Evaluating AGE-PAIRS, an Intergenerational Mentorship Program for Medical Students With Older Adult Physician Alumni

Older adult mentor programs offer a way for medical schools to prepare future clinicians to care for our aging population, including tools for avoiding the negative health impacts of ageism. AGE-PAIRS (Aging and Geriatrics Education: Physician Alumni Intergenerational Relationships with Medical Students) is a novel mentoring program that involves matching medical school students with older adult physician alumni mentors.

AGE-PAIRS was implemented at Harvard Medical School from August 2024 to May 2025. The curriculum includes a program orientation, bimonthly structured conversations focused on four topics (Medicine: An Evolving Field, Perceptions of Aging, Retirement & A Changing Life, Addressing Ageism), and program evaluation. Evaluation included pre- and post-program surveys assessing attitudes toward aging using adapted validated instruments, student-written reflections, and students and mentor focus groups.

A total of 148 medical student-mentor dyads participated in AGE-PAIRS. Satisfaction was high as 78.2% mentors and 84.3% students expressed their experience in the program was positive as opposed to neutral or negative, and 92% of mentors wished to participate again. Baseline attitudes toward aging were positive and remained stable for both mentors and students. Qualitative analysis of 242 student reflections and mentor focus groups (n = 50 mentors) highlighted themes of workforce and curricular change, the experience of aging and ageism, professional growth, and the value of intergenerational relationships.

AGE-PAIRS demonstrates the feasibility of engaging physician alumni as mentors in early geriatrics education and suggests that structured intergenerational mentorship can support empathy and professional identity formation. Future work will integrate AGE-PAIRS more deeply into graded coursework, add structured mentor reflections, expand participation across all class years, and evaluate higher-level outcomes such as geriatrics knowledge, clinical performance, and interest in geriatrics careers.