Member Spotlight

Q&A with Michael Denkinger, MD, Assistant Professor, Agaplesion Bethesda Clinic, Ulm University from Ulm, Germany.

		"Try to start with basic research on the cell level and then try to incorporate that into clinical research, because, especially in the complicated field of ageing it is necessary to foster translational efforts."
Meet Michael.

Q: How long have you been a member and how does GSA assist with your professional development? 
A: I became a member in 2007 when I decided to visit the GSA Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco and to present some data on my recent research – not only because of the great location :).  I studied the value of different performance-based, self-rated and proxy-rated assessments to depict the course of improvement in inpatient rehabilitation. One year before I had received a 2 year research grant from the Robert Bosch Foundation which allowed me to start research on aging. Friends and colleagues had recommended the GSA congress as the most comprehensive, international and high quality meeting. Therefore, I decided to become a member. The meeting and GSA itself have definitely shaped and increased my view on what ageing and older age comprises from different (social, biological and psychological) angles.

Q: How did you get interested in the field of aging?
A: After medical school and four months of practical experience in neurology I planned to become a neurologist and, because I wanted to have some basic knowledge of internal medicine, started my clinical career in a general internal medicine unit in Freiburg, Germany. My chief, Prof. A. Ochs was a gastroenterologist and he had three really excellent experienced consultants who taught me general internal medicine. What they did not know much about was how to deal with the increasing number of delirant, confused and often demented older adults. With my little neurological experience and the only one who has ever heard from the “Mini Mental State Exam” I soon became the “neurogeriatric expert” in our clinic. That was also the reason, why Prof. Ochs asked me to apply for the mentioned fellowship by the Robert Bosch foundation which was set up to promote geriatric medicine in Germany. Well, I succeeded and decided to join the team of Prof. Nikolaus in Ulm, one of the few geriatric chairs in Germany.

Q: What are your key responsibilities at your job?
A: I am currently half time researcher and half time clinician (Oberarzt/Consultant) and I basically share two positions with another consultant. This is a good mixture as it allows combining both interests. I am also in charge of lecturing issues because during the semester we have weekly intense 2-day geriatric seminars for medical students including contact to current patients.  When in charge of the clinical duties, besides regular clinical supervision of the junior residents on the ward, I increasingly have to consider economic issues like the optimal or maximum length of stay, the costs of treatments etc.

Q: What has been your most memorable experience in gerontology and aging research?
A: There have been many special patient contacts and clinical stories that everybody will be able to tell. However, considering the whole picture, the most memorable experiences in ageing research I made during the four weeks at the “European Academy for Medicine of Ageing (EAMA)” in Sion/Switzerland which provides up to date lectures and a discussion forum for geriatric scientists.  There and during the meetings with the Robert Bosch fellows I met great scientists, new friends and had excellent discussions with current and future leaders. 
 
Q: Why is it important for other individuals to join GSA?
A: Because of the excellent congress, the networking opportunities, the international experience, the heterogeneous standpoints on aging research, the mentoring opportunities and the (new and international) efforts of the society to bring together researchers from all over the world.

Q: Do you have any tips for emerging gerontologists?
A: Try to start with basic research on the cell level and then try to incorporate that into clinical research, because, especially in the complicated field of ageing it is necessary to foster translational efforts.  And, although difficult for “generalists” like us geriatricians, try to find one to three central topics to focus your research on, something that I haven’t managed to do so far. Furthermore, I think it is important not to postpone your careers to sometime after the kids have grown up. As a father of three kids and with a wife who is working fulltime as a gynecologist I am also trying to live up to that – although not always in an ideal way and in an ideal world…  

Q: Tell us a little about your most recent activities/accomplishments?
A: From my recent research the most interesting aspects were the surprisingly great effect that fear of falling had on rehabilitation success and the fact that less rehabilitation success in the first week in rehab actually predicts more improvements in the following weeks. I hope that this might influence insurance agencies to think over the current practice of only extending the length of stay for those who show better results at the beginning. Furthermore, we have recently set up a population-based study on physical activity and disability in old age including several other aspects and a full geriatric assessment. The specialty of this study, called “ActiFE-Ulm” is an accelerometer-based physical activity sensor that was worn day and night over one week. A three year follow-up is currently running and the study has been included in an international cooperation on osteoarthritis, called the EPOSA project.

Q: Have you had an important mentor in your career? If so, how did it make a difference?
A: My former chief, Prof. Ochs, the mentioned consultants (Dres. Wagner, Hockenjos and Brand) and my current mentor Prof. Nikolaus have surely been the most important persons in my professional career. Prof. Ochs, because he pointed to the fellowship as described above, Dres. Wagner, Hockenjos and Brand because they have taught me most of my clinical expertise and because they have been the first geriatricans I have met, without knowing themselves. Prof. Nikolaus, because he has introduced me into aging research and because he is an example of how to combine research and leading a geriatric hospital with time for his own family.