This proposal seeks to establish an Older Americans Independence Center at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. The focus of this center is to promote independence for frail older adults through the development of interventions to prevent or ameliorate frailty and the many serious, adverse outcomes that frail older adults are at risk for. To accomplish this, a multidisciplinary group of senior and junior investigators, in multiple Departments and Programs at this institution, propose to implement, through this OAIC, 1. the leadership group that will stimulate, lead and sustain a University-wide interdisciplinary research program investigating frailty, its etiology and opportunities for treatment; 2. the infrastructure and methodologic development essential to creating the next generations of research on frailty in older adults; 3. to support the career development of outstanding junior faculty committed to research careers that will lead to treatments for frailty and its prevention; and 4. to cultivate and support pilot studies that will provide the basis for investigator-initiated and funded research on frailty over the long run. The OAIC would provide the support critical to organizing the substantial strengths already at this institution into a unified and potent effort directed at developing interventions for frailty. It is designed to ensure multidisciplinary translation between basic and clinical/population-based research, and of both into development of treatments for frailty. This organized infrastructure and scientific leadership can serve as a source of advice and collaborations to investigators at our own institution and at other institutions in the area of research on frailty in aging. The OAIC will be administratively led by, and housed in, the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health, with strong leadership and participation by all of the institutional programs committed to aging research; it will also incorporate leaders and investigators not previously involved in research on frailty but who have made a commitment to this work through the planning process for this proposal. This OAIC has strong institutional commitment, based on the priority at the Medical Institutions for the unification and strengthening of aging research and spotlighting its importance for the entire institution. Overall, it is designed to spearhead a new depth and intensity of research to improve outcomes and promote independence for frail, older adults. ? ?
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