Welcome to the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Our Division has pioneered care for older adults and patients with serious illness since 1974. Then and now, our mission is to advance the care of older adults and patients with advanced or life-threatening illness by developing innovative models of clinical care; teaching and mentoring the next generation of aging and palliative care specialists and investigators; and conducting research that generates new basic, translational, and clinical knowledge in aging and disease. Division faculty are local and national leaders, leading UAB’s Age-Friendly Health System and Geri-scholars initiatives, the Birmingham/Atlanta VA Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC), UAB’s Integrative Center for Aging Research (ICAR), the Southeast Institute for Innovation in Palliative and Supportive Care, the Deep South Resource Center for Minority Aging Research, and UAB’s Center for Exercise Medicine. 

• Our research has led to seminal advances in the care of mobility problems, urinary and fecal incontinence, Alzheimer’s disease and related memory problems, nutrition, geriatric heart failure, end-of-life care, advanced illness management, functional outcomes of geriatric care, supportive care and survivorship, and patient safety in geriatrics. Basic biomedical research initiatives include studies of mechanisms and manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease, skeletal muscle function, and cardiovascular function. The Division is a national leader in Community-Based Participatory Research and research on geriatrics and palliative care services for underrepresented minorities.

• The Division offers education and training to develop the next generation of clinicians and leaders. The Geriatrics fellowship prepares physicians for a career in geriatric medicine and in health system transformation, to promote the evolution of health care organizations to better serve the needs of older adults. This fellowship offers clinical experiences at UAB and the Birmingham VA Medical Center, including an Acute Care for Elders inpatient unit, inpatient and outpatient geriatric consults, primary care and outpatient geriatric consults, home-based primary care, community nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and subspecialty services including geriatric psychiatry, rehabilitation medicine, and palliative care. The Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program trains leaders in academic Palliative Medicine. This program offers rotations in inpatient palliative care at UAB Hospital, the Birmingham VA Medical Center, and The Children’s Hospital of Alabama, ambulatory palliative care through the UAB Palliative and Supportive Care Clinics and the UAB HIV Palliative Care Clinic, and in home and nursing home hospice care through community hospices and nursing homes. Division faculty are leaders of unique interdisciplinary training programs in palliative and end-of-life care and in geriatrics across all disciplines (e.g., psychology, nursing, social work) for learners at all levels.

• Division faculty and staff provide expert clinical care and teach in all inpatient UAB health system settings, as well as in the closely-affiliated Birmingham VA Medical Center and Children’s Hospital of Alabama. We provide state-of-the-art outpatient clinical services including primary and consultative geriatrics, palliative and supportive care consultation, and consultative services for continence, memory, falls, and osteoporosis. Outpatient services are provided at UAB Highlands, the Kirklin Clinic, and the Birmingham VA, and at home through Home-based primary care and Home-based palliative care programs.

Please explore our website and we welcome you to contact us.