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...

Research interests include:  Diabetes and obesity, nutrition and physical activity, maternal and child health, life course epidemiology, chronic disease epidemiology, molecular epidemiology (including metabolomics), genetic epidemiology (including genomics and epigenomics), developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD), and microbiome

Dr. Bern-Klug is the Director of the University of Iowa's Aging Studies Program.  Her research interests are gerontology, demography; long-term care; psychosocial issues in advanced chronic illness; nursing home social work; end-of-life issues; funeral arrangements; creative writing for social workers. 

Elana Buch, M.S.W., Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Iowa. Dr. Buch received her M.S.W. and Ph.D from the University of Michigan's Joint Program in Social Work and Social Science, was an NIA and Hartford Foundation Geriatric Social Work pre-doctoral fellow, and was a Social Science in Practice postdoctoral fellow at UCLA.  

Dr. Buch's research focuses on older adults experiences with paid care and with kin. She examines the new kinds of intimate relationships that adults forge in later life, including with new romantic partners...

Ryan Carnahan, PharmD, MS, BCPP, is the Associate Director of Education and Outreach. He is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the College of Public Health. His work aims to improve quality of care, particularly medication use, for people with dementia and delirium through education and implementation of best practices. He also studies patterns of use and adverse effects of medications in the elderly, and is involved in drug safety surveillance for the FDA. He is particularly interested in adverse events related to medication-associated cognitive impairment. His work involves...

Octav Chipara, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science received a Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis and completed his Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Chipara served on a number of technical programming committees including the International Conference on Body Area Networks (BodyNets), the International Conference on Mobile Ad-hoc and Sensor Systems (MASS), and the International Conference on Mobile Ad-hoc and Sensor Networks (MSN). Dr. Chipara's research focuses on the next generation of wireless sensor networks that...

Areas of Expertise:

• Effects of couponing on purchase and repeat purchase rates
• Elderly adults' use of consumer information
• Measurements and effects of knowledge and experience on consumer behavior

Aging Related Research:
Research regarding elder abuse legislation, prosecution, nursing home abuse.

Keywords:  Elder abuse, colorectal cancer screening

Aging Related Research:

My laboratory research is focused on sensorimotor control of hand and digit movements in healthy aging and also of gait and balance in populations with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's Disease and Multiple Sclerosis.  The role of lifestyle interventions in preventing and improving age-related deterioration motor function is also investigated.

Concerning education, I am involved in teaching a course in Physiology of Aging in which we discuss effects of aging on function of all major body systems.

Keywords: ...

Aging Related Research:
Cognitive neuroscience of aging with am emphasis on real-world decision-making (financial, consumer, medical).

Keywords:  Dementia, normal aging, decision-making, cognitive neuroscience, emotion

Aging Related Research:
Lung cancer in radon-exposed individuals, mortality of elderly munitions workers.  Occupational and environmental epidemiology.

Keywords: Radon, lung cancer, silica, occupation, risk perception

In the lab, we use genetic techniques to isolate and manipulate neurons that mediate basic physiologic functions including sleep, appetite, bladder control, and thermoregulation. My focus lies in identifying and deciphering previously unknown connections between neurons in the brainstem and other subcortical brain regions by applying basic developmental-genetic information and selecting Cre-transgenic mouse models that allow us to target specific subpopulation(s) of neurons that control wakefulness and other basic functions. Beyond the basic scientific importance of this work, we hope to...

Aging Related Research:
We study cochlear synaptopathy -- damage to cochlear synapses caused by noise and aging. This type of trauma is a major cause of age-related hearing loss. In particular, loss of ability, during aging, to follow conversation in a noisy environments believed to be largely due to synaptopathy.

Keywords:  Hearing loss, noise, auditory neuron, synapse, aging

Aging Related Research:
My program of research, as well as educational and advocacy work, is in the area of geriatric pain, facilitating best practices through implementation science strategies, and promoting palliative and end of life care.

Keywords: Pain, measurement, assessment, aging, cognitive impairment

Aging Related Research:
My past thesis research was studying the effects of antibiotics upon the aging of yeast. Low does of erythromycin an antibiotic that reduces the error rate of protein synthesis in bacteria (and likely in the mitochondria) increased the lifespan of our yeast strain by 25% and reduced the spontaneous rate of the appearance of petites. I currently do not do research but teach the Biology of Aging course for The Aging Studies Program.

Gerald J. Jogerst, M.D., received his B.A. from Loras College and M.D. from the University of Iowa College of Medicine.  He completed his Family Practice Residency and Fellowship at Scottsdale Memorial Hospital, where he also served as Chief Resident.  He is Board Certified in Family Medicine and Geriatric Medicine.  His research interests include Elder Abuse Methods of teaching geriatric medicine Functional Assessment in the geriatric population; modifiable risk factors of function, international family medicine training, depression in the older population (cultural differences).

Dr. Kennelty's research primarily examines patients’ medication continuity when they transition from the hospital to community care. She also works in studying roles of pharmacists in managing chronic conditions.

In addition to conducting research, she teaches on topics including quality and process improvement, and team-based care models. She is an active committee member for the Gerontological Society of America, focusing on medication use in older adults, medication reconciliation in the outpatient setting, and OTC sleep aids.

She enjoys mentoring students, residents (...

Wen Liu, Ph.D., R.N., Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing. She received a Ph.D. in Nursing from University of Maryland at Baltimore in 2015. Her research of interest includes examining the effects of personal and environmental factors that influence functional performance in activities of daily living (ADLs), especially eating performance, among long-term care residents with dementia. Her studies also focus on developing and testing interventions to improve function and decrease self-feeding and mealtime difficulties among this population. She is also interested in measurement...

Keywords: Cancer surveillance, cancer epidemiology, cancer control

Chooza Moon, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing. She completed her PhD in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2016. She also did her postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on how sleep and life style risk factors contribute to brain health. She has been focusing on sleep in cardiovascular disease patients, especially heart failure, and how these factors explain neurobiology of older adults. Her current works examine how sleep and activity patterns and...

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...

Aaron Seaman, PhD, is a postdoctoral research scholar in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa, having received his PhD from the Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago. Dr. Seaman’s research focuses on how patients and their families understand health and illness as they age and how those understandings inform their decisions about care and treatment. A medical anthropologist, he uses ethnographic and other qualitative methods to investigate the effects of clinical...

Aging Related Research:
My research is focused on geropsychiatric syndromes, such as dementia, depression, anxiety and delirium, and identification and treatment of associated care challenges and medical comorbidites. My primary focus in treatment is on non-drug approaches and interventions and nursing care management, as well as educational interventions to promote understanding and skill development by daily care providers (both formal and informal). My aim is to find simple, pragmatic ways to increase comfort and function in distressed older people.

...

Aging Related Research:
I study cognitive and behavioral changes associated with aging, and the neural correlates of such changes. I also study several major age-related neurological disease, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and frontotemporal dementia. I use neuropsychological and neuroimaging (fMRI) approaches in my research.

Keywords:  Neuropsychology, Alzheimer's disease, functional neuroimaging, decision-making

Aging Related Research:
I do research on depression and disability in late-life, psychotherapy for depressed elders, personal health records and health information exchange.

Keywords: Depression, psychotherapy, telemedicine, patient portals, personal health records

Research Interests: 
Aging, Disabling Illnesses of Older Persons including Arthritis, Cancer, Cardiovascular Diseases, and Dementia, Clinical Trials, Disease Prevention, Clinical Epidemiology, Health Promotion, Preventive Medicine, Public Health

Jan R. Wessel, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the Department of Neurology. He received his Ph.D. in 2011 from the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research, where he was a Gertrud Reemtsma Fellow and received a Young Researcher Award from the Gustav A. Lienert Foundation. Dr. Wessel then worked as a Post-Doc and Independent Investigator at the University of California, San Diego. His research examines the neural mechanisms that underlie flexible behavior and cognition, and how pathological processes, brain lesions, and normal...

Aging Related Research:
Dr. Wilkinson's age-related research interests are in two general areas; inherited eye diseases and driving with a reduction in visual functioning. Dr. Wilkinson works with Dr. Edwin Stone and the other researchers in the Wynn Institute for Vision Research (WIVR - http://www.wivr.uiowa.edu) to evaluate and quantify the phenotypic differences in...

Kristine Williams, R.N., Ph.D., Sally Mathis Hartwig Professor in Gerontological Nursing at the University of Iowa College of Nursing. She received a Ph.D. in Gerontology from the University of Kansas in 2001. She is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the National Academies of Practice. Her research linking elderspeak communication to behavior of persons with dementia was highlighted by the Alzheimer’s Association and reported in the national media including Good Morning America, the CBS Evening News, and the New York Times.  Dr. Williams’ research tests interventions to...

Aging Related Research:
My focus is gerontologic health services research, generally with special attention to the measurement and modeling of health status and health services use from a longitudinal perspective. For the past decade much of this research has relied on Medicare beneficiaries included in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), for which Dr. Wolinsky has linked the baseline (1992-1993) and biennial survey interview data (through 2012) to Medicare claims (1991-2012) and geo-coded data. I have also been involved in several randomized controlled trials (...