I study driving safety in at-risk populations including healthy and diseased aging, obstructive sleep apnea.  This research will expand to include adolescents.  Driving safety assessments include multiple platforms including simulation, real-world driving with instrumented vehicles, and black-box technology in participants’ own vehicles.  EEG, peripheral physiology, and eye-trackers are integrated into our simulation environment permitting enriched assessments of self-regulation of attention.  I also have strong interests in individual differences specifically how personality and affective...

Aging Related Research:
Alcohol and drug use in older people.

Keywords:  Substance use, alcohol use, recovery, biostatistics, epidemiology

Sato Ashida, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Community and Behavioral Health in the College of Public Health.  She received a PhD from the Ohio State University School of Public Health in Health Behavior and Health Promotion, with area specialization in Aging, in 2005. She subsequently completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Intramural Social and Behavioral Research Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health. Dr. Ashida specializes in social network research and investigates the roles of social contexts in maintaining and enhancing...

Aging Related Research:
My focus is on personality disturbances that develop as a consequence of neuropathological conditions associated with aging, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia and stroke.

Keywords: Acquired personality disturbance, dementia, stroke

Aging Related Research:
I discovered nicotinamide riboside (NR) as an unanticipated vitamin precursor of NAD and showed that NR extends lifespan in yeast by virtue of increasing NAD metabolism and Sir2 activity. I have further investigated the metabolic consequences of calorie restriction and am engaged in metabolism research in several conditions related to aging.

Keywords: Nicotinamide riboside, NAD, metabolomics, calorie restriction

Professor Emeritus Kathleen Buckwalter, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the former Director of the John A. Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence, and Associate Director of the National Health Law and Policy Center at the UI College of Law. A prolific researcher of issues affecting the elderly, Dr. Buckwalter's work has focused on improving mental health services and providing community-based care for chronically ill older persons. Her specific clinical and research interests are in the area of geriatric mental health.

Dr. Buckwalter's research has been funded by several branches of the...

Dr. Chen participates in predoctoral clinical teaching in the Geriatric and Special Needs Dentistry program, and the graduate Geriatric and Special Needs Certificate program. He also gives seminars and lectures on topics related to geriatric dentistry to predoctoral and graduate students.  In addition, he provides research mentorship and gives CE presentations related to the oral and general health of elderly populations.

Dr. Christensen teaches computer engineering and signal/image processing courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels.  His research interests include image processing, medical imaging, deformable shape models, 3D visualization, computer architecture, and parallel computing.  His research involves developing new image registration methods for customizing electronic anatomical atlases, automatic segmentation, modeling anatomical shape for the characterization of normalcy and disease, and brain mapping.

Expertise: image and statistical analysis

Aging Related Research:
Neural and biomechanical mechanisms underlying reduced hand dexterity in healthy aging. Studies focus on recording the fingertip forces exerted against objects that are manipulated, along with hand and object kinematics. Non-invasive brain stimulation has been employed to determine if improved dexterity can be achieved through stimulation-enhanced motor practice.

Keywords: Human, hand, dexterity, sensorimotor, neural plasticity

Peter Damiano is the Director of the Public Policy Center (PPC) and Professor, Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry at the University of Iowa. He started the health policy research program at the PPC in 1990 and has been Director of the Center since July 2007. He is a health services researcher who investigates issues relating to access to care, quality, cost and outcomes of care. Dr. Damiano has authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and research monographs and has been the principal investigator on over 50 research studies funded by federal, state and Foundation...

Bernd Fritzsch, Ph.D., is the Director of the Aging Mind and Brain Initiative. He is Professor in the Department of Biology, holds an Endowed Entrepreneurial Professor title and is a Fellow of the AAAS. He holds secondary appointments in the Department of Otolaryngology, is a member of the DELTA center and is core co-director of the recently awarded P30 in auditory research. He received his PhD from the University of Darmstadt, was awarded the prestigious Heisenberg Fellowship and has published over 250 papers and reviews. Prior to becoming the Chair in the Department of Biology he served...

Aging Related Research:
I study language in normal aging and in age-related disorders, such as aphasia following stroke.

Keywords, Language, word retrieval, stereotypes, aphasia

Aging Related Research:
I am primarily a clinical faculty in the University of Iowa College of Dentistry. I have assisted other primary investigators with their research related to oral health by primarily completing oral examinations on subjects.

Dentistry, oral health, dementia, medically complex, critical thinking

Steve Hitlin's interests include social psychology, self and identity, values, morality, social theory, and gender. Currently, he is working on three projects. First, he is developing a theoretical and empirical research program aimed at supporting sociological studies of morality, specifically the relationship between values and the moral self. The second involves the development and social psychological nature of racial identities. The third area revolves around attempts to empirically engage issues of agency as a social psychological concept to engage core sociological debates. His...

Mathews Jacob, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering received a Ph.D. degree from the Biomedical Imaging Group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in 2003. He was a Beckman postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign between 2003 and 2006. He was an assistant professor of Biomedical Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Radiology at the University of Rochester between 2007 and 2011. He is the recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award and is currently serving as the associate...

John Kamholz, M.D., Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Neurology, is the director of the Huntington disease (HD) clinic, where he is involved in a number of neuroimaging studies attempting to identify biomarkers for disease progression. These data will be used to establish outcome measures for clinical trials in HD. He is currently the PI in two clinical trials for HD: LEGATO, sponsored by the Huntington Study Group to evaluate a monocloncal antibody to the protein Semaphorin 4B; and SIGNAL, sponsored by TEVA pharmaceuticals to evaluate the compound liquinimod. He is also the director...

One of my primary interests is in how epithelial cells become immortal and subsequently malignant after infection with human papillomavirus (HPV). We are also studying how telomere loss and other factors are involved in induction of cellular senescence and aging. More recent studies have focused on the role of adipocytes in the development of diabetes and other metabolic disorders. Specific areas of research are:

• Determining how bacterial toxins and environmental pollutants disrupt metabolism through their effects on adipocyte differentiation and function
• Developing
...

Kashelle Lockman works with Associate Professor James Ray, the James A. Otterbeck OnePoint Patient Care Professor in Hospice and Palliative Care. The team will focus on the areas of palliative care, pain management, and hospice related care. She maintains clinical practice at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Aging Related Research:
As a dentist, I have been providing oral health care for demented geriatric patients for more than 15 years, since I was a private practitioner when living in São José dos Campos-Brazil and currently working at the Geriatric and Special Needs Clinic at the UI-CoD. My research interest is focused on three topics: geriatric oral and general health, patients satisfaction with prosthodontic therapies and temporo-mandibular dysfunction and bruxism. Of particular interest to this network, is the first topic, i.e., geriatric oral and general...

Kumar Narayanan, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology. Dr. Narayanan received an undergraduate degree at Stanford in 2000, received a M.D. and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 2008, and completed a neurology residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 2012. He is a recipient of the Donald B. Lindsley Prize for outstanding behavioral neuroscience doctoral work, and the S. Weir Mitchell award for basic science research during residency.  As a neurologist, he is interested in cognitive symptoms of Parkinson's disease. He studies this problem using animal models of...

Aging Related Research:
My research focus has been on improving healthy eating in rural settings. Because a large proportion of rural residents are middle aged or older, participants in my studies have also been in this age range and tend to be independent living. I have also published some work comparing nutrition-related behaviors among adults of different age categories.

Keywords:  Nutrition, health behavior, health promotion, rural

Priyadarshini (Priya) Pennathur, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. Dr. Pennathur received a doctoral degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from University at Buffalo in 2010. She was a post-doctoral research fellow at Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research interests are in understanding cognitive artifacts and how humans create and use information in complex work systems. Her particular focus and expertise is in healthcare systems. She has been...

Aging Related Research:
The goal of my research is to determine the mechanisms that contribute to vascular endothelial dysfunction and increased large elastic artery stiffness with aging, obesity, prediabetes, hypertension, COPD, anxiety and preeclampsia in humans. We use an integrative experimental approach, including non-invasive and semi-invasive approaches to assess vascular function in human subjects and study cells/tissues (endothelial and mononuclear cells, blood, adipose arterioles) from humans to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved....

Aging Related Research:
As faculty in the University of Iowa’s Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Imaging Center, I have been actively engaged in brain-related research for more than twenty years. I have extensive experience in the use of PET agents for the analysis of blood flow, glucose metabolism, amyloid and most recently, tau. I work closely with Dr. Susan Schultz to implement the imaging aspects of the various multicenter trials that the University of Iowa is a participant (e.g., ADNI-2, A4, LEARN, etc.) In addition, I have experience with a number of software...

Jean E. Robillard, M.D., is the university's vice president for medical affairs, appointed to the post in January 2007 after serving four years as dean of the Carver College of Medicine. Robillard also served as interim president of the University Iowa Aug. 1, 2015 through November 1, 2015.  As vice president, he led the integration of UI Hospitals and Clinics, the Carver College of Medicine, and the UI Physicians group practice into University of Iowa Health Care, the state of Iowa's only comprehensive academic medical center.  He has expanded medical services to better meet Iowa...

Len Sandler developed and directs the Law and Policy In Action and Estate Planning clinics at the College of Law. His focus includes universal design in housing and technology, disability, and ADA accessibility. Medical-legal issues have been at the center of many of his research, policy, legislative advocacy, and representation activities; subject matters range from HIV/AIDS, mental health and disability, medical deportation, and LGBTQQ healthcare to the confidentiality of medical information under state and federal laws. He and the law students he supervises also represent, provide...

Aging Related Research:
Clinical trials in dementia and stroke. Focal cognitive deficits in dementia.

Keywords:  Primary progressive aphasia, posterior cortical atrophy syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, dementia clinic

Aging Related Research:
My program of research has focused on minority aging [ethnogeriatrics] particularly related to health behaviors and self-management; most recently focusing on elder abuse interventions among tribal communities in the Great Plains.

Keywords:  Minority aging, chronic illness self-management, elder abuse, community based participatory research, qualitative methods

Michelle Voss, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences received a Ph.D. degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2011. She was a Beckman Institute Predoctoral Fellow in 2008 and 2009, and was awarded the Paul D. Doolen Scholarship for the Study of Aging in 2009. Dr. Voss investigates the effect of interventions, such as physical activity, exercise, and cognitive engagement, on brain health and performance in order to learn what steps we can take to keep our mind functioning well as we age. Her research is also...

Aging Related Research:
I am working with the EMR to identify, screen and treat delirium in hospitalized older persons.

Keywords: Delirium, dementia, hospice, palliative medicine

Keywords:  geriatric assessment clinic, resident education

Auriel Willette, M.S., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Food Science and Human Nutrition and Psychology at Iowa State University. Dr. Willette received his B.A. at Oberlin College in 2002, M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychoneuroimmunology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010, and completed post-docs in neuroimaging and clinical trials at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health and the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Willette examines how obesity, dysmetabolism, and neuroinflammation affect brain structure, function, and biochemistry...

Dr. Witry’s research focuses on service quality in the community pharmacy setting. This includes the nature of pharmacist-patient communication, pharmacist processes for monitoring the safety and effectiveness of medications. Recent research focuses on understanding pharmacist role perceptions in the refill process, including perspectives and approaches to improving medication adherence. Witry also is examining medication list concordance for veterans using both VA and non-VA health care services. Dr. Witry also is interested in using technology to obtain information from patients about...