Dear Friends,
Welcome to this special research edition of the HIGN newsletter! Building on HIGN’s legacy of applied research in geriatrics, we are excited to share with you the exponential growth of our research portfolio that furthers our mission, ensuring older adults achieve optimal health and quality of life. Since 2016, when Dr. Bei Wu joined as our director of research, we have steadily developed our research faculty and infrastructure. With foci in health equity, implementation science/pragmatic trials, mobile health, and health services research, our growing team of over 40 students, staff, and faculty have developed innovative, real-world lines of inquiries that have substantial impact on policy and practice, touching the lives of tens of thousands of older adults and their families.
One of the most exciting things about fostering this growth has been to see our diverse and talented HIGN team work together to further the science and caring of older adults. Our research collaborative comes together every other week to ask questions, critique work in preparation for submission, problem solve research challenges, learn, and develop new collaborations. We’ve created a positive, collaborative culture where individuals throughout our enterprise feel belonging, leading to strong contributions in support of our flourishing enterprise.
For instance, Luchy Gonzalez, an undergraduate summer research scholar developed an impactful project on inequities in prescribing patterns in hospice amongst persons living with dementia. Xiang Qi, a PhD student, completed a study with Dr. Wu that highlights the impact poor oral health has on the cognitive status of older adults and was reported on by multiple news outlets. And three early career faculty collaborated to highlight the need for engaging nursing assistants in nursing homes to enhance receptivity to COVID-19 vaccination. These are but a few of the examples of how our collaborative work is informing policy makers and changing practice.
As we ring in 2022, we look forward to continued innovation and collaboration in impactful aging research. Dr. Jasmine Travers is launching her recently funded Beeson Award from NIA (tied for only the 4th nurse to ever receive this prestigious aging leadership award) to better understand the unmet needs that disproportionately drive avoidable nursing home placement amongst racial and ethnic minorities. Dr. Wu and a collaborator, Dr. Xinqi Dong, will further establish their new Rutgers-NYU Center for Asian Health Promotion and Equity (CAHPE) to understand the linkages between cardiometabolic disease and mental health through an NIMHD P50 award. And, Dr. Daniel David will complete work funded by the National Palliative Care Research Center focused on understanding the palliative needs of individuals living in Medicaid funded assisted living facilities. Other examples of our investigators are highlighted in more depth below. I’ll end this note with a moment of gratitude for Dr. Wu’s leadership of our HIGN research enterprise these past 5 years, as she transitions to her new expanded role here at NYU Meyers. In her new role, she will continue to serve as an HIGN affiliated faculty member, and we will continue down the impactful path she helped construct. In that vein, we look forward to developing new collaborations both internally and with our colleagues nationally and internationally to improve care for older adults!
Warmly,
Ab Brody, PhD, RN, FAAN
Associate Director, HIGN
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Dr. Bei Wu appointed Vice Dean for Research at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing
We are pleased to announce that Bei Wu, who has been serving as Research Director for HIGN, is the new Vice Dean for Research at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing! Dr. Wu will be stepping down as HIGN Research Director to focus on the important task of further strengthening NYU Meyer’s research activities. During her time as HIGN Research Director, she further strengthened the impact NYU Meyers geriatric and gerontological researchers have on the work of HIGN.
We wish Dr. Wu the best of luck in her new position and look forward to continuing to work with her as an HIGN affiliated faculty member.
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Recent Publications
Professor Dena Schulman-Green is an author on three new publications: Domains of delirium severity in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (online ahead of print) in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2) Integrating palliative care into self-management of breast cancer: a pilot randomized controlled trial (in press) in Cancer Nursing. 3) Adapting a palliative care self- and family management intervention for use in Israel (in press) in International Journal of Palliative Nursing.
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Up and Coming HIGN Researchers |
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Chenjuan Ma is a health services researcher and an assistant professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. Her program of research focuses on improving the well-being and safety of older adults via optimizing care access, delivery, and quality, particularly in the home healthcare setting. She has served as PI and/or C-I on several federal and foundation funded projects. Currently, she is the PI of a NIA funded project (R03AG070581) that examines disparities in home health care access and outcomes. Dr. Ma has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers and delivered nearly 60 presentations at national and international conferences. She also has expertise in large data management and analysis and advanced statistical modeling. Dr. Ma earned her PhD from Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania, and MSN and BSN from Xi'an Jiaotong University, China.
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Tina Sadarangani is an NIH-funded Principal Investigator and board certified primary care nurse practitioner. She is cross-appointed as an assistant professor in the NYU School of Medicine Department of Population Health as well as NYU Meyers. Her program of research is underscored by a profound commitment to advancing the health of minoritized older adults by leveraging the strengths of community-based adult day health care centers to target health disparities. Dr. Sadarangani's program of research focuses on identifying and addressing the healthcare needs of cognitively impaired older immigrants by using the adult day health center as a platform for the delivery of culturally and linguistically congruent care. Her ongoing collaborations with the California Association of Adult Day Services have demonstrated that integrating adult day centers into the healthcare continuum contributes to reductions in avoidable healthcare utilization. Dr. Sadarangani’s latest work focuses on improving communication between adult day centers and primary care providers using low-cost mobile technology. She recently received a K23 Career Development Award from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) as well as an R21 from NIA. She previously received a Career Development Award from the NIA IMPACT Collaboratory. Dr. Sadarangani holds prior degrees from Georgetown University (Anthropology), the University of Pennsylvania (MSN), and NYU Meyers (BSN, PhD).
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Dena Schulman-Green is a gerontologist and associate professor whose research focuses on the integration of palliative care into patient and family management of chronic illness. She is a primary developer of the Self- and Family Management Framework to guide such research, including her Managing Cancer Care intervention to support disease co-management among women with breast cancer, their family caregivers, and clinicians. This work is rooted in her belief that health care goals should reflect personal goals and values. Dr. Schulman-Green is an expert in qualitative and mixed methods research, to which she applies her background in psychological counseling by tailoring research methods to vulnerable populations. Her work has been funded by the American Cancer Society, the National Institutes of Health, the National Palliative Care Research Center, and the Palliative Care Research Cooperative, among others. She serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management and is joining the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Dr. Schulman-Green studied gerontology at University of Massachusetts Boston (MS, PhD), counseling psychology at Columbia University (EdM, MS), and psychology and religion at Boston University (BA). She completed her post-doctoral fellowship at Yale School of Nursing.
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HIGN Highlights
Ab Brody was a panelist for the session: Cancer related emergency & urgent care workshop, CONCERN Network at the National Cancer Institute.
Dena Schulman-Green was elected to the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine’s Board of Directors as an Interdisciplinary Member-at-Large.
Ab Brody, Dan David and Dena Schulman-Green were awarded an R01 from NINR titled "The Impact of COVID-19 on End-of-Life Care for Vulnerable Populations." (subawardee with Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)
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Health and Aging Policy Fellows: Call for Applications
Submission Deadline: April 15th, 2022
The Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program aims to create a cadre of leaders who will serve as change agents in health and aging policy to ultimately improve the health care of older adults. The year-long fellowship offers a rich and unique training and enrichment program that is focused on current policy issues, communication skills development, and professional networking opportunities to provide Fellows with the experience and skills necessary to help affect policy. The Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program awards fellowships annually for individuals to advance their careers in gerontology. Residential & non-residential tracks are available for individual placement.
Click here to learn more and apply.
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