IU GERIATRICS electronic news for March 2002

The IU Geriatrics Program and the IU Center for Aging Research congratulate our colleagues who will present posters at the American Geriatrics Society national meeting in May. Check out "Upcoming Presentations" to see who's headed to AGS. Next month we'll list colleagues presenting posters at the SGIM meeting. To see these posters before they're presented nationally, come to the inaugural Aging Research Work in Progress, March 26th from 8-9am in room A-4174 at Roudebush VA Medical Center.

NEW GRANTS

Principal Investigator Steve Counsell, MD has received a $1.8 million National Institute on Aging grant to study "Geriatric Resources for Assessment and Care of Elders." Known as GRACE, the four-year clinical trial will test the effectiveness of a collaborative model of team care in improving functional outcomes among community-dwelling low-income older adults. Co-investigators are Amna Buttar, MD, Chris Callahan, MD, Dan Clark, PhD, and Wanzhu Tu, PhD.

PUBLICATIONS

Co-Editors-in-Chief Colleen McHorney, PhD and Carol M. Ashton, MD had their inaugural editorial, "Looking Forward, Looking Back," published in the February issue of Medical Care.

Oldridge N, Perkins A, Marchionni N, Fumagalli S, Fattirolli F, Guyatt G. Number needed to treat in cardiac rehabilitation. J Cardiopulm Rehabil. 2002 Jan-Feb;22(1):22-30.

Murray MD, Deer MM, Ferguson JA, Dexter PR, Bennett SJ, Perkins SM, Smith FE, Lane KA, Adams LD, Tierney WM, Brater DC. Open-label randomized trial of torsemide compared with furosemide therapy for patients with heart failure. Am J Med. 2001 Nov;111(7):513-20.

Hake AM, Farlow MR. New concepts in the drug therapy of Alzheimer's disease. Expert Opin Pharmacother. 2001 Dec;2(12):1975-83.

PRESENTATIONS

Michael Weiner, MD presented the poster "Fragmentation of health care among older adults receiving care in an urban public hospital" during the 16th National Conference on Chronic Disease Prevention and Control held in Atlanta in February. Co-authors of the poster were Tim Stump, MA, Chris Callahan, MD, Steve Counsell, MD, and John Lewis.

Another collaboration of Michael Weiner, MD, Tim Stump, MA, Chris Callahan, MD, and John Lewis of Health Care Excel was represented by Lewis when he presented "Prescription of beta-adrenergic antagonists among older adults hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction, as assessed through electronic medical records" at the February 2002 Technical Conference of The American Health Quality Association in Dallas, Texas.

LOCALLY

Teresa Damush, PhD was featured in the January 2002 issue of Friends for Life, the newsletter of the Walther Cancer Institute. Teresa is the 2001 Burdette-Kunkel Scholar from the Mary Margaret Walther Program for Cancer Care Research. The scholarship funds her pilot research on a health promotion program that focuses on increasing physical activity in older adult women who are breast cancer survivors.

Robin Beck, MD presented "Alzheimer's Disease Update" at the Geriatrics Student Interest Group general meeting in February. The group is a medical student organization of the IU School of Medicine.

Hugh Hendrie, MB, ChB and Mary Guerriero Austrom, PhD joined hosts Chris Callahan, MD and Barbara Lewis West on the February 9th broadcast of Sound Medicine. Hugh and Mary discussed questions and answers from their survey of retired physicians and their spouses. The radio show's Web site noted an interesting anecdote about the retired doctor who wanted his wife to wear a beeper so he could reach her any time.

The Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center is soliciting proposals for pilot projects from investigators who want to develop research on Alzheimer disease or other dementing illnesses. A maximum of two projects will be funded for up to $30,000.00 each for the period of July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003. The deadline is March 15, 2002 for letters of intent and April 15, 2002 for submission. Instructions are on the IUCAR Web site.

UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS

Look for your colleagues at the 2002 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Geriatrics Society May 8-12 in Washington, DC. The society has accepted posters by Steve Counsell, MD for the Friday 12::00-1:30pm session. Dave Wilcox, MD and Jackie Sullivan, RN, GNP will present their poster in the Saturday, 11:00-12:30pm session. Amna Buttar, MD presents during the Presidential Poster Session Saturday 4:15-5:45pm. If you're attending this meeting, stop by and give them your support!