ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP AWARD IN DISABILITY AND DISABLING DISORDERS

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term objective of this Academic Leadership Award is to build a world-class research program in disability and disabling disorders at the Yale School of Medicine. The immediate objective is to elevate the visibility and stature of the candidate's newly established Center on Disability and Disabling Disorders, both locally and nationally. The Disability Center strives to address fundamental questions related to the epidemiology and prevention of disability, a problem of immense importance to older persons, their families and society. Under the direction of the candidate, the Center conducts epidemiologic studies and clinical trials to enhance the scientific knowledge base of the disablement process and to rigorously evaluate promising intervention strategies. The Center includes an expanding number of clinical investigators and trainees, across disciplines, who are pursuing aging research related to disability and disabling disorders. This includes functional assessment in general as well as the functional consequences of highly prevalent disease-specific conditions such as arthritis, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, influenza, diabetes, stroke, depression, and dementia. To accomplish its long-term objective, this Academic Leadership Award will carry out four specific aims: (1) to strengthen the infrastructure of the Disability Center by: (a) establishing and maintaining an operational registr of potential participants for pilot and other field studies; and (b) creating a repository of longitudinal studies and clinical trials focused on disability and disabling disorders; (2) to recrit and train outstanding fellows and junior faculty from multiple disciplines in the science of patien-oriented, aging research, with a primary focus on functional assessment, disability and disabling disorders; (3) to establish a pilot grant program to support the most promising epidemiologic and intervention studies focused on disability and disabling disorders; and (4) to expand the scope of research at Yale related to disability and disabling disorders. The candidate is an internationally recognized geriatrician and epidemiologist and a leading authority on the epidemiology and prevention of disability among older persons. By leveraging start-up funds from the Yale School of Medicine and an impressive array of outstanding institutional resources in aging research, training, and career development, this Academic Leadership Award will position the candidate to make the Disability Center self-sustaining through the subsequent receipt of a Program Project (P01) award and/or support from private philanthropy and other federal and non-federal sources.