IU GERIATRICS electronic news for December 2002

The IU Geriatrics Program and the IU Center for Aging Research call your attention to the Interim Report of the President's Commission on Mental Health. In this report to President Bush, the commission describes IMPACT--Improving Mood: Providing Access To Collaborative Treatment For Late Life Depression, as one of 9 'model programs' to improve mental health care in the US. Indiana University is one of 5 study sites that participated in the IMPACT research project. Local faculty and staff personnel include Christopher Callahan, MD; Amna Buttar, MD, MS; Steven Counsell, MD; Hugh Hendrie, MB, ChB, DSc; Kurt Kroenke, MD; Christopher Steinmetz, MD; Jeanne Dickens, MD; Cora Hartwell, RN, MSN, ANP; Bridget Fultz, MA; Javana Durham; Kevin Clay; and Tim Stump, MS.

A press release on the report states, "To help identify what works best to break down the barriers to care for people with mental illness, the Commission's report identifies some creative, community-based programs that blend the promise of modern science with the compassion of skilled professionals." Look for IMPACT in Box 8 of the Interim Report and in a section several paragraphs prior to that box. Read about the IU site on page 3 of the Spring 2001 issue of the IU Geriatrics newsletter (pdf).

AWARD

On November 22, 2002 Purdue University's Board of Trustees honored Michael D. Murray, PharmD, MPH, as the “Bucke Professor of Pharmacy.” The Bucke professorship is named in honor of William S. Bucke, founder of the company Lafayette Pharmacal Inc. Bucke and his wife, Edith, both deceased, were longtime friends of the School of Pharmacy. Dr. Murray’s research involves the development of pharmacy services to improve drug therapy in older adults with chronic disorders, pharmacy services research, health care utilization by low-income minority people and studies of risks and benefits of medications using large population computer databases. Congratulations, Mick!

PUBLICATIONS

Bakas T, Austin JK, Okonkwo KF, Lewis RR, Chadwick L. Needs, concerns, strategies, and advice of stroke caregivers the first 6 months after discharge. Journal of Neuroscience Nursing 2002;34(5):242-51.

Murray MD, Lane KA, Gao S, Evans RM, Unverzagt FW, Hall KS, Hendrie HC. Preservation of cognitive function with antihypertensive medications: A longitudinal analysis of a community-based sample of African-Americans. Arch Intern Med. 2002 Oct 14;162(18):2090-6.

Smith-Gamble V, Baiyewu O, Perkins AJ, Gureje O, Hall KS, Ogunniyi A, Hui SL, Hendrie HC. Informant reports of changes in personality predict dementia in a population-based study of elderly African Americans and Yoruba. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2002 Nov-Dec;10(6):724-32.

Ball K, Berch DB, Helmers KF, Jobe JB, Leveck MD, Marsiske M, Morris JN, Rebok GW, Smith DM, Tennstedt SL, Unverzagt FW, Willis SL. Effects of cognitive training interventions with older adults: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA 2002 Nov 13;288(18):2271-81.

Several faculty and a staff nurse practitioner, Jackie Sullivan, have written chapters for the new medical textbook, Primer on Geriatric Care: A Clinical Approach to the Older Adult, edited by DE Rosenblatt DE and VS Natarajan. Cochin, India: Printers Castle, 2002.
Sullivan JM, Wilcox DC, Sivakumar S, Babu J. Pressure Ulcers and the Geriatric Patient
Beck R, Mahadevan PS. Developing a House Calls Program
Buttar AB. Shaji. The Patient with Dementia
Bajwa AB, Buttar AB. Principles of Geriatric Rehabilitation
Buttar AB, Hickey K, Supiano K, Lazaro M, Tomy S. Interdisciplinary Team Care for the Older Adult

PRESENTATIONS

Michael Weiner, MD, MPH presented "Conducting a Study of Internet-based Video Conferencing for Assessing Acute Medical Problems in a Nursing Facility" at the 2002 American Medical Informatics Association annual symposium November 11 in San Antonio.

Michael D. Murray, PharmD, MPH presented "Can Drugs That Improve Vascular Risk Factors Prevent Dementia Among Older Minority Patients?" at the Geriatrics Focus Session: Dementia in Older Minority Populations during the 2002 Annual Meeting of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy in Albuquerque, NM on October 21.

Usha Subramanian, MD, MS presented "Enhancing Computer-Based Heart Failure Guidelines with Health Status and Symptoms Data" at the 19th International Conference of the International Society for Quality in Health Care held November 4-8 in Paris, France.

Hugh Hendrie, MB, ChB, DSc, presented "Alzheimer's Disease: Genes and Environment - The Value of International Studies" on November 14, 2002, at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. The presentation was the inaugural lecture for the Jay L. Foster Memorial Lecture Series in Alzheimer's Disease.

Christopher Callahan, MD presented "The Prospect of Longer Working Lives" at a joint conference of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Global Aging Initiative and the Hudson Institute on November 15. Scholars discussed “The Global Aging Crisis: Implications for America and the World.” The event was sponsored by the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation.

Amna Buttar, MD, MS, was visiting professor and consultant at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor November 18-19. She presented "Acute Care for Older Adults" at noon conference and consulted about a new inpatient geriatrics unit that is planned to open in January.

Mary Guerriero Austrom, PhD, presented "A model for case management of Alzheimer Disease in primary care" at the 2002 Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America November 23 in Boston. The presentation was part of the symposium Primary Care and Dementia in the UK and US: Randomised Interventions to Improve Practice. Co-authors were Teresa Damush, PhD, Steven Counsell, MD, Frederick Unverzagt, PhD, Hugh Hendrie, MB, ChB, DSc and Chris Callahan, MD.

Malaz Boustani, MD, MPH, was a co-author of the poster "Medication underprescribing - an emerging problem in assisted living?" presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Christopher Callahan, MD, and Hugh Hendrie, MB, ChB, DSc, authored "As you age, risk of Alzheimer's rises," an article that appeared in the November 3, 2002 Indianapolis Star. The article is part of the paper's ongoing series Dialogue: Elder Care.

Greg Gramelspacher, MD, was quoted in " A Candle at Twilight," an article on end-of-life care options that appeared in the November 25th Evansville Courier. Dr. Gramelspacher also was a speaker at a recent ethics seminar in Evansville, focusing on care for dying patients. The seminar was presented to nearly 200 area physicians, nurses, social workers, clergy and health care administrators.

Chris Callahan, MD led the first retreat of the Society for General Internal Medicine's "Improving Doctoring for Elder Americans" (IDEA) Task Force at the GSA meeting in Boston. The Task Force is charged with the goal of institutionalizing within SGIM consistent efforts to improve geriatric education and research. Chris will Chair the Task Force for the next three years.

Teresa Damush, PhD, was a reviewer for a recent call for pilot study proposals submitted to the Mary Margaret Walther Program for Cancer Care Research/Behavioral Cooperative Oncology Group.

Chris Callahan, MD participated in a study section review of 45 proposals to the John A. Hartford Foundation in response to a recent call for proposals to establish collaborative education and research centers between Divisions of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics. The study section was chaired by Eric Larson, MD, MPH and Medical Director, University of Washington Medical School.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The IU Geriatrics Conference on January 15, 2003 features Rudy Yung, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology. He will present "Diagnosis and Treatment of Glaucoma and Cataracts" in Wishard T2008 A&B from 7:30-8:30am.

The IU Geriatrics Program will host Visiting Professor Marcos Montagnini, MD, in January. He will present "Palliative Care: Clinical Perspective" at the Noon Conference on Tuesday, January 21, in C1202 at Roudebush VA Medical Center. At the IU Geriatrics Conference on Wednesday, January 22, at 7:30am-8:30am Wishard 2008A/B he will present "Pain Management in Older Adults."

Dr. Montagnini is Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and is Medical Director of the Palliative Care Program at the Zablocki VA Medical Center where he also directs the Interprofessional Fellowship in Palliative Care. At the VA he developed and implemented a Palliative Care Outpatient Clinic, a Palliative Care Consultation Service, a clinical rotation in Palliative Medicine for Internal Medicine residents rotating in the Geriatrics Service, and a Nursing Education Program in Palliative Medicine.

The next Aging Research Work in Progress is January 28, 2003. Details will be published in the January e-news.