A Research Mentoring Program in Geriatric Rehabilitative Care

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Rehabilitative care can play a major role in preventative care for older adults, targeting the prevention of functional decline and disability. This is known as Prehabilitative Care. There are an insufficient number of mentors in Geriatric Rehabilitative care and specifically Prehabilitative care. I am Physiatrist in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) at Harvard Medical School applying for a renewal of a highly successful K24 mid-career development award. The patient-oriented research (POR) in my initial award used a longitudinal cohort study as its platform and advanced our knowledge of: 1) clinical assessment tools targeting mobility and falls; 2) important modifiable risk factors for mobility decline; and 3) characterized important conditions that influence these outcomes. I successfully mentored 18 trainees, from diverse backgrounds, leading to over 45 original publications. In addition to the pre-existing longitudinal cohort study, which was recently publicly archived, a new VA funded randomized controlled trial focusing on Prehabilitative care will serve as the primary platform for this renewal. Trainees will be exposed to principles and concepts of geriatric rehabilitation, Prehabilitative care, POR and the conduct of clinical trials. Over the previous 20 years, I have led a successful research career in the Department of PM&R at Harvard Medical School (HMS). In 2015, I became the Director of New England Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (NEGRECC), the first Physiatrist to ever lead a VA GRECC. The transition to my VA leadership role took time and diverted my effort. I am now ready to resume my role as a K24 mentor. I am an Associate Professor, and my appointment to Professor is advancing through the promotions process. My current administrative, research, educational and clinical responsibilities within VA only allows 10% effort/week for mentoring of research trainees. I have a joint appointment between the VA and HMS. Under this award, my non-VA responsibilities will be relieved such that I will be enabled to direct an additional 30% effort/week towards the mentoring of research trainees in POR bringing my total effort to devote to mentoring to 40%. Projects that support this award include a VA merit award (RX003095-01A1) as well as the recently archived longitudinal cohort study (1R01AG032052). Also, the work will be supported by the NIH funded Boston Pepper Center, the Boston Roybal Center and the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science as well as the NEGRECC. With the themes of Geriatric Rehabilitation and Prehabilitation, we will provide: direct mentoring with the PI, training in rehabilitation science and aging research, training in the responsible conduct of research, training in research project management, data analysis, biostatistical consultation, and an K24 advisory board consisting of experienced scientists in relevant fields of interest. Redundancies are built in to the offerings to provide varying options that successfully serve the individual needs of all trainees. This grant will have a significant impact on geriatric rehabilitative care by supporting our laboratory as a vital pipeline for POR.