Timothy D. Girard, MD, MSCI
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
"Delirium as a Predictor of Cognitive Impairment in Older ICU Patients"

Tim Girard, MD, MSCI, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine and the Center for Health Services Research at Vanderbilt University. He recently completed a pulmonary and critical care fellowship and the Master of Science in Clinical Investigation Program at Vanderbilt, and he is now continuing a program of aging research as a member of Vanderbilt's ICU Delirium and Cognitive Impairment Study Group. His research focuses on the clinical epidemiology of critical illness-associated brain dysfunction. As a Hartford Geriatrics Health Outcomes Research Scholar, Dr. Girard will study factors of delirium in older ICU patients associated with the development of long-term cognitive impairment. Specifically, he seeks to identify clinically-defined categories of delirium that confer the highest risk for poor cognitive outcomes in this vulnerable patient population. His long-term research goal is to develop and study interventions to prevent and treat cognitive impairment in older survivors of critical illness.
Research Abstract

Supriya Gupta Mohile, MD, MS
University of Rochester
"Patterns of Care and Outcomes of Vulnerable Elders with Cancer"

Supriya Gupta Mohile, MD, MSis currently a Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and is transitioning to a position at the University of Rochester where she will develop a clinical and research program in geriatric oncology. Prior to joining Columbia in August 2005, her training included a fellowship in both Geriatrics and Oncology and a Master's in Health Services Outcomes research at the University of Chicago. She is a board-certified geriatrician and oncologist with clinical expertise in treating patients with genitourinary and gastrointestinal cancers. Dr. Mohile's research interests include the evaluation of patterns of care, health outcomes, and quality of life related to treatment for systemic cancer in older patients. She has previously received an American Society of Clinical Oncology Young Investigator Award and Merit Awards that supported the preliminary data for her application. Her current work examines the relationship between disability and decision-making for older adults with prostate cancer and also utilizes the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey to evaluate the relationship between vulnerability and cancer outcomes in the elderly.
Research Abstract

Heather E. Whitson, MD
Duke University
"Adding Insult to Insult: Functional Consequences of Comorbid Cognitive Impairment in Elders with Macular Disease"

Heather E. Whitson, MD is an Instructor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics at Duke University Medical Center. She completed clinical training in internal medicine and geriatrics at Duke University Medical Center, and as a VA Special Fellow in Advanced Geriatrics at the Durham VA Medical Center. She is currently pursuing a Masters' of Health Sciences degree in Duke's Clinical Research Training Program. Her research focuses on multi-morbidity, or the accumulation of chronic disease. In particular, she is interested in multi-morbidity as a pathway to functional decline, disability, and frailty. Dr. Whitson was recently awarded a Merck/American Geriatric Society New Investigator Award for her work on the combined impact of cognitive impairment and visual impairment in older adults. As a Hartford Geriatrics Health Outcomes awardee, Dr. Whitson plans to explore the functional consequences of cognitive impairment in patients with macular disease and design a novel low-vision rehabilitation strategy tailored to patients with this comorbidity.
Research Abstract

Brie Williams, MD, MSc
The Regents of the University of California
"The Health, Functional Status and Health Outcomes of Older Adults in Prison and After Release"

Brie Williams, MD, MSc is completing a geriatrics fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. She received her MD and MS in Community Medicine from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, was an internal medicine resident at UCSF, and was a Clinician Educator in the Division of General Internal Medicine at UCSF before returning for geriatrics training. Dr. Williams' research interest is to assess and improve healthcare for hidden geriatric populations. Her current work focuses on understanding the health and healthcare needs of older persons aging in prison and after their release to the community. She plans to describe the health and functional status of geriatric prisoners focusing on those who will soon be released, create a clinical tool that can be used by correctional departments to identify geriatric prisoners at high-risk for adverse health events, and develop a health questionnaire to assess the functional status, health care needs, and health care utilization patterns of older adults recently released from prison.
Research Abstract

The four recipients, selected by an academic advisory board composed of distinguished academic geriatricians, will receive a $130,000 grant over a two-year period to perform studies in outcomes research addressing clinical strategies, innovative outcomes measures and quality of life. Research findings are presented at the American Geriatrics Society Annual Scientific Meeting at the conclusion of the recipient's grant. Congratulations!

To learn more about this award program, click here