The mission of the Northwest Roybal Center (NRC) is to improve the health, well-being, quality of life and productivity of older adults with cognitive impairment, midlife and older adults at risk for cognitive impairment, and their caregivers through the translation of basic behavioral and social sciences research. The NRC focuses on the systematic and strategic translation of well-researched methods of assessment and evidence-based interventions along the full continuum of environments in which older adults reside and receive care (Including private homes, retirement communities, assisted living residences, adult family homes and skilled nursing facilities.) The NRC capitalizes on unique yet well-established strengths: the NWRGA, a collaborative team of interdisciplinary researchers with 20+ years of NlH-funded community based research; the UW School of Nursing (SoN), ranked #1 for research in the U.S; the ITHS, an NlH funded CTSA collaboratory of researchers throughout the five-state area of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho, and the Group Health Cooperative-Center for Health Studies, part of the largest HMO in the U.S.
The aims of the NRC are to: (1) Develop and maintain an infrastructure that supports and sustains translational research; (2) Provide administrative, financial, technical, and scholarly support to pilot studies that address four of the five priority areas identified in the current FOA: mechanisms of behavior change, novel interventions exploiting the malleability of biobehavioral risk mechanisms, novel...programs affecting older populations, and novel programs or practices at homes, workplaces. and (3) Enhance and maintain strong interdisciplinary and interagency partnerships among researchers, practitioners, and consumers to ensure that promising avenues of research are translated into the community expeditiously and effectively over the course of the NRC's lifecycle.
The NRC will address one of the most important health problems of our time: enhancing the health, wellbeing, and productivity, of older adults with cognitive impairment, midlife or older adults at risk for cognitive impairment, and their caregivers, through the strategic translation of well-researched methods of assessment and evidence-based interventions to broad-based community settings, including the full continuum of care and environments in which older adults reside and receive care.
