Balance disorders in older persons are common, disabling and complex. In order to prevent and treat these disorders, a concentrated, multidisciplinary effort to understand causes and consequences, and to develop innovative treatments, is needed. The team of investigators at Pittsburgh offers complementary expertise, outstanding research productivity, and ongoing studies to address this need through a Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center. This program includes faculty from 5 Schools; medicine, nursing, public health, allied health, and engineering.
The Specific Aims of the Pittsburgh Claude D. Pepper Center are to 1) develop interventions to improve function and independence in older adults with balance disorders, 2) integrate studies of physiologic, biomechanical and psychosocial mechanisms affecting balance with clinical studies, and 3) foster multidisciplinary research and research training. The Program has 5 Research Cores (Participant Core, Assessment Core, Technology Core, Data Management/Analysis Core and Adherence/Retention Core), a Research Career Development Core, a Pilot/Exploratory Core and a Leadership/Administration Core. The program integrates 11 independently funded studies. Training support is provided directly to Pepper Scholars and also to trainees in related programs. The long range goals of the Program are to 1) incorporate effective interventions to maintain or improve balance, and reduce the negative consequences of balance disorders, into usual clinical care and wellness programs in diverse health care and community settings and 2) further define an evidence-based differential diagnosis of contributors to balance disorders that can be used in clinical practice for prevention and treatment.
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