The Wake Forest University Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (WFU OAIC) has cultivated expertise to develop and test interventions to improve physical function and prevent disability in a translational approach that integrates medicine, behavioral and cognitive science, biostatistics, genomics, basic science, state-of-the-art imaging modalities, and clinical and population approaches. Based on its theme, integrating pathways affecting physical function for new approaches to disability treatment and prevention, the WFU OAIC will pursue four programmatic aims: 1. Discover new common pathways contributing to age-related declines in physical function and disability; 2. Develop, evaluate and refine strategies for disability treatment and prevention; 3. Translate proven strategies beyond the traditional academic research environment; and 4. Train the next generation of researchers leaders focused on disability treatment and prevention. The infrastructure to pursue these aims will be provided by 4 highly productive and interactive research support cores: the Clinical Research Core; Biostatistics and Research Information Systems Core; Integrative Biology Core; and Bioimaging Resource Core. Under continuing and dedicated leadership of Drs. Kritchevsky and Kitzman, the Leadership and Administrative Core will coordinate these research core activities with those of the Research Career Development and Pilot and Exploratory Studies Cores. The WFU OAIC will use its core structure and highly integrated approach to: 1) discover and incorporate new pathways important to functional decline, including brain-mediated ones, into a multi-factorial model that supports intervention development and translational, multi-disciplinary collaborative research; 2) evaluate interventions targeting obesity, one of the most important threats to continued improvement of age-related disability rates; 3) increase the translation of proven approaches into clinical and community settings; 4) train the next generation of research leaders focused on disability treatment and prevention; and 5) refine effective strategies to increase research efficiency in response to diminished resources for aging research. The infrastructure to pursue these aims will be provided by 4 highly productive and interactive research support cores: the Clinical Research Core; Biostatistics and Research Information Systems Core; Integrative Biology Core; and Biolmaging Resource Core. Under continuing and dedicated leadership of Drs. Kritchevsky and Kitzman, the Leadership and Administrative Core will coordinate these research core activities with those of the Research Career Development and Pilot and Exploratory Studies Cores. The WFU OAIC will use its core structure and highly integrated approach to: 1) discover and incorporate new pathways important to functional decline, including brain-mediated ones, into a multi-factorial model that supports intervention development and translational, multi-disciplinary collaborative research; 2) evaluate interventions targeting obesity, one of the most important threats to continued improvement of age-related disability rates; 3) increase the translation of proven approaches into clinical and community settings; 4) train the next generation of research leaders focused on disability treatment and prevention; and 5) refine effective strategies to increase research efficiency in response to diminished resources for aging research.
In anticipation of the needs of the growing number of older adults, the WFU OAIC will identify and evaluate novel strategies to prevent physical disability and return disabled older adults to independence using its highly integrated research and training infrastructure.
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