Reid Aging and Pain Research Training Program

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Summary/Abstract My patient-oriented research program focuses on addressing key knowledge gaps related to the problem of later-life pain, a common, morbid, and costly disorder. I seek renewal of my National Institute on Aging (NIA) K24 Award to expand a robust program of mentorship established over the past 4 years and to support my program of patient-oriented research focused on later-life pain and symptom management. Specific aims I intend to accomplish over the next funding period include: 1) Developing, testing, and disseminating non- pharmacologic intervention strategies to improve pain and pain-related outcomes among older adults with a focus on the use of new technologies when appropriate; 2) Expanding an already existing robust pipeline of trainees committed to careers in patient-oriented research; 3) Expanding my research focuses to gain further expertise in and ability to conduct patient-oriented research on: a) cognitively impaired older adult populations with pain; b) the role of family caregivers in improving pain care outcomes; c) non-pharmacologic approaches to pain other than behavioral interventions (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy) such as non-invasive neuro- stimulation techniques (e.g., transcranial direct current stimulation); and d) the development and evaluation of new pain assessment tools; and finally 4) Obtaining new funding to support research that capitalizes on recently completed and ongoing research, thereby expanding opportunities to attract and train new mentees throughout the award period. My mentorship program consists of structured educational and career development activities A supervised research program tailored to the trainees’ experience, interests, and needs constitutes the core mentorship activity. This training is supplemented by access to a rich array of educational and other career building resources and the development of an individualized career development plan along with regularly scheduled evaluations that help to ensure timely trainee progress and achievement of mutually agreed upon goals. The Cornell environment offers extensive resources to support the candidate’s research and mentoring programs and provides a rich array of trainee pipelines. Cornell’s NIA-funded Edward R. Roybal Center (which I direct) and a postdoctoral training program in behavioral geriatrics research (which I co-direct) constitute major leveraged resources. Evidence of mentorship success since receipt of K24 funding in 2016 includes recruiting, training and fostering the career development of 25 trainees, including 5 minority trainees and 18 women. Evidence of research productivity includes publishing 70 peer-reviewed articles over this period of time, many in high impact journals, as well as successfully launching the T32 training program and obtaining competitive renewal funding for Cornell’s Roybal Center (P30 grant). The focus of my ongoing projects, my proposed career development activities described above, and my continued mentorship of junior and early mid-career investigators, will help to move the field of later-life research forward, leading to improved health and well-being of adults adversely affected by later-life pain.