Researchers in Aging

Collaboration Resource and Listing of Researchers in Aging

The University of Pennsylvania is home to an extensive group of researchers, educators and clinicians working in the field of aging. Collaboration crosses disciplines, partnering individuals and teams from Penn's 12 schools.

Collaboration is key to advancing current research in aging and to initiating future research. The following is a listing of Institute on Aging (IOA) Fellows and Penn faculty and researchers - as well as Philadelphia-area faculty and professionals who are IOA Associate Fellows - who are involved in aging research, along with areas of current and future interest.

If you are interested in discussing a potential collaboration, click on the name of the individual to send an email of inquiry. If you would like to update your listing, kindly forward the updated information to the IOA via email at aging@mail.med.upen.edu.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

• Katherine Abbott, PhD, MGS, IOA Fellow
  Research Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: Social Networks and health of older adults receiving long term services and supports
  Current Research: Enhancing existing approaches to measuring social network data
  Future Research: Untangling causal relationships in how health affects social interaction, as well as the extent to which social interactions are helpful in maintaining health
• Beamon Agarwal, MD, PhD, IOA Fellow
  School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Aging, Neoplasia
  Current Research: Mictochondrial and Increasing Lifespan
  Future Research: Mitochondria, Metabolic Imaging
• Abass Alavi, MD, MD(Hon), PhD(Hon), DSc(Hon), IOA Fellow
  Professor of Radiology and Neurology; Director of Research Education, Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Molecular imaging of central nervous system disorders with PET; Image based assessment of age related disorders of the brain with emphasis on Alzheimer's Disease (AD); Image based novel Quantitative techniques in central nervous disorders; Detection of inflammation in the brain as the early evidence for AD; Imaging the effects of therapeutic interventions in the brain by alternative medicine modalities such as acupuncture
  Current Research: Enhancing existing approaches to measuring social network data
  Future Research: Untangling causal relationships in how health affects social interaction, as well as the extent to which social interactions are helpful in maintaining health
  
• Yair Argon, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Professor, Pathology and Lab Medicine, School of Medicine, PENN and Chief, Division of Cell Pathology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  Research Interests: ER stress response, protein folding, conformational diseases, chaperone networks
  Current Research: Roles of GRP94 and BiP, ER associated degradation, control of production of insulin-like growth factors
  Future Research: triage of misfolded proteins for degradation, relation of ER stress to other stress responses, measuring the misfoldome in cells and tissues
• Katrina Armstrong, MD, MSCE, IOA Fellow
  Associate Professor, Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: social determinants of health care quality; health care-related trust/distrust; health economics
  Current Research: cancer outcomes; genetic susceptibility
  Future Research: relationship among social environment, health care environment and health outcomes
• David Asch, MD, MBA, IOA Fellow
  Executive Director, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics; Robert D. Eilers Professor, School of Medicine and The Wharton School, PENN
  Research Interests: Medical Decision Making, Behavioral Economics, Health Policy
  Current Research: Medical Decision Making, Behavioral Economics, Health Policy
• Steven E. Arnold, MD, IOA Fellow and Associate Director of the Institute on Aging
  Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: clinical biomarker identification of neuropathology in the aging brain, the long-term neurobiological effects of stress, anxiety, and depression on memory and risk for dementia, and protective factors that account for cognitive resilience in aging. Studies span clinical trials, phenomenology and neuropsychology, molecular neuroimaging, biochemical biomarkers, epidemiology-scale molecular neuropathology in postmortem tissues, and rodent models of chronic stress effects on aging, behavior, and neuropathology
  Current Research: neurodegenerative disease pathology in relation to cognitive decline in late life and leads a broad clinical and translational research program examining brain and mind aging
  
• Michele C. Balas, PhD, RN, CRNP, BC, CCRN, IOA Associate Fellow
  Post-doctoral Fellow, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: aging; critical/intensive care; delirium; patient safety
  Current Research: critically ill older adults; delirium; patient safety
  Future Research: strategies to reduce LOS, complications, and restraint use for older adults requiring intensive care
  
• Frances K. Barg, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Family Medicine and Community Health, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: health disparities; psychosocial aspects of cancer; patient perceptions of depression and depression treatment
  Current Research: health disparities; psychosocial aspects of cancer; patient perceptions of depression and depression treatment
  Future Research: longitudinal effects of meeting unmet psychosocial needs of cancer patients
• Joseph Baur, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor of Physiology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of aging and caloric restriction; mitochondria; metabolism
  Current Research: Effects of resveratrol and rapamycin on mouse longevity; nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide metabolism; nitric oxide signaling
  Future Research: Regulation of mitochondrial number and function by PINK1; role of the unfolded protein response in aging
  
• Jennifer Seamon Bellot, RN, MHSA, IOA Associate Fellow
  Pre-doctoral Fellow, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: nursing home personnel; licensed nurses; NH quality
  Current Research: culture change in the nursing home
  Future Research: quality of care and quality of life in the nursing home
  
• Kathryn H. Bowles, PhD, RN, IOA Fellow
  Associate Professor, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: Decision support; electronic patient records; telehealth monitoring of older adults; home care; transitional care; standardized nursing languages
  Current Research: Telehomecare monitoring of CHF patients; discharge referral decision-making
  Future Research: Transfer of information across different care settings to improve care coordination
  
• Christine Bradway, PhD, RN, CRNP, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Gerontological Nursing, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: health issues affecting older women’s lives; urinary incontinence; long-term care; long-term urinary incontinence; delirium in hospitalized older adults; emergency care of the elderly
  Current Research: cultural models for female urinary incontinence (UI); delirium in hospitalized older adults; emergency care of the elderly
  Future Research: morbid obesity and UI in the long-term care population; healthy aging for older women
• Samantha Butts, MD, MSCE, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Infertility and Reproductive Endocrinology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: reproductive aging, environmental influences on reproductive aging and fertility, reproductive health disparities
  Current Research: relationship between fetal markers of growth, metabolism and future ovarian function and maternal exposures to micronutrients and environmental estrogens
  Future Research: diagnosis of reproductive aging in infertile women as a function of access to infertility treatment resources
  
• Arthur Caplan, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Emanuel & Robert Hart Director of the Center for Bioethics and Sidney D. Caplan Professor of Medical Ethics, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: biomarkers and diagnosis, end of life care issues, research ethics
  Current Research: genetics and biobanking; ethics of pharmacogenomics ; vaccine ethics; transplantation--donation and allocation
  Future Research: ethics and biomarkers
• Anne Cappola, MD, ScM, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Medicine; Epidemiology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Endocrine changes with aging; androgens in women; frailty; hormones and aging
  Current Research: endocrine changes with aging; androgens in women; frailty
  Future Research: endocrine changes with aging; androgens in women; frailty; open to projects related to hormones and aging
• Samuel Chacko, DVM, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Professor of Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine, and Professor of Pathology & Director of Basic Urologic Research, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Pathobiology of smooth muscle, signal transduction, myosin, thin filament-associated protein caldesmon, smooth muscle cell differentiation, translational research
  Current Research: Molecular/Cellular Mechanisms for Smooth Muscle Contractile Dysfunctions; Remodeling of Urinary Bladder Smooth Muscle in Outlet Obstruction; Molecular Mechanisms for Erectile Function and Dysfunction in Men; Mechanisms for the Urinary Bladder Dysfunction in Diabetes; Cytodifferentiation of Smooth Muscle
• Virginia W. Chang, MD, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine; Assistant Professor of Sociology, School of Arts & Sciences, PENN
  Research Interests: Relationship of obesity to mortality, disability, and quality of care; socioeconomic and racial disparities in health; neighborhoods and health
  
• Eunhee Cho, PhD, MPH, RN, Associate Fellow
  Post-Doctoral Fellow, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: health outcomes and policy research; long-term care; home health care; family caregivers
  Current Research: the effects of informal caregivers on the outcomes of older adults receiving formal home healthcare
  Future Research: outcomes of older adults receiving formal home health care and nursing home care
  
• Christopher L. Coleman, PhD, MPH, APRN-BC, ACRN, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: HIV-related risk behaviors in African-American men, middle-aged and older
  Current Research: health disparities, particularly on understanding the numerous factors that influence health-promoting behaviors of HIV-infected, middle-aged African-American men who have sex with men; HIV risk factors among vulnerable populations who are homeless and mentally ill.
  
• Charlene W. Compher, PhD, RD, FADA, CNSD
  Assistant Professor of Nutrition Science, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: impact of nutrients in treating disease
  Current Research: investigation of the specific effects of vitamin status on the formation of blood clots and dietary treatments on the absoprtion of nutrients in patients who have lost much of their own ability to absorb nutrients from the remaining intestine
• Amy M. Corcoran, MD, CMD, IOA Fellow
  Associate Program Director, Geriatric and Palliative Medicine Fellowships; Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, School of Medicine, PENN, and Geriatrics and Long-term Care Program Director Penn-Wissahickon Hospice and Caring Way
  Research Interests: geriatrics and palliative care education for physicians-in-training and inter-professional teams
  Current Research: geriatrics and palliative care education for physicians-in-training and inter-professional teams
• Lisa E. Cox, PhD, LCSW, MSW, IOA Associate Fellow
  Associate Professor and Research Chair, Stockton Center on Successful Aging, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
  Research Interests: Healthy aging across the lifespan
  Current Research: Mixed methods research on aging with Tourette Syndrome across the lifespan
  Future Research: Aging creatively and resiliently with neurobiological conditions despite environmental triggers and chronic stressors
  
• Norma G. Cuellar, DSN, RN, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: Complementary and alternative medicine; Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) and sleep; caring for older adults with dementia and their caregivers; long-term care continuum
  Current Research: RLS and sleep; complementary and alternative medicine
  Future Research: complementary and alternative medicine in older adults; RLS in older adults; sleep and complementary and alternative medical treatments in older adults
  
• Neal E. Cutler, PhD, IOA Associate Fellow
  Boettner/Gregg Chair in Financial Gerontology, School of Business Administration, Widener University
  Research Interests: business and aging; generational differences
  Current Research: financial literacy surveys of middle-aged and older persons; business and aging pedagogy
  Future Research: further work integrating business and aging
  
  
• Adam Davey, PhD, IOA Associate Fellow
  Senior Research Scientist, Polisher Research Institute
  Research Interests: formal and informal care networks, regional variability, depressive symptoms, developmental research methods, extreme longevity
  Current Research: formal and informal care networks, regional variability, depressive symptoms, developmental research methods, extreme longevity
  Future Research: formal and informal care networks, regional variability, depressive symptoms, developmental research methods, extreme longevity, nutrition and psychological functioning
  
• Richard L. Doty, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Professor, Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery; Director, Smell and Taste Center, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Smell and taste
  Current Research: alterations in smell and taste in neurodegenerative disorders
  Future Research: transgenic mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases; estrogen influences on chemosensory function
  
• George W. Drach, MD, IOA Fellow
  Emeritus Professor of Urology, Division of Surgery, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: geriatric urology; curriculum development and evaluation of curriculum for education of resident in all fields of surgery and related specialties (anesthesia, emergency medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation); national incentives for geriatrics for surgeons
  Current Research: geriatric urology; curriculum development; national incentives for geriatrics for surgeons
  Future Research: geriatric urology; curriculum development; national incentives for geriatrics for surgeons
  
• John Duda, MD, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Neurology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Parkinson's disease; dementia with Lewy bodies; olfactory dysfunction
  Current Research: pathophysiology of Lewy Neurodegeneration; non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease; olfactory dysfunction in Parkinson's disease
  Future Research: novel biomarkers in Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies
  
• Joshua L. Dunaief, MD, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Aging in the retina; oxidative stress; iron overload; apoptosis; age-related macular degeneration
  Current Research: using human tissue, mouse models and tissue culture to study iron homeostasis and oxidative stress-induced cell death in the retina
  Future Research: developing anti-oxidants or iron chelators as drugs to prevent age-related macular degeneration (AMD)
  
  
• Roderic G. Eckenhoff, MD
  Professor and Vice Chair for Research
  Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care
  School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: molecular pharmacology of inhaled anesthetics, biophysics of anesthetic/macromolecular interactions
  Current Research: mechanisms of anesthesia
  Future Research: effects of anesthetics on neurodegenerative disorders
  
• Lois K. Evans, DNSc, FAAN, RN, IOA Fellow
  Viola MacInnes/Independence Professor
  Chair, Family and Community Health Division, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: use of restraints in nursing homes, assuring quality of life for frail elders
  Current Research: individualized care; mental health; behaviors in dementia; models and outcomes of care for frail elders
  
• Douglas Ewbank, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Research Professor, Department of Sociology, PENN
  Research Interests: population genetics; Alzheimer's disease
  Current Research: APOE gene and mortality; dementia and depression in Mexico; tracking progression in Alzheimer's disease
  Future Research: genetics of longevity
  
  
• Roy S. Feldman, DDS, DMSc, IOA Fellow
  Chief, Dental Service, VAMC; Adjunct Professor, School of Dental Medicine, Preventive and Restorative Sciences, PENN
  Research Interests: oral biology; periodontology and oral medicine; oral cancer diagnosis
  Current Research: oral cancer diagnosis; acid sensitive ion channels in periodontal tissues
  Future Research: health services research in dental disease management
  
• Mark Forman, MD, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Neurodegenerative disease; Frontotemporal dementia
  Current Research: astrocytes in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease
  Future Research: therapies for frontotemporal dementia
  
• Janice B. Foust, PhD, RN, IOA Associate Fellow
  Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: discharge planning; transitional care; care of older adults; medication safety
  Current Research: improving post-hospital medication management among older adults
  Future Research: improving medication management among home care clients
  
  
• Allen Glicksman, PhD, IOA Associate Fellow
  Director of Research and Evaluation, Philadelphia Corporation for Aging
  Research Interests: Migrants; immigrant and refugees in old age; urban aging; issues facing Philadelphia’s elderly; trauma and aging; Jewish elderly; aging in minority communities
  Curren Research: long-term effects of trauma; aging in the American Jewish community; future of aging in the city of Philadelphia
  Future Research: under-studied issues such as aging gay, lesbian and transsexual people; aging of prisoners; aging of the homeless; aging of the lifelong mentally ill; violence and the elderly
  
• Murray Grossman, MD, IOA Fellow
  Associate Professor, Neurology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interest: cognitive functioning in neurodegenerative diseases
  Current Research: cognitive functioning in neurodegenerative diseases
  Future Research: cognitive functioning in neurodegenerative diseases
  
  
• Karen B. Hirschman, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Research Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: decision-making; caregiver issues; planning for the future; end-of-life care
  Current Research: palliative care and dementia; planning for the future and dementia
  Future Research: translating research into practice
  
• Nancy Hodgson, PhD, RN, CS, IOA Associate Fellow
  Senior Research Scientist, Polisher Research Institute
  Research Interests: palliative care; disability; biomarkers of frailty
  Current Research: palliative care; disability; biomarkers of frailty; fall prevention
  Future Research: palliative care; biomarkers of frailty; disability
  
• Toshinori Hoshi, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Associate Professor, Physiology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: basic aging mechanism; lifespan determination; oxidative stress; ion channels
  Current Research: protein oxidation; ion channels; lifespan; oxidative injury
  Future Research: protein oxidation; ion channels; lifespan; oxidative injury
  
• Arlene D. Houldin, PhD, RN
  Associate Professor of Psychosocial Nursing, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interest: psycho-oncology
  Current Research: how patients and their families respond to cancer; the needs of minority populations; crisis intervention with fire survivors; end-of-life care
  
  
• Ravishankar Jayadevappa, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Research Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: health services research; equity and efficiency; health-related quality of life; health disparity; cost-effectiveness
  Current Research: health services research; health-related quality of life; health disparity; cost-effectiveness; quality of care
  Future Research: chronic illnesses and health-related quality of life; health disparity; cost-effectiveness; quality of care
  
• Kathryn Jedrziewski, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Deputy Director, Institute on Aging, PENN
  Research Interests: healthy brain aging, exercise, retirement, community partnerships
  Current Research: healthy brain aging, exercise, retirement, community partnerships
  Future Research: healthy brain aging, exercise, retirement, community partnerships
  
• Cheri Carter Johnson, PhD, IOA Associate Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, Temple University
  Research Interests: aging and the development of resilience; gender and aging; aging in the inner city; the oldest old; aging African-Americans
  Current Research: African-Americans in the Philadelphia metro area; development of resilience of the oldest old
  Future Research: aging families; HIV/AIDS and aging; aging in prison
• F. Brad Johnson, MD PhD, IOA Fellow
  Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Telomeres, chromatin, cell senescence, DNA repair, intestinal stem cells, neurodegeneration, G-quadruplexes
  Future Research: Understanding the impact of altered chromatin and cellular senescence on age-related neurodegeneration
  
• Kelly L. Jordan-Sciutto, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: HIV encephalitis, unfolded protein response; cell cycle; oxidative stress response; antioxidant response; neurodegeneration; transcription
  Current Research: assessing mechanisms of neuronal death (apoptosis versus necrosis in response to neuroinflammatory mechanisms and oxidative stress and protection by neurotrophins to gain insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal loss in neurodegenerative disorders (i.e., Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and HIV encephalitis); role of cell cycle proteins, endoplasmic reticulum stress regulators and transcriptional regulators in neuronal survival decisions
  Future Research: chromatin remodeling and mechanism regulating neurite outgrowth in response to remodeling stimuli
  
  
• Sarah H. Kagan, PhD, FAAN, RN, IOA Fellow
  Associate Professor of Gerontological Nursing, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: Aging and cancer; cancer and other symptom experience for older adults; narrative inquiry
  Current Research: narrative standpoint method development for exploration of older adults' experience
  Future Research: application of narrative standpoint inquiry in exploring living with visible evidence of cancer
  
• Jason Karlawish, MD, IOA Fellow
  Associate Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, research ethics, medical decision-making
  Current Research: quality of life (QOL) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) research, advance planning, capacity assessment
  Future Research: decision-making capacity in persons with non-AD diagnoses, cost-effectiveness of and treatment preferences for AD treatments, quality of life (QOL) in non-AD diagnoses
  
• Bruce Kinosian, MD, IOA Fellow
  Associate Professor, Medicine, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: nutrition, subclinical atherosclerosis, clinical economics
  Current Research: long-term care (LTC) planning model for VA, inter-agency all-inclusive care, projecting care demands and quality of life in Alzheimer's disease
  Future Research: sarcopenia/frailty (combining exercise with nutritional interventions
  
• Jake Kushner, MD, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, CHOP and School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: diabetes cell cycle regulation of islet growth; age-limited cellular proliferation
  Current Research: islet growth in aged adult mice; adaptive beta cell growth
  Future Research: molecular mechanisms of proliferation restriction in aging
  
  
• Ebbing Lautenbach, MD, MPH, MSCE, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: antibiotic-resistance; antibiotic use; infections in long-term care
  Current Research: quinolone resistance in long-term care
  Future Research: infections in long-term care
  
  
• Elizabeth R. MacKenzie, PhD, IOA Associate Fellow
  Senior Writing Fellow, Writing Center
  Lecturer , Department of History and Sociology of Science, PENN
  Research Interests: qualitative research; spirituality and health integrated medicine (CAM)
  Current Research: humanistic medicine
  Future Research: curriculum development for humanistic medicine and cultural competence
  
• Kathleen McCauley, PhD, FAAN, RN, CS
  Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Nursing; Class of '42 Endowed Term Professor, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interest: heart failure
  Current Research: examination of the needs of elders with heart failure and other cardiac illnesses in the transition from hospital to home
  
• Minghong Ma, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Neuroscience, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interest: olfactory sensory systems
  Current Research: olfaction
  Future Research: olfaction
  
• Eileen Sullivan-Marx, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, RN, IOA Fellow
  Associate Professor of Nursing; Shearer Term Professor for Healthy Community Practices; Associate Dean for Practice and Community Affairs, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interest: outcomes of care for frail, older adults
  Current Research: nurse-sensitive outcomes of care for frail, older adults
  
  
• Mary D. Naylor, PhD, FAAN, RN, IOA Fellow
  Marian S. Ware Professor in Gerontology, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: improving outcomes and reducing costs of care for vulnerable, community-based elders
  Current Research: improve outcomes and reduce costs of care for vulnerable, community-based elders; discharge planning and home follow-up of high-risk elders by advance practice nurses
  
• Andrew Newberg, MD, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Radiology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interest: functional Neuroimaging with PET and SPECT including general brain function and neurotransmitters
  Current Research: Alzheimer's disease; Parkinson's disease; alternative medicine (i.e. acupuncture)
  Future Research: expanding functional neuroimaging in the evaluation of aging-related processes
  
  
• Busara Oearsakul, BSN, MSN, IOA Associate Fellow
  Doctoral Fellow
  Research Interest: aging
  Current Research: gerontological nursing
  Future Research: aging
  
• David Oslin, MD, IOA Fellow
  Associate Professor, Psychiatry, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: addictions; primary care; alcohol misuse; depression; dementia
  Current Research: alcohol dependence; at-risk drinking; identification of behavioral health problems in primary care
  Future Research: alcohol dependence; at-risk drinking; identification of behavioral health problems in primary care
  
  
• Allan I. Pack, MD, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Professor of Medicine; Chief, Division of Sleep Medicine; Director, Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: sleep neurobiology; sleep disorders; effect of age
  Current Research: sleep neurobiology; sleep disorders; effect of age
  Future Research: screening small molecules fo effects on sleep
• Ivona Percec, MD, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Instructor in Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Genetics and Epigenetics of Adipose Tissue Aging
  
• Robert Pignolo, MD, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Medicine, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: cellular senescence, osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease; osteobiology of aging; stem cells, differentiation, and aging
  Current Research: Osteoblast differentiation and senescence; circulating skeletal stem cells
  Future Research: Mesenchymal stem cells function with aging
  
• Randall N. Pittman, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Professor, Pharmacology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interest: polyglutamine neurodegenerative disease proteins
  Current Research: normal functions and pathological dysfunctions of ataxin-3; execution phase of apoptosis
  Future Research: mechanisms of normal functions and pathological dysfunctions of ataxin-3
  
• Rosemary C. Polomano, PhD, RN, FAAN
  Associate Professor of Pain Practice, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interest: pain management
  Current Research: acute and chronic pain; assessment and management
  
• Daniel Polsky, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Research Associate Professor, General Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Health insurance and financial access to healthcare; economic evaluation of medical and behavioral health interventions; healthcare workforce
  Current Research: comprehensive economic analysis of buprenorphine/naloxone-facilitated rehabilitation for opiod-dependent adolescents/young adults; examination of how access to Medicare at 65 for the previously uninsured has a different effect on health service use and health outcomes compared to the previously insured; statistical methods for cost research in alcohol studies; phsyician workforce responses to managed care; quality of care in mental health treatment; degree of risk selection in employer-sponsored health insurance; health plan choices for employees
  Future Research: continue to establish causal relationships between either medical or health system interventions and health outcomes
  
  
• Nancy E. Rawson, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Associate Member, Monell Chemical Senses Center
  Research Interests: sensory cell biology; neuroregeneration; neurodevelopment
  Current Research: effects of age and disease on structure and function of the olfactory epithelium
  Future Research: regulation of gene expression in the aging olfactory epithelium
  
• Therese Richmond, PhD, FAAN, CRNP
  Associate Professor of Nursing, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Director, Firearm & Injury Center at Penn (FICAP)
  Research Interests: prevention of injury and violence
  Current Research: work to fulfill FICAP's mission to "create safer communities through the systematic reduction of injury and its repercussions to the individual, family and society"; improve outcomes after serious injury; examination of the development of depression after physical injury
  
• Barbara J. Riegel, DNSc, RN, CS, FAAN
  Associate Professor of Nursing, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interest: self-care practices of people with heart failure
  Current Research: chronic heart failure; testing disease management approaches for those with heart failure
  
• Harold Riethman, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Associate Professor, Wistar Institute
  Research Interests: telomere structure, function and variation; genomics and computational biology
  Current Research: human telomere structure and variation; array CGH detection of subtelomeric instability; rodent telomere cloning and analysis
  Future Research: telomere changes in aging and cancer; telomere variation and susceptibility to telomere loss and subtelomeric instability
  
  
• Cynthia Claire Scalzi, PhD, RN, FAAN
  Associate Professor of Nursing, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interest: leadership development of geriatric nurse practitioners
  Current Research: leadership development of geriatric nurse practitioners; identification of characteristics of exemplary nursing homes with an ultimate goal of relating the characteristics to improved outcomes (cost, quality of life for elders and quality of work life for staff)
  
• Amita Sehgal, MD, IOA Fellow
  Professor, Neuroscience, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: circadian rhythms and sleep
  Current Research: molecules that comprise the circadian clock in Drosophila; entrainment of Drosophila rhythms to light; regulation and function of sleep in Drosophila; effect of aging on sleep:wake cycles; relationship between metabolism and the circadian clock; circadian control of mammalian reproduction; sleep and hypoxia
  Future Research: molecules that comprise the circadian clock in Drosophila; entrainment of Drosophila rhythms to light; regulation and function of sleep in Drosophila; effect of aging on sleep:wake cycles; relationship between metabolism and the circadian clock; circadian control of mammalian reproduction; sleep and hypoxia
  
• Julie A. Sochalski, PhD, FAAN, RN, IOA Fellow
  Associate Professor, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: social and health policy; nurse staffing and quality of nursing care in hospitals; international nurse migration research
  Current Research: policy agenda for the nursing workforce
• Louis J. Soslowsky, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Fairhill Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery and Bioengineering
  Research Interests: Orthopaedic biomechanics, tendon and ligament injury and repair
  Current Research: Orthopaedic biomechanics, tendon and ligament injury and repair
  
• Joseph B. Straton, MD, MSCE, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Family Practice and Community Medicine, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Cancer survivorship; palliative care; end-of-life care; pain and symptom management; transitional care; quality improvement
  Current Research: psychosocial needs of cancer survivors; end-of-life decision-making; coordination of care for cancer survivors
  Future Research: quality improvement initiatives to decrease symptom distress for cancer survivors
  
• Neville E. Strumpf, PhD, RN, FAAN, IOA Fellow
  Edith Clemmer Steinbright Professor in Gerontology; Director of the Center for Gerontologic Nursing, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interests: restraint-free care; older cancer patients; exercise protocols to prevent falls; palliative care in nursing homes
  Current Research: implementation of a model of palliative care in nursing homes; falls prevention among inner city elderly.
  
  
• James E. Thompson, MD
  Research Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Anemia of aging; myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS); mitochondrial aging
  Current Research: myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS); tissue bank; Po1G D257A mitochondrial mutator mouse model
  Future Research: epidemiologic evaluation of incidence of anemai and MDS in the elderly
  
• John Q. Trojanowski, MD, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Director, Institute on Aging; Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine; Co-Director, Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research; Director, Alzheimer’s Disease Center, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interest: Aging-related neurodegenerative diseases
  Current Research: Alzheimer's disease; Parkinson's disease; frontotemporal dementias and related neurodegenerative diseases of aging
  Future Research: Alzheimer's disease; Parkinson's disease; frontotemporal dementias and related neurodegenerative diseases of aging - with emphasis on drug discovery
  
  
• Kimberly Van Haitsma, PhD, IOA Associate Fellow
  Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, PENN
  Senior Research Scientist, Director of Harry Stern Family Center, Polisher Research Institute
  Research Interests: dementia caregiving, individualized care, psychosocial aspects of care
  Current Research: dementia caregiving, individualized care, psychosocial aspects of care
  Future Research: dementia caregiving, individualized care, psychosocial aspects of care
  
  
• Li-San Wang, PhD, IOA Fellow      Email
  Assistant Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interest: Bioinformatics and computational biology
  Current Research: Computational methods for microarray analysis and systems biology
  Future Research: disease-related bioinformatic research in aging, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer
  
• Terri E. Weaver, PhD, FAAN, RN, CS, IOA Fellow
  Associate Professor; Chair, Biobehavioral and Health Sciences Division, School of Nursing, PENN
  Research Interest: sleep disorders
  Current Research: treatment adherence; analysis of treatment efficacy for obstructive sleep apnea; mechanisms and outcomes of daytime sleepiness
  
• Daniel Weintraub, MD, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interest: Psychiatric complications of Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases
  Current Research: depression in PD cognitive impairment; psychosis and impulse control disorders in PD
  Future Research: clinical trials and translational research for psychiatric complications in PD (neuroimaging, genetics, etc.)
  
• Rachel Werner, MD, PhD, IOA Fellow
  Assistant Professor, General Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, PENN
  Research Interests: Healthcare quality; quality improvement; racial disparities
  Current Research: quality of care at nursing homes and the impact of nursing home report cards; comparing report cards that use process measures to report cards that use outcomes measures; examining if performance measurement leads to improvements in overall outcomes
  Future Research: how to adapt performance measurement to measure quality in patients with multiple chronic diseases; impact of report cards on unmeasured care; role of electronic health records in health care quality

 

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