Parker Health Group
Center for Longevity
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Your Healthcare. Your Choice.
Your Healthcare Reinvented
We’re grateful for a generous $18.8 million gift from Parker Health Group to our Department of Family Medicine and Community Health to establish a radically new approach to healthy aging. With this gift we’ve established the Parker Health Group Division of Geriatrics to showcase the department’s leadership in the geriatric field. Inside the Division we’ve housed the new Parker Health Group Center for Longevity to significantly advance longevity, clinical care, research, and education for our future. This unparalleled commitment acknowledges the school’s excellence and addresses New Jersey’s critical need to serve the aged, their families and caregivers in new and dynamic ways.
We're on a Mission
Weʼre laser-focused on improving the lives of older adults. We want to help you live longer, more fully, and enjoyably. Every day we consider all aspects of successful aging, including physical health, mental well-being, social connections, and a sense of purpose. Aging is a journey, and we help our patients thrive by delivering care that helps them stay independent, find renewed purpose, adapt to changes, and grow continuously. Our vision is to ensure continued growth, dignity, and fulfillment for the aged, their families and caregivers.
Meet Your Team
To address the complex and multi-faceted needs of a reimagined approach to aging, we’ve assembled a dedicated and distinguished team of leaders, interdisciplinary healthcare professionals, clinicians, researchers, fellows, and post-doctoral researchers. This diverse team is exceptionally positioned to advance the wellbeing and life-enhancing power of joyful aging. Let us introduce your team and their particular expertise in aging services.
Leaders:
- Elizabeth Luth, PhD, Division Chief
- Sara Leonard, MD, Director Service Innovation and Fellowship Director
- June Mooney, Division Administrator
- Roberto Muniz, MPH, LNHA, FACHCA, President & CEO, Parker Health Group
Interdisciplinary Healthcare Professionals and Clinicians:
- Megan Byrne, APN, Clinician Geriatrics
- David Howarth, MD, Geriatrician
- Bhoomika Kamath, MD, Family Physician and Palliative Care Specialist
- Fred Kobylarz, MD, Geriatrician
- Shafali Kumar, APN, Clinician Geriatrics
- Irina Mindlis, PhD, Instructor
- Joshua Raymond, MD, Geriatrician
- Alisa Reznikov, MD, Geriatrician
- Yvonne Ye, MD, Family Physician
Fellows and Post Doc Researchers:
- Brianna Gonzalez Morales, MD incoming PGY IV Fellow
- Danielle Llaneza, PhD. Postdoctoral Fellow/Research
Our Clinicians are Everyday Heroes
Healthcare professionals for the aging require advanced training to handle modern healthcare complexities. Our training goes beyond basic medical knowledge: We equip our clinicians with skills in managing chronic diseases, caring for older adults, treating mental health issues, performing complex procedures. Our clinicians are at the forefront of research and treatment methods. This enhances their ability to provide personal, self-directed care and to address community needs.
Our Fellows are Advancing Geriatric Care
Becoming a geriatric Fellow at the Parker Health Group Division of Geriatrics offers an exceptional opportunity for physicians to advance aging care in new and exciting ways. Our well-regarded program provides a structured curriculum, stable environment, and cutting-edge resources for exciting projects. Youʼll gain diverse clinical experience in inpatient, acute, palliative, and primary care geriatrics. Our didactic curriculum and scholarly opportunities offer an expanded two-year physician researcher track that will enhance your research skills and prepare you as a physician-scientist. Dedicated faculty will mentor you in an interdisciplinary team model.
Our Research Is Breaking New Ground
The Department of Family Medicine and Community Health leads the field in groundbreaking research and discoveries. Groundbreaking research requires groundbreaking researchers so our faculty includes PhDs in sociology and clinical psychology who are passionate about aging research. They work closely with other Rutgers researchers from various backgrounds, including the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research and Rutgers Schools of Public Health, Social Work, Pharmacy, Nursing and other disciplines. Our clinicians are also actively involved in aging research with the Rutgers Brain Institute and Center for Alzheimer’s Disease.
We're About Whole Person Care
More years to your life. More life to your years.
In our partnership with the Parker Health Group, we’re all about helping you live longer and better. Our medical advancements work hard to fight disease and extend your life. Imagine spending more years in good health, with purpose, and the ability to enjoy life. We want you to have well-being, activity, and meaningful experiences, not debilitating illness. We believe in giving our patients the freedom to live independent, happy, and healthy lives.
Weʼve Done This Before
Our faculty team is a pillar of geriatric knowledge with extensive expertise in delivering aging care. Critical to our approach is a new perspective on whole person-oriented healthcare for the 21st Century. In this regard our faculty’s work is based on the latest best practices and contributes to the advancement of longevity medicine, providing invaluable real-world clinical, research, education, administrative and leadership experience.
We Build Better Doctors
Better doctors means more compassionate, collaborative, ethical, and adaptable healthcare professionals who prioritize patient care. We teach them critical thinking, problem-solving, and lifelong learning, fostering evolution, innovation, and integrity in addressing healthcare challenges. Through diverse education in aging care, we create well-trained, empathetic advocates who become thoughtful, respected community pillars and contributors to society.
Think a Little Differently
We practice self-directed care, giving you power to make informed decisions about your treatment from selecting your doctors to managing your budgets and creating your highly personalized care plans. In this new model, we're very focused on your autonomy, personal responsibility and your holistic health needs. Self-directed care is particularly valuable in promoting your independence, care effectiveness and ultimately your satisfaction as a patient.
Your Future Is in Your Hands
Letʼs forget the typical nursing home and hospital solutions for the aging. Instead, our programs bring together a multi-disciplinary team of trained professionals to address your personal needs. We tailor personalized approaches focused on your well-being and independence. Our whole person care approach reduces hospital stays, improves independence and overall well-being so you can live at home with dignity, comfort and peace of mind.
We've Done Our Homework
A New Age in Aging
The Parker Health Group Division of Geriatrics is actively engaged in several important research initiatives on aging, and is working with the newly established Center for Longevity and the broader Rutgers research community and beyond. Our interdisciplinary research efforts are focused on real-world situations to understand the aging process. These improve the lives of the aging and their families and caregivers to drive real-world impacts and solve the complexities of aging.
Read on for some examples of our current research.
Reducing Burden in Families Dealing with Dementia
Research faculty develop and test a simple tool to change how hospice nurses and social workers talk with family caregivers of patients living with dementia about their needs and concerns, help them address their concerns, and reduce caregiver burden.
Improving Access to Mental Health Interventions for Older Adults
Our research faculty collaborates with health care providers and community-based organizations to develop scalable interventions to improve mental health outcomes for older adults in complex real-world settings, including primary care, palliative care, senior centers, and at home.
Improving Clinical Decision-Making
Our research faculty collaborates with healthcare provider organizations to improve how data-informed tools are understood and used by physicians, nurses, social workers to connect seriously ill patients with treatment approaches such as palliative care, and improve care delivery in primary care for older adults.
Enhancing Provider Communication with Patients and Families
Our research faculty works with health care provider organizations to change how treatment options, such as palliative care, are explained to the aging and their families to increase their knowledge and awareness and to connect seriously ill individuals with needed care.
Supporting Families Through Transitions in Care
Our research faculty partners with hospice organizations and researchers at other institutions to develop tools to identify hospice patients at risk for poor outcomes and to provide them with support after leaving hospice.
Expanding Treatment Options for Alzheimer's Disease
Our division geriatricians collaborate with researchers at the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care, and Aging Research to recruit patients for a National Institutes of Health funded clinical trial aimed at evaluating drug tolerability, safety, and efficacy in patients with early-stage Alzheimer's disease.
Join Our Groundbreaking Team
The Company You'll Keep
The Parker Health Group Geriatrics Fellowship has been accredited by the ACGME since 1987 and welcomes graduates from Family Medicine and Internal Medicine residencies to care for our aging population. The Fellowship lasts 12 months, with an optional two-year clinical researcher track. Fellows receive training to become effective, efficient, and compassionate geriatricians who will pass their American Board of Family Medicine or American Board of Internal Medicine CAQ examination in Geriatric Medicine and pursue careers managing the complex medical, functional, and emotional needs of our aging population.
The Benefits For You
We offer up to 4 Geriatric fellow positions annually; selected fellows will actively work with our multidisciplinary faculty team, including core family medicine and internal medicine faculty in a multitude of service areas including Inpatient rotations: Geriatrics consultation service; Acute Care; Palliative Care. Outpatient rotations: Subacute Rehab; Long-Term Care; Assisted Living; Adult Daycare; Home-Based Primary Care; Hospice and Palliative Care; Medical Directorship. Learner-Centered Curriculum with opportunities: Varied electives; Research collaboration; Advocacy; Innovation; Leadership; and Additional Outpatient/Inpatient experiences. Geriatric Fellows also have the benefit of the new Parker Health Group Center for Longevity as a resource to advance their clinical and leadership skills.
Your Core Geriatrician Faculty
Sara Leonard, MD, FAAFP, Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health; Director, Geriatrics Fellowship Program; Medical Director, Parker Long-term care, Assisted Living, and Adult Day Programs; Director of Service Innovation, PHG Division of Geriatrics
Fred Kobylarz, MD, MPH, Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health; Medical Director, Parker at Monroe Long-term Care
Joshua J. Raymond, MD, MPH, FAAFP, AGSF, CMD, Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health; Medical Director, Parker at Somerset Post Acute and Long-term Care
David Howarth, MD, MPH, FAAFP, Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health; Geriatrician, Outpatient Services
Learn More & Apply
For additional information, please contact:
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Parker Health Group Geriatrics Fellowship
Matrix Plaza 1
303 George Street, 6th Floor
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
E-mail: phg-geriatrics@rwjms.rutgers.edu
Phone: 732-235-7676
With a Little Help from Our Friends
How We’re Funded - Great News for Older New Jerseyans
A generous $18.8 million gift from the Parker Health Group to the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health has made possible an entirely new approach to healthy aging by the new Parker Health Group Division of Geriatrics and Center for Longevity. Parker’s substantial investment is a clear recognition of our shared vision and leadership in aging. It will significantly advance the longevity, clinical care, applied research, and education for the future of our aging population. Parker’s commitment acknowledges New Jersey’s critical need to serve the aged, their families and caregivers in new and dynamic ways.
A New Era in Aging Care
America's senior population is set to nearly double by 2050, growing from 46 million to 90 million. This dramatic demographic shift creates an urgent demand for specialized healthcare professionals and services. This landmark donation will address and cultivate the applied research, education, and interdisciplinary collaboration needed to enhance care for the aging population of New Jersey and beyond.
Seamless Support for Aging New Jerseyans
Roberto Muñiz, President and CEO of our benefactor, the Parker Health Group, and a Rutgers alumnus, envisions a "seamless network of high-quality, innovative, and valued geriatric services and supports." The new Parker Health Group of Geriatrics and Center for Longevity will connect with various Rutgers programs, including nursing, social work, pharmacy, and psychiatry. This integrated approach will foster multidisciplinary research and community partnerships to support the aging to live their best lives.
Strengthening the Geriatrics Fellowship
A key component of this partnership is significant increased funding for the Parker Health Group Geriatrics Fellowship. This 12-month program provides family medicine and internal medicine residency graduates with crucial clinical skills and knowledge in geriatrics. Fellows also engage in vital research and provide education to local aging service providers, including Parker. Thanks to Parker Health Group for this generous contribution, which is directly advancing patient care and knowledge within the specialty.
Delivering Long-Term Impact and Community Benefit
This collaboration between Parker Health Group, with its 116 years of excellence in aging services, and Rutgers, with its even longer history as New Jersey’s state university, promises to ensure the aging are well-cared for long into the future. Rutgers' former President Jonathan Holloway praised Parker’s "generous gift" for its benefit to countless families facing the challenges of aging. Dr. Amy P. Murtha, Dean of the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, anticipates the program's long-term impact, expecting it to continue for many years. Alfred F. Tallia, MD, MPH Professor and Chair of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, expects it will reinvent healthcare for the aging population of New Jersey.
Let's Stay in Close Touch
We'll Call You Right Back
Thank you for your interest in the Parker Health Group Center for Longevity. We’re dedicated to advancing the science of aging through integrated clinical care, innovative research and comprehensive education.
Please use the contact information below to connect with our team.
General Inquiries & Appointments
For general questions about the Center’s services, programs and people, please:
Phone: (732) 235-7676 (Main Line) from Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST.
Email: phg-geriatrics@rwjms.rutgers.edu
We aim to respond to all email inquiries within 1-2 business days.
Our Fellowship & Educational Programs
For inquiries regarding our Geriatrics Fellowship, student rotations, or educational opportunities, please:
Email: phg-geriatrics@rwjms.rutgers.edu
Phone: (732) 235-7676
Visit our Geriatrics Fellowship for curriculum and application information.
Our Research and Collaborations
For questions about ongoing research, clinical trials, or potential collaborations with the Center, please:
Email: phg-geriatrics@rwjms.rutgers
Phone: (732) 235-7676
Learn More: Explore our Research Initiatives for current projects and publications.
Our Location
The Center for Longevity is located within the Parker Health Group Division of Geriatrics at RWJMS Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Matrix Plaza 1
303 George Street, 6th Floor
New Brunswick, NJ 08901