News Release

UNC Institute on Aging Announces Winners of the Research Stimulus Grants in Aging Program

June 22, 2007

Awards in the form of pilot grants for interdisciplinary team building and research grant development in aging were given to four researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Funding for this grant program was provided, in large part, by The UNC-CH Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development. The aim of the Research Stimulus Grants in Aging program is to build greater strength in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary aging research on the UNC-CH campus. During the one year funding period, grantees will be expected to use the award to build an interdisciplinary team and to develop a research proposal in aging.

The Institute on Aging’s Research Stimulus Grants Program, now in its second year, provides structured mentorship experiences to foster research development. Recipients work with individual mentors or mentor teams and attend monthly workshops.

The funded pilot projects and interdisciplinary teams include:

Use of Post-Acute Rehabilitation Care and Clinical Trajectories Following Stroke, Hip Fracture, and Joint Replacement

Principal Investigator: Janet K. Freburger, PT, Ph.D., Research Fellow, Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

Investigator Team: Leigh Callahan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Orthopedics, and Social Medicine, Research Fellow, Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, Adjunct Professor, Department of Epidemiology; Sally C. Stearns, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Administration, Research Fellow, Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, Adjunct Professor, Department of Economics

IOA Mentor: Malcolm Cutchin, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Occupational Science
Department of Allied Health Sciences, School of Medicine, IOA Senior Research Scientist

Cancer Cachexia: Cytokines and Physical Exercise

Principal Investigator: A.C. Hackney, Ph.D., CPH, Director Applied Physiology Lab, Professor, Physiology & Nutrition, Department of Nutrition-SPH and Department of Exercise and Sport Science

Co-investigators: Claudio Battaglini, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Exercise and Sport Science; Diane Groff, Ed.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Exercise and Sport Science; Shelton Earp, M.D., Director of Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Professor, Medicine & Pharmacology; Thomas Shea, M.D., Professor, Medicine & Clinical Research Hematology Oncology

Investigator Team: Rey Garcia, RN, OCN, Nurse Clinician II;

IOA Mentor: Victor Marshall, Ph.D., Director UNC Institute on Aging; Professor, Department of Sociology

Instrument Validation of a Falls Risk Home Self-Assessment Tool

Principal Investigator: Bonita L. Marks, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Exercise Physiology, Department of Exercise and Sport Science, Adjunct Research Associate Professor Emergency Medicine, and Director of the Exercise Science Teaching Lab and the Undergraduate Fitness Professional Track

Investigator Team: Laurence M. Katz, M.D., FACEP, Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Co-Director of the Carolina Resuscitation Research Group, Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Exercise and Sport Science; Kevin Guskiewicz, Ph.D., Department of Exercise and Sport Science, Department Chair and Director of the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes, Director of the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory; Edgar J. Shields, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Exercise and Sport Science, Statistician and Director of EXSS Graduate Studies.

IOA Mentor: Carol Giuliani, P.T., Ph.D., Professor, Department of Human Movement Sciences, Division of Allied Health Sciences, School of Medicine, IOA Senior Research Scientist

Clot Structure and Venous Thrombosis and Thromboembolism in the Elderly

Principal Investigator: Alisa S. Wolberg, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Investigator Team: Susan T. Lord, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine; Caterina Gallippi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering; Stephan Moll, M.D., Associate Professor, Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine

IOA Mentor: Virginia Neelon, Ph.D., R.N., Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Director of the Biobehavioral Laboratory