NEW YORK (December 14, 2006) — Weill Cornell Medical College has received a two-year $200,000 grant funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation and administered by the RAND Corporation to establish the New York City Interdisciplinary Geriatric Research Center (NYC-IGRC). The Center will be the site of innovative collaborative, multidisciplinary and community-based translational research and education aimed at improving the health of older adults in New York City.
Along with Weill Cornell, two other institutions will share the grant: Cornell University-Ithaca and the Center for Home Care Policy and Research, the research arm of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY). Collaborative research and education efforts will draw on the respective strengths of each institution, including in geriatrics, medicine, nursing, public health and social gerontology.
The new Geriatric Research Center will also leverage the resources of the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging (CITRA), a National Institute on Aging (NIA)-sponsored consortium of researchers, practitioners and community organizations that works together to design and implement applied research to improve the lives of older persons in New York City.
"We are very pleased to have been selected for this grant, signifying the importance of the University's work in geriatrics, as well as the promise of significant future contributions," says Dr. Cary Reid, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Geriatrics & Gerontology at Weill Cornell Medical College and associate attending physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "The grant will allow us to implement innovative clinical and health-services interventions in geriatrics, and to provide interdisciplinary research and training opportunities for new and established investigators."
Dr. Reid is also the Joachim Silbermann Family Clinical Scholar in Geriatric Palliative Care, a Robert Wood Johnson Generalist Physician Scholar and a Paul Beeson Faculty Scholar on Aging Research at Weill Cornell Medical College.
The Center will develop pilot studies that aim to address various geriatric issues — including barriers to advanced-care planning by minority elders, pain management for geriatric home-care patients, and social isolation among older adults.
The program will focus on recruiting and training new investigators in techniques in Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). In CBPR, community-based organizations (CBOs) or groups (such as neighborhood organizations and churches) work collaboratively with researchers in both the design and conduct of the research, including recruitment of subjects.
Regular seminars and workshops will provide specific training in CBPR for pre- and post-doctoral fellows and faculty, as well as master's-level trained nursing and public health staff at VNSNY interested in research career development; and promote meaningful dialogue between researchers and community practitioners (e.g., home-care nurses, social service agencies, etc.).
In 2005, the John A. Hartford Foundation designated the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology at Weill Cornell as one of 24 Centers of Excellence in Geriatrics nationally. That same year, the Foundation awarded a $450,000 grant to the Division.
For more information, patients may call (866) NYP-NEWS.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College — located in New York City — is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine. Weill Cornell, which is a principal academic affiliate of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, offers an innovative curriculum that integrates the teaching of basic and clinical sciences, problem-based learning, office-based preceptorships, and primary care and doctoring courses. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research in such areas as stem cells, genetics and gene therapy, geriatrics, neuroscience, structural biology, cardiovascular medicine, AIDS, obesity, cancer and psychiatry — and continue to delve ever deeper into the molecular basis of disease in an effort to unlock the mysteries behind the human body and the malfunctions that result in serious medical disorders. Weill Cornell Medical College is the birthplace of many medical advances — from the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer to the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., and most recently, the world's first clinical trial for gene therapy for Parkinson's disease. Weill Cornell's Physician Organization includes 650 clinical faculty, who provide the highest quality of care to their patients. For more information, visit med.cornell.edu.
The John A. Hartford Foundation
Founded in 1929, the John A. Hartford Foundation is a committed champion of training, research and service system innovations that promote the health and independence of America's older adults. Through its grant-making, the Foundation seeks to strengthen the nation's capacity to provide effective, affordable care to this rapidly increasing older population by educating "aging-prepared" health professionals (physicians, nurses, social workers), and developing innovations that improve and better integrate health and supportive services. The Foundation was established by John A. Hartford. Mr. Hartford and his brother, George L. Hartford, both former chief executives of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, left the bulk of their estates to the Foundation upon their deaths in the 1950s. Additional information about the Foundation and its programs is available at jhartfound.org.
The RAND Corporation
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world.
Lezlie Greenberg
leg2003@med.cornell.edu