Patient-Oriented Research in Aging

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application supports a renewal of the Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research from the NIA to Albert L. Siu, M.D., M.S.P.H. Dr. Siu has been at Mount Sinai since 1995 where he has worked within 3 departments (Health Policy, Medicine, and Geriatrics) to build a clinical research program in aging. In November 2002, he became the Chairman of Geriatrics. Over the course of his current award, he has been the primary or secondary mentor to 11 junior investigators who have received 10 career development awards. He is currently active as the primary research mentor to 4 mentees and as the secondary research mentor to 4 mentees. Dr. Siu's clinical research in aging focuses on functional status and on the antecedent impairments and disease entities that contribute to poor function. He is proposing mentoring activities that have a focus broader than his personal research interests in recognition of a) the varied interests of potential mentees, b) the considerable overlap between research in functional impairment and in other geriatric clinical syndromes, and c) the importance of engaging the participation of researchers from other clinical disciplines specializing in the impairments and disease entities that contribute to functional impairment and geriatric clinical syndromes. The specific aims of this application are to: 1) to mentor trainees in geriatrics and other clinical disciplines to conduct patient-oriented research in aging; 2) to use the candidate's and his mentees' ongoing research as a platform to support new mentees and their research; 3) to enhance the infrastructure to support patient-oriented research in aging; and 4) to support pilot studies in patient-oriented research in aging. The proposed mentored patient-oriented research program will provide the mentored investigators with direct research experiences in projects involving the candidate and his mentees. The hands-on research experience will be complemented by 1) classroom experiences matched to the trainee's needs, 2) a weekly lab meeting for clinical research in aging; and 3) less formal sessions that are grounded in adult learning principles to cover a series of topics that collectively might be considered "survival" skills for clinical researchers in aging.