Last week, experts in ageing research, supported by the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) stepped in to deliver a training session to regional trainees.

Teaching sessions for speciality trainees in Geriatric Medicine across the North East usually take place every two months and involve trainees getting together for a day of teaching, hosted by one of the hospital Trusts across the region.

With many events like this being cancelled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from Newcastle University’s AGE Research Group saw an opportunity to take their knowledge online. The result was an afternoon of talks and education for trainees across the North East.

AGE Research Group members, Professor Sian Robinson, Dr Ellen Tullo and Dr Terry Aspray gave talks, and they were joined by Newcastle University’s Dr Satomi Miwa, who gave a state of the art update on anti-senescence interventions.

There was also an update on recent developments in the Newcastle Hospitals’ Older People’s Medicine department and opportunities for research training at the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre.

33 trainees joined the event, and one commented:

“First Geriatric Medicine teaching via Zoom – I feel it worked really well, was engaging and interesting.”

The session was organised and chaired by Dr Richard Dodds, who commented:

“Even though it’s a shame not to meet in person, there are benefits to this approach; we could engage busy speakers without them needing to travel, and we could record the session, meaning that those who could not join, can catch-up when convenient.”