Candidate: My career goal is to become an independent physician-scientist and national leader in geriatric critical care outcomes research whose body of work improves the long-term functional outcomes of critically ill older adults. My clinical training as a Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) physician and research training in Geriatric Clinical Epidemiology have prepared me to pursue this career path. My track record of early success is evidenced by the publication of high-impact original reports and the receipt of 3 grants, including a GEMSSTAR award. I have already distinguished myself as a national leader in my specialty as well as in geriatrics: I founded and am co-chair of the American Thoracic Society Critical Care Assembly's Aging and Geriatrics Working Group, and was recently selected as an incoming co-chair of the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) Medical Subspecialties Section. My research efforts have been recognized nationally, with the AGS New Investigator Award, and at Yale, with the prestigious Iva Dostanic Physician-Scientist Award. Mentors and Environment: I have an exceptional team of mentors and advisors, including my primary mentor Dr. Thomas Gill (Geriatrics), a leading expert on the epidemiology and prevention of disability, co-mentor Dr. Margaret Pisani (PCCM), an expert in critical care outcomes research, and advisor Dr. Terrence Murphy, a biostatistician with expertise in longitudinal studies of aging and critical care outcomes research. My research and career development plans draw on the wealth of resources available at Yale, including the Yale Program on Aging/Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, the Yale School of Public Health, and one of the largest intensive care units (ICUs) in the country at Yale-New Haven Hospital. These resources, and the support provided by the Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, provide an ideal environment for my career development and execution of the proposed research. Mentored Research Project: Nearly 1.4 million older adults survive an ICU stay each year, and many of these will suffer from increased disability. Our prior work has demonstrated that premorbid factors are strongly associated with the course of disability after a critical illness ? yet no mechanism exists to identify which older ICU patients are at risk of increased disability. To address this knowledge gap, I have proposed an innovative research project that leverages the wealth of resources available at Yale in addition to two high-quality longitudinal datasets: the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and Precipitating Events Project (PEP). The overall objective is to develop, externally validate, and pilot test a predictive tool (that incorporates premorbid risk factors) to identify older ICU patients at risk of worsening post-ICU disability and provide a personal estimate of the increase in disability. The results will inform the design and conduct of a larger prospective cohort study to test the accuracy of the tool in predicting post-ICU disability as well as a subsequent clinical trial testing interventions to improve post-ICU functional outcomes among older adults.
Over 1 million adults age 65 or older survive an admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) each year in the United States. Although many will suffer from worsening disability, defined as increased difficulty or dependence in carrying out activities important for independent living, ICU providers have no way to identify which older ICU patients are at risk of this poor outcome. The PREDICT study will develop, validate and pilot test a predictive tool that uses questions and simple clinical assessments to identify which older ICU patients are at risk of worsening disability and provide a personal estimate of the increase in disability.
| Ferrante, Lauren E; Murphy, Terrence E; Gahbauer, Evelyne A et al. (2018) Pre-Intensive Care Unit Cognitive Status, Subsequent Disability, and New Nursing Home Admission among Critically Ill Older Adults. Ann Am Thorac Soc 15:622-629 |
| Brummel, Nathan E; Ferrante, Lauren E (2018) Integrating Geriatric Principles into Critical Care Medicine: The Time Is Now. Ann Am Thorac Soc 15:518-522 |
| Makris, Una E; Ferrante, Lauren E; Mody, Lona (2018) Leadership Lessons: Building and Nurturing a High-Performing Clinical Research Team. J Am Geriatr Soc 66:1258-1261 |
| Ferrante, Lauren E; Pisani, Margaret A; Murphy, Terrence E et al. (2018) The Association of Frailty With Post-ICU Disability, Nursing Home Admission, and Mortality: A Longitudinal Study. Chest 153:1378-1386 |
