry, at the University of California, San Diego. T he NIMH-funded SRI was intended for promising postresidency and postdo ctoral fellows, as well as junior faculty persons interested in resear ch careers in geriatric psychiatry. The SRI focused on the tools neede d to begin, maintain, and succeed on that career path and has been fol lowed by continued communication between trainees and faculty. The SRI was highly successful, judging from the participants' evaluations, as well as the trainees' accomplishments in terms of publications and re search funding during 1 year of follow-up. The SRI provides a useful m odel for an approach to bridging and shortening the transition period from fellowship to first research funding and of ensuring a continued flow of new investigators in geriatric psychiatry.