Enhancing Independence in Elders with Serious Illness

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The Mount Sinai OAIC's innovative mission is to stimulate, develop, and fund research directed at improving the quality of life and independence of older adults with serious illness, their families, and other caregivers. Over the past 9 years of existence, the OAIC has emerged as a key contributor in the movement to improve quality of care for the sickest patients in our nation's healthcare system. We have: 1) created a new generation of geriatric palliative care researchers who are addressing the most pressing problems of our most vulnerable patients; 2) enhanced the evidence base for improving quality of life and independence in seriously ill older adults and their caregivers through innovative and cutting edge research; and 3) created a national network of geriatric palliative care researchers. The objective of this renewal application is 1) to expand a comprehensive transdisciplinary research program focused on improving quality of life, independence, and function and on developing and testing models of improving care for older adults living with serious illness; 2) to identify, recruit, and train leaders in aging and palliative care research; 3) to expand a research infrastructure that will support new and ongoing research in the care of seriously ill older adults; and 4) to develop a research center that bridges the transdisciplinary specialties of geriatrics and palliative care and that will serve as a model for research that has not been well addressed by these two specialties. We approach the work of advancing research in geriatric palliative care and its translation by considering the full range of translational research and through a comprehensive framework of connected and coordinated activities that starts with creating a pipeline of trainees, supporting their research development, providing infrastructure and resources for research, nurturing and facilitating collaborative research, and ends with targeted efforts to disseminate the work to improve the life of older persons and their families. We bring together research resources at Mount Sinai, engage other experts in the region, and leverage a national network of experts and trainees through the National Palliative Care Research Center. To amplify the OAIC's impact, we also propose new innovative initiatives, including the formation of a new Pepper Center Palliative Care Network and two cross-cutting themes focused on dementia and the often- neglected and final step of translational research—the adoption of the findings of research into practice. By strategically leveraging local and national resources and building on other successful programs, the OAIC proposes to maximize its impact by creating a Center that is comprehensive in scope, significant in its local impact, and national in its reach.