Dr. Anderson's research interests are in human cognitive neuropsychology, with emphases in frontal lobe dysfunction, language processing, and cognitive/behavioral rehabilitation. The primary methods involve application of experimental cognitive and behavioral paradigms in patients with circumscribed brain lesions defined by MRI. Current projects are directed at delineating impairments of social behavior and executive function associated with adult- and childhood-onset damage to prefrontal cortex, evaluating the validity of the classical aphasia classification scheme, and investigating the...

Kanika Arora, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the department of Health Management and Policy. She completed her PhD in Public Administration from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University in 2015. Her research focuses on understanding the motivations and implications of supplying long-term care services to the elderly in the U.S. Her recent work examines: time tradeoffs associated with informal care, parental dementia and wealth accumulation among adult children, and the effect of formal care services on Medicaid expenditures. A second stream of her research studies evaluation design for...

Christopher G. Atchison is Director of Iowa’s Hygienic Laboratory, Associate Dean for Public Health Practice and Clinical Professor in Health Management and Policy. He holds secondary appointments in the College of Nursing and the Public Policy Center. Mr. Atchison serves on the Iowa Prevention of Disabilities Policy Council, co-chairs the Partnership for Better Health, and is on the Board of the Child and Family Policy Center and on the Steering Committee for the National Academy of State Health Policy. He is also Secretary-Treasurer of the Board of Directors for the Association of Public...

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...

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 (...