? ? This is a revised application for a Mid-Career Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24). The applicant, Dr. Thomas Perls, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Geriatrics and Founder and Director of the New England Centenarian Study. Having received an NIH physician scientist award (K-12) and a Paul Beeson Faculty Scholar in Aging Research Award, Dr. Perls proceeded to become an independent scientist devoted to patient-oriented research. Specifically, through these earlier mentored awards, Dr. Perls developed expertise in conducting a population-based phenotypic study of an extremely old cohort. His independence is demonstrated by his receipt of four other NIH grants (RO-3, R-21 and two R0-1s). Dr. Perls has a substantial record of mentoring students and clinical investigators at various stages of their careers. He has mentored five American Federation of Aging Research Medical Student Geriatrics Scholars, three premedical and pre-graduate school students, two geriatrics fellows, a pre-doctoral fellow and an Assistant Professor in Geriatrics. All of these trainees successfully published papers with Dr. Perls. While carrying out the aims of his R01-funded study, a population-based bio-demographic study of centenarians and their families, this K24 grant provides that 15% effort will be devoted to gathering preliminary data and developing applications to fund a genetic epidemiological study of centenarians. Dr. Perls will attend courses in bioethics, responsible conduct of clinical investigations and genetic epidemiology as a part of his career development-related education goals. These centenarian studies provide fertile ground for mentees to gain hands-on experience in clinical research. Innumerable aspects of exceptional longevity are available for study from spirituality, personality, adaptive capacity and functional reserve, to demographic and clinical observations to epigenetic associations. 35% effort will be dedicated to mentoring established and future mentees. A large and diverse academic community with a broad spectrum of training programs will ensure ? an ample pool of highly qualified and talented mentees. ? ? Relevance to public health: The study of human exceptional longevity under Dr. Perls's mentorship, provides trainees, from students to junior faculty, fertile ground for studying a broad range of aspects of successful aging from religion, personality, adaptive capacity and functional reserve to environmental, behavioral and genetic associations with exceptional survival. Subsequent findings may ultimately translate into strategies that help people age more successfully. ? ?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24)
Project #
5K24AG025727-02
Application #
7189048
Study Section
National Institute on Aging Initial Review Group (NIA)
Program Officer
Rossi, Winifred K
Project Start
2006-03-01
Project End
2011-01-31
Budget Start
2007-03-15
Budget End
2008-01-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$131,548
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston Medical Center
Department
Type
DUNS #
005492160
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02118
Kaufman, Laura B; Setiono, Tiffany K; Doros, Gheorghe et al. (2014) An oral health study of centenarians and children of centenarians. J Am Geriatr Soc 62:1168-73
An, Ping; Miljkovic, Iva; Thyagarajan, Bharat et al. (2014) Genome-wide association study identifies common loci influencing circulating glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels in non-diabetic subjects: the Long Life Family Study (LLFS). Metabolism 63:461-8
Sebastiani, Paola; Sun, Fangui X; Andersen, Stacy L et al. (2013) Families Enriched for Exceptional Longevity also have Increased Health-Span: Findings from the Long Life Family Study. Front Public Health 1:38
Andersen, Stacy L; Sebastiani, Paola; Dworkis, Daniel A et al. (2012) Health span approximates life span among many supercentenarians: compression of morbidity at the approximate limit of life span. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 67:395-405
Anson, R Michael; Willcox, Bradley; Austad, Steven et al. (2012) Within- and between-species study of extreme longevity--comments, commonalities, and goals. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 67:347-50
Sebastiani, Paola; Solovieff, Nadia; Dewan, Andrew T et al. (2012) Genetic signatures of exceptional longevity in humans. PLoS One 7:e29848
Newman, Anne B; Glynn, Nancy W; Taylor, Christopher A et al. (2011) Health and function of participants in the Long Life Family Study: A comparison with other cohorts. Aging (Albany NY) 3:63-76
Sebastiani, Paola; Riva, Alberto; Montano, Monty et al. (2011) Whole genome sequences of a male and female supercentenarian, ages greater than 114?years. Front Genet 2:90
Solovieff, Nadia; Hartley, Stephen W; Baldwin, Clinton T et al. (2010) Clustering by genetic ancestry using genome-wide SNP data. BMC Genet 11:108
Sebastiani, Paola; Perls, Thomas T (2010) Prediction models that include genetic data. Circ Cardiovasc Genet 3:1-2

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