More than $173,000 from the nation’s penultimate research body will support a series of scientific conferences pushing eldercare expertise to meet the needs of America’s growing older adult population.
New York (June 17, 2016)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) will continue a series of prestigious scientific conferences on emerging issues in geriatrics thanks to sustained funding from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) as part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Conference Cooperative Agreement (or “U13”) Program. More than $173,000 in funding over five years will enable the AGS to continue coordinating U13 “bench-to-bedside” conferences on new topics pertinent to older adults. This recently funded series will focus on developing and prioritizing an actionable agenda related to multimorbidity by focusing each of three conferences on a common and clinically important pair of co-existing chronic conditions: sensory impairment and cognitive decline, osteoporosis and soft tissue (muscle/fat) disorders, and cancer and cardiovascular disease. Since 2004 the AGS has worked with the NIA through the NIH U13 Program to explore and clarify insights on the cutting-edge of geriatrics, having addressed sleep and circadian rhythms (2015) and delirium (2014) in recent years.
“We’re grateful to the NIA and NIH for helping to position the U.S. and geriatrics healthcare professionals at the forefront of eldercare expertise,” said AGS President Ellen Flaherty, PhD, APRN, AGSF. “Our ability to serve older adults, caregivers, and communities rests on sustained support for opportunities like these bench-to-bedside conferences. The NIH’s leadership, together with the work of the AGS, is an important example of efforts to ensure that early insights become core components of our future care.”
The U13 Program promotes high-quality research and collaboration to support the NIH mission: seeking greater knowledge of living systems to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. By assembling a diverse group of experts and stakeholders, these conferences aim to define top priorities and key research questions around a particular topic on the road toward improving health outcomes for older adults. In 2015, for example, more than 95 experts came together as part of the AGS/NIA U13 conference series to discuss sleep problems and increasing sleep time among older people. Consensus findings from the conference were presented at the 2016 AGS Annual Scientific Meeting and will be published later this year in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, helping a range of health professionals access important information when it comes to knowledge gaps and research opportunities.
The 2016 AGS/NIA U13 conference—scheduled for Oct. 16-18 in Bethesda, Md.—will focus on urinary incontinence among older adults. A common, disabling, and costly problem, urinary incontinence can affect more than 40% of all non-institutionalized older adults and can be impacted by a range of other health conditions and concerns. A novel feature of the 2016 AGS/NIA U13 conference will be exploring risk factor relationships impacting geriatric syndromes like incontinence to identify promising translational approaches that can take research, quite literally, from the laboratory bench to the bedside of older adults in need. The conference also will include a professional development track for young investigators who are rising stars in their fields to ensure continued excellence in tomorrow’s generation of geriatrics researchers. Potential attendees may submit applications for the 2016 AGS/NIA U13 conference through June 20 at AmericanGeriatrics.org.
The AGS U13 conference series has been supported by the NIA of the NIH under Award Numbers U13-AG039151 and U13-AG054139.
About the American Geriatrics Society
Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals dedicated to improving the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Its nearly 6,000 members include geriatricians, geriatric nurses, social workers, family practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and internists. The Society provides leadership to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public by implementing and advocating for programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy. For more information, visit americangeriatrics.org.