Improving the Telehealth Delivery of Care for Older Veterans with Cancer and Cognitive Impairment
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PROJECT SUMMARY ABSTRACT – Overall UCSF Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) The UCSF OAIC theme is "Predictors, Outcomes, and Amelioration of Late-life Disability: A Focus on Vulnerable Populations." Late-life disability will affect 80% of older Americans, has a profound impact on patient and caregiver quality of life, and carries large costs. These challenges have special resonance for older adults who are vulnerable, which we conceptualize as a complex interplay of both medical vulnerability (such as cancer in persons with complex multimorbidity) and social vulnerability (such as social isolation or poverty). We are deeply committed to advancing the science of preventing and ameliorating disability in older adults with these vulnerabilities, in large part by mentoring and supporting the future leaders of aging science who will develop this theme. During our first 9 years, the UCSF OAIC has supported and mentored an interdisciplinary community of investigators whose paradigm-shifting research that has changed clinical practice and policy and yielded major advances in our understanding of disability, including elucidating inextricable linkages between medical and social vulnerabilities. We have been a galvanizing force at UCSF, infusing aging science into a wide array of specialties and disciplines. Our dedication to developing the next generation of researchers has led to publications in the highest impact journals, R01 awards, an unprecedented number of GEMSSTAR and Beeson Awards, and mentorship awards for OAIC Leaders. During the next cycle, we will build on our track record of success while growing and innovating in new directions to respond to emerging opportunities. Our two resource cores – the Data and Analysis Core (DAC) and the Vulnerable Aging Research Core (VARC) - will catalyze a wide spectrum of clinical and outcomes research. Our Research and Education Component (REC) Scholars and Pilot and Exploratory Studies (PESC) Scholars will be provided the resources, mentorship, and community to build a platform for long-term research success in our theme area. Our Leadership and Administration Core (LAC) will guide the Center's activities and mission and ensure tight integration between all of our Cores and activities. Together, we will advance our center's 5 aims: to (1) Catalyze research on disability in vulnerable older persons by serving as a hub that brings together scholars and leverages resources to advance aging disability science and career development; (2) Provide core access to data resources, statistical support, and expertise enrolling and retaining vulnerable older subjects in order to stimulate new research on disability; (3) Identify the future leaders of geriatrics research and catalyze their development with career development funding and exceptional mentoring; (4) Support pilot studies that accelerate aging science and lead to research funding in late life disability; and (5) Develop a leadership and administrative structure that spurs interdisciplinary collaboration, making the OAIC greater than the sum of its parts.
