Rando to head geriatric
center at Palo Alto VA
BY CAROLINE SEYDEL
Thomas Rando, MD, PhD,
assistant professor of neurology and neurological
sciences, has been appointed director of the Geriatric
Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) at the
Veterans Affairs (VA) Palo Alto Health Care System, as of
February. Rando, who is chief of the neurology service at
the VA, replaces acting director Andrew Hoffman, MD.
Last May, Rando was named
a Beeson Scholar by the American Federation for Aging
Research in recognition of his potential as a leader in
aging research. The award includes a grant of $150,000
over three years to further his research on mechanisms of
age-related muscle atrophy. He plans to continue this
research as director of the GRECC and use the award to
advance the center.
"It really represents
an opportunity to build a program in aging and bring
together the various interests throughout the VA and
Stanford that focus on biological, medical and social
issues of the elderly," he said. Rando was recently
invited to be a panel member in Stanford's Difficult
Dialogues Program, which has as its focus this year
"Aging in the 21st Century." The program is a
new academic initiative launched by the Institute for
Research on Women and Gender and represents the kind of
cross-disciplinary approach he envisions for the GRECC.
"He's clearly the
best qualified in his understanding of the research
issues and the advantages of our particular GRECC,"
said Hoffman, professor of medicine and of molecular and
cellular physiology and associate chief of medicine, who
has been the GRECC's acting director for the past five
years. Hoffman, chief of medicine at the VA, was part of
the search committee that selected Rando from a national
pool of candidates.
The Palo Alto GRECC was
established in 1975 as part of a nationwide program to
serve the aging veteran population. There are currently
20 GRECCs around the country, and their mission is to
foster scientific research in the areas of geriatrics and
gerontology, train personnel as health care providers for
older people, and improve clinical service for older
veterans. Each GRECC operates independently of the
others, and each has its own specialty. Part of the role
of the director is to establish that specialty.
Rando plans to have the
GRECC focus on aging and mobility, to build on his own
research as well as current research at the GRECC in bone
metabolism and endocrinology.
"Two common and
important problems in aging are muscle loss and loss of
bone density," he said. "A lot of the changes
that occur in bone have to do with loss of strength, so
it's important to study the interactions between muscle
and bone with age."
One of Rando's challenges
will be attracting top personnel to Stanford, given the
high cost of living, but he feels confident that the
opportunity to come in on the "ground floor" of
a great program in aging will appeal to top-notch
researchers. In the next five years, he predicted, the
research environment will expand significantly as he
brings new researchers to the program. "The research
going on at the GRECC now is excellent," he said,
"but we'll all benefit [from the expansion]."
"We have the
resources available as well as potential for
growth," he said. "Having an excellent research
facility here at the VA is key for recruitment, and the
Stanford affiliation is a big draw."
Rando is also preparing a
proposal for an advanced geriatric research fellowship
from the Veterans Health Administration, which oversees
the GRECCs. Funding for these two-year fellowships will
be awarded to eight GRECCs. The purpose of the
fellowships is to train future leaders in geriatrics and
gerontological research.
Rando, 42, grew up in
Maine, attended Harvard College, and earned an MD and a
PhD in cell and developmental biology from Harvard
University in 1987. Before coming to Stanford as a
postdoc in 1991, he was chief resident in neurology at
UCSF. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1995. SR
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