Geriatric psychiatry, also known as geriatric medicine or gerontological psychiatry, is a branch of medicine and a subspecialty of psychiatry that deals with the study, prevention, and treatment of neurodegeneration, cognitive impairment, and mental disorders in older adults. Geriatric psychiatry as a subspecialty has significant overlap with the specialties of geriatrics, behavioral neurology, neuropsychiatry, neurology, and general psychiatry. Geriatric psychiatry has become a formal subspecialty of psychiatry with a defined curriculum and core competencies. The origins of geriatric psychiatry began with Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist who first identified amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in a fifty-year-old woman he named Auguste Dieter. These plaques and tangles were later identified as responsible for her behavioral symptoms, short-term memory loss, and psychiatric symptoms. These brain abnormalities would become the determinants of what later became known as Alzheimer's disease. The subspecialty of geriatric psychiatry originated in the United Kingdom in the 1950s. The geriatric unit, the term for a hospital-based geriatric psychiatry program, was first introduced in 1984 by Norman White, when he opened New England's first specialty program at a community hospital in Rochester, New Hampshire. White is a pioneer in geriatric psychiatry, being among the first psychiatrists in the nation to be board certified in the field. The prefix psychiatry was suggested for the geriatric program, but White, who knew the New Englanders' aversion to anything psychological, successfully pressed for the name geriatrics rather than psychiatry. Diseases and disorders diagnosed or managed by geriatric psychiatrists include: A geriatric psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the medical subspecialty called geriatric psychiatry. A geriatric psychiatrist is board-certified after specialized training following a medical degree, residency, and additional geriatric psychiatry fellowship. Requirements may vary by state. Geriatric psychiatrists are also psychiatrists qualified in the general diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. Some geriatric psychiatrists also conduct research to determine the cause and best treatment for neurodegenerative disorders and mental health disorders in later life. Geriatric psychiatrists may perform neurological examinations, mental status examinations, laboratory tests, neuroimaging, and cognitive assessments to investigate the causes of psychiatric or neurological symptoms in old age. The International Geriatric Psychiatry Association is an international community of scientists and geriatric care professionals working in the field of geriatric mental health. International Geriatric Psychiatry is the official journal of the International Psychiatric Association. The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada is responsible for the training and certification of geriatric psychiatrists in Canada. Geriatric psychiatry requires an additional year of subspecialty fellowship training in addition to general psychiatric training. The Royal College of Psychiatrists is responsible for the training and certification of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom. Within the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Faculty of Geriatric Psychiatry is responsible for training in geriatric psychiatry. Physicians who are members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists can undertake a three- or four-year training program to become a geriatric psychiatrist. There is currently a shortage of geriatric psychiatrists in the United Kingdom. The American Geriatric Psychiatry Association is a national organization representing health care providers who specialize in late-life mental disorders. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry is the official journal of the association. Both the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Osteopathic Board of Neurology and Psychiatry issue board certification in geriatric psychiatry. After a 4-year residency in psychiatry, a psychiatrist can complete a 1-year fellowship in geriatric psychiatry. There are several geriatric psychiatry fellowships.