Academic Career Leadership Award in Geriatric Palliative Care Research

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this Academic Career Leadership Award is to develop a Program in Palliative Care Research at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC). The Program will increase capacity for aging-related palliative care research at UCDHSC by formalizing critical connections and facilitating collaborations across disciplines, divisions, departments and institutions and providing necessary infrastructure, mentoring, and content and methodologic expertise. These collaborative research relationships will spark new and innovative approaches to improving care for an aging population with an increasing burden of serious advanced illness. The candidate, Jean S. Kutner, MD, MSPH, and the institution are uniquely qualified and situated to realize these goals. By leveraging the resources of the K07 award, current and new institutional resources, her demonstrated success within her academic division of building capacity in aging research and her established skills in leadership and program building, Dr. Kutner and the UCDHSC are poised to increase the visibility, overall research support and academic capacity for palliative care research at UCDHSC, as well as regionally and nationally. The proposed research plan focuses on behavioral research related to care for older adults with serious advanced illness, incorporating diverse disciplines, methodologies, approaches and populations. This goal of expanding and promoting interdisciplinary clinical research in geriatric palliative care will be attained by: 1) Providing infrastructural support, mentorship and a venue for collaboration for both established and new investigators; 2) Increasing active engagement in palliative care research among students, trainees, faculty and the community; and 3) Identifying gaps in the current evidence base and addressing research priorities relative to care of older adults with serious advanced illness. The expected outcome of this award is a sustainable Program in Palliative Care research that increases the number and diversity of faculty and trainees actively participating in palliative care research. Relevance: Although death occurs far more commonly in older adults than in any other age group, research in palliative care has predominantly focused on younger adults, especially those with cancer. The proposed geriatric palliative care research program seeks to improve research in and care for older adults with advanced illness to meet the needs of this growing population.