Information Dissemination Core (IDC): Project Summary There has been over the past two decades a surge in the evidence base on frailty—informed significantly by this OAIC, addressing causes, symptoms, assessment methods, prevention strategies, interventions, and treatment options. If this evidence base is to reach beyond academic circles, and begin to be implemented to improve the health and lengthen the independence of older adults, we believe that deliberate efforts to disseminate evidence and best practice on frailty beyond the scholarly literature is urgently needed. We therefore propose to develop the state-of-the art Information Dissemination Core (IDC) described in this application. To ensure a state-of-the-art approach, we will work with a highly experienced partner: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP). CCP has long standing, high-profile expertise and experience in knowledge management (KM) and dissemination science, with clients including USAID, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and UNICEF. We envision our IDC as a national and international `go- to' resource for the latest information and resources related to frailty science from this OAIC and as well as other authoritative sources: Its mission is direct information on frailty science, practice and implications to the individuals who can most benefit from the information, including researchers, clinicians, professional societies and foundations, policymakers, students, and older adults seeking information on frailty. We propose to achieve this vision and mission through the following specific aims: (1) to develop a state-of-the- art online platform to efficiently disseminate current information on frailty-related science, practice, and implications. (2) To create a series of low-cost or free online courses and other materials that provide in- depth knowledge and training on key aspects of frailty, including biology, measurement, interventions, treatment options, prevention, clinical impact and policy impact. (3) To partner with professional societies (e.g., Gerontological Society of America), foundations (e.g., AFAR), and colleagues worldwide to promote high-impact frailty findings, and their translation through collaborative activities for information exchange, briefings for policymakers and key health care organizations, and participation in the development of evidence-based practice guidelines. (4) To promote scientific interaction on frailty so as to accelerate the field's progress and implementation to the benefit of older adults. We will develop pre-conference workshops to accompany the meetings of professional societies, expert conferences, webinars, and communities of practice to this end. The translation of frailty to clinical settings will be a primary area of focus. In all, we seek to drive practice innovation resulting in previously unrealized benefits for the health and independence of older adults—the central mission of this OAIC.
Leadership / Administrative Core (LAC): Project Summary This Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) Leadership and Administrative Core (LAC) was designed to provide the scientific leadership, organization and infrastructure necessary to lead and oversee the frailty-focused activities of this OAIC. The overall goal of the LAC is to ensure the ongoing success of this OAIC in stimulating and sustaining the next generation of frailty-related science and the next generation of frailty-focused investigators. The aims of this LAC are to: 1) provide the interdisciplinary intellectual leadership needed to stimulate and sustain the development of innovative frailty- focused research, facilitate translation between basic and clinical research on frailty, develop innovative intervention and prevention strategies from these biological and clinical discoveries, and ensure effective, high impact utilization of each of the cores of the OAIC; 2) identify and attract the next generation of frailty- focused research leaders at JHU and facilitate their training, career development and access to resources to promote their emergence as independent, interdisciplinary investigators in this field; 3) lead, administer, and oversee core functions to assure productivity, cost effectiveness, integration, and quality of all aspects of this OAIC program, and well steward OAIC resources; 4) prepare reports or non-competing renewal applications, annually, and administrative documents as needed, including data safety monitoring documentation; 5) organize and conduct scientific sessions to propel the frailty-focused science and career development of participants, including OAIC retreats, research in progress meetings, and research planning meetings; 6) maximize JHU OAIC scholarly visibility locally and nationally via local programming and participation in the OAIC network, the annual OAIC scientific meeting, annual scientific meetings of organizations focused on aging or frailty, and through a new Information Dissemination Core; and 7) organize independent panels for review of pilot, development project and junior faculty applications and organize review of progress towards OAIC goals, conducted annually by an External Advisory Board. This Core will set goals with all other cores and ensure that goals are met. It will lead visioning discussions among the multidisciplinary Leadership Council as to scientific direction and clinical relevance; provide institutional leadership in identifying the investigators and mechanisms to accomplish the Center's scientific goals; and provide leadership and organization to ensure the successful development and implementation of the infrastructure and new methods needed to support investigators in furthering research on frailty and its translation to increase the independence of older adults.
Overall: Project Summary This is a renewal application for the Johns Hopkins University Older Americans Independence Center (JHU OAIC). In the current cycle that started in 2013, this OAIC has nurtured extensive accomplishment, contributing to 121 publications and findings that facilitated the funding of 48 additional grants focused on frailty and aging. Investigators in this OAIC seek to promote independence in older adults through the study of the etiologies and clinical ramifications of frailty and through the translation of this knowledge into the development of novel, frailty-focused diagnostic, treatment, and prevention strategies. This proposal seeks to achieve these goals through the following specific aims: 1) Stimulate and develop effective frailty-focused interdisciplinary research programs; 2) Translate the frailty-focused knowledge generated into targeted prevention and treatment strategies that help older adults maintain independence; 3) Provide focused and accessible frailty-related training and mentorship to junior investigators interested in developing careers focused on maintaining independence in older adults; 4) Provide to OAIC-supported investigators the highest quality interdisciplinary expertise and infrastructure in biostatistical, biological, and clinical science as relevant to frailty research; 5) Support the development of innovative methodologies, research strategies and technologies essential to the study of frailty; and 6) Attract outstanding investigators and trainees to frailty research from across the Johns Hopkins University and promote visibility of their science locally and nationally. A Research Education Component (REC) and Pilot Study Core will provide training, mentorship, and both advisory and material support for research projects for supported investigators. Highly integrated resource cores focused on biostatistics, biological mechanisms, and clinical translation and recruitment will provide supported investigators with the interdisciplinary expertise, training, mentorship, assistance, and services necessary to perform outstanding frailty-focused basic, clinical and translational research. A new Information Dissemination Core will extend the reach of findings on frailty developed by the researchers of this OAIC and beyond, through a new website providing navigation and easy access to findings on frailty, innovative educational initiatives, new partnerships with scientific and professional organizations, formation of communities of practice, and outreach efforts. This OAIC will continue to be directed by a long-standing, interdisciplinary, accomplished, and highly visible leadership team who continue to develop an ongoing vision for the next generation of frailty science and have worked to build a scientifically and culturally diverse community of scholars and trainees around frailty. This team is dedicated to developing the next generation of needed scientific advances and disseminating resulting strategies into practice and policy that will extend independence for older adults.
