Summer Research Institute - Enhancing research career development in geriatric psychiatry

We currently need to train a sizeable group of researchers anti academician s in geriatric psychiatry in order to prepare for the upcoming increase in the number of elderly mentally ill persons. The Summer Research Institute ( SRI) is an annual week-long research training program followed by ongoing m entorship for about 25 selected fellows and junior faculty. Sessions cover topics such as scientific integrity, recruitment of subjects, grant mechani sms, and balancing life and work. About 90% of the 123 attendees have prese nted and written publishable papers within a year of attendance, and over 5 0% have received grant funding within 18 months of the SRI. The 3-year cumu lative proportion remaining in fulltime academies is 78%. The SRI offers a model for training junior investigators in a manner that is useful both to them and to the field as a whole.