Geetha Rao, M.D.
Title and department:
Clinical Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine
Mailing address:
East Ann Arbor Health and Geriatrics Center
4260 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5796
Phone: 734-764-6831; Fax: 734-647-8535
E-mail: geethar@umich.edu
Research Interests
Dr. Rao is interested in the impact geriatrics teaching/education of housestaff has on their geriatrics knowledge and their view/attitudes towards geriatric patients and related issues. She had been surveying housestaff at UCLA with pre- and post-tests on geriatrics knowledge and attitudes. Looking at residents at different levels of training and with different amounts of geriatrics exposure, she was able to assess if increasing geriatrics teaching made a difference.
Dr. Rao is also interested in quality improvement indicators in nursing home care. She has done research on what family members’ preferences for improving nutrition in the nursing home are.
Brief Biography
Dr. Rao completed her medical school at Boston University and her residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in internal medicine. She then went on to complete a fellowship in geriatrics at UCLA. Dr. Rao then became an assistant professor of medicine in internal medicine/geriatrics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center from 2001-2004. She was involved in long-term care and teaching of geriatric fellows. She was also medical director of an assisted living site. From 2005-2009, Dr. Rao was an assistant professor of medicine at UCLA-Olive View Medical Center. She was the first geriatrician on staff, and her role was primarily to provide geriatrics teaching to housestaff and create a nursing home rotation and geriatrics curriculum. Most recently, Dr. Rao has been at the University of Michigan Health System, division of geriatrics. She continues to work as a clinician educator, spending the majority of her time working in long-term care and teaching trainees.
Recent Publications
Rao G., McIntyre-Seltman K., Studenski S. Disorders of Balance. American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Dr. Studenski, guest author). Volume IV, Number 3, July 2005.
Rao G: Venous Stasis Ulcers. Encyclopedia of Health and Aging, ed. KS Markides, SAGE Publications, Los Angeles, 2007. http://www.sage-ereference.com/aging/Article_n282.html
Rao G: Skin Changes. Encyclopedia of Health and Aging, ed. KS Markides, SAGE Publications, Los Angeles, 2007. http://www.sage-ereference.com/aging/Article_n251.html
Rao G: Skin Neoplasms, Benign and Malignant. Encyclopedia of Health and Aging, ed. KS Markides, SAGE publications, Los Angeles, 2007. http://www.sage-ereference.com/aging/Article_n252.html
Simmons SF., Lam H., Rao G., Schnelle JF. Family members’ Preferences for Improving Nursing Home Residents’ oral food and fluid intake. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 51:69-74 (2003).
