Older Americans Independence Center

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Overall: Project Summary This is a renewal application for the Johns Hopkins University Older Americans Independence Center (JHU OAIC). In the current cycle dating to 2018, this OAIC has nurtured extensive accomplishment, contributing to 150 publications and findings that facilitated the funding of 35 additional grants focused on frailty and aging. Investigators in this OAIC seek to promote independence in older adults through the study of the etiologies and clinical ramifications of frailty and through the translation of this knowledge into the development of novel, frailty-focused diagnostic, treatment, and prevention strategies. This proposal’s specific aims to achieve these goals are: 1) Stimulate and develop effective frailty-focused interdisciplinary research programs; 2) Translate the frailty-focused knowledge generated into targeted prevention and treatment strategies that help older adults maintain independence; 3) Provide focused and accessible frailty-related training and mentorship to junior investigators interested in developing careers aiming to maintain independence in older adults; 4) Provide to OAIC-supported investigators the highest quality inter-disciplinary expertise and infrastructure in biostatistical, biological, and clinical science—and, new to this cycle, also in engineering and technology; 5) Support the development of innovative methodologies, research strategies and technologies essential to the study of frailty; and 6) Attract outstanding investigators and trainees to frailty research from across JHU and promote visibility of their science locally and nationally. A Research Education Component and Pilot / Exploratory Studies Core will provide training, mentorship, and both advisory and material support for research projects for supported investigators. Highly integrated resource cores focused on biostatistics, biological mechanisms, clinical translation / recruitment, and technological assessment / solutions will provide supported investigators with the interdisciplinary expertise, training, mentorship, assistance, and services necessary to perform outstanding frailty-focused basic, clinical and translational research. The Leadership and Administration Core will provide scientific visioning, administrative and regulatory oversight, and will also guide the dissemination of frailty research through our frailty science website, social media, innovative educational initiatives, embedding in the OAIC network, partnerships with scientific and professional organizations, formation of communities of practice, and outreach efforts. Woven throughout the whole is an intensified focus on health equity. This OAIC will continue to be directed by a long-standing, interdisciplinary, accomplished, and highly visible leadership team who will develop an ongoing vision for the next generation of frailty science and have worked to build a scientifically and culturally diverse community of scholars and trainees around frailty. This team is dedicated to developing the next generation of needed scientific advances and disseminating resulting strategies into practice and policy that extend independence and improve health for millions of older adults.