Spotlight: Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program in Lafayette Improving Health of Aging Population
The Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program in Lafayette, which began in July of 2007, leads the area's medical community in improving health care for Louisiana’s elderly. The fellowship program, directed by Susila Shanmuganathan, MD, CMD (Dr. Shan), aims to improve the quality of geriatric inpatient and outpatient care by enhancing geriatric patients’ functional level, nutritional status and psychological state, and by training the next generation of geriatricians.
The year-long concentrated and longitudinal experience is available to Family Medicine and Internal Medicine residency program graduates. Clinical experiences include the inpatient geriatric consultation service, hospice and palliative care, psychiatry, multiple specialty clinics, geriatric primary care and consultation clinics, and nursing home experiences.
“When I was a family medicine resident getting ready to graduate, I had not realized how instrumental completing my geriatric medicine fellowship would be to my career. Albeit, it was the best decision I had made, both professionally and personally,” said Dr. Shan. “My passion for caring for the elderly only grew during fellowship. Additionally, completing this fellowship has given me the unique and special skill in taking care of this vulnerable yet especially important population.”
Jacob Clement, MD, graduated from the fellowship program in 2024. “During my geriatric medicine fellowship, I was constantly supported by an accessible and dedicated program staff who truly cared about my growth. I had the time to connect with my patients, learn their stories, and make a real difference in their care. It was truly an experience that shaped the future of my career,” he said.
Since the Lafayette fellowship program’s inception, 14 fellows have successfully graduated, including Dr. Shan. Nearly half of the graduates continue to practice in Louisiana.
Dr. Shan said the program hopes to bring the number of graduates to 17 by July 2026.
“Our goal is to provide our fellows with outstanding clinical training so as to promote overall wellness and optimize the health of our geriatric patients. We live in a time where people are living longer and require specialized care, which makes the field of geriatrics unique and very much in demand,” she said. “I welcome our IM and FM Board Certified/Board Eligible physicians to apply for our geriatrics fellowship program and assume the privilege in taking care of the elderly!”
More information about the fellowship program can be found on the program’s website.