The Karen Bandeen-Roche Lab explores the application of underlying variable methods in epidemiologic and psychosocial research. Our team seeks to improve the ability to measure key outcomes like functional status and psychological disorders. Our other areas of statistical research include the study of classification and variance structure and multivariate survival analysis. We are deeply invested in the field of gerontology as well as ophthalmology and neurology.

Research in the Alicia Arbaje Lab aims to help older adults maintain dignity and quality of life as they age. We are particularly interested in creating health care systems to improve safety and outcomes for older adults.

Work in the Ayse Gurses Lab examines several topics related to human factors, including methods for improving patient safety in the cardiac operating room, care coordination, transitions of care and compliance of providers with evidence-based guidelines. Our team also has an interest in research that explores the working conditions of nurses. We collaborate on studies related to the development of geriatrics health service delivery at all levels of the health system.

The Colleen Christmas Lab studies geriatric medicine, with a focus on geriatric education, interventions to reduce inappropriate nursing home citations by state surveyors, nutrition and fall prevention for geriatric patients, and perioperative geriatric care.

Research interests in the Bruce Leff Lab include home hospital, guided care, medical education and long-term care.

Researchers in the Danelle O. Cayea Lab develop and evaluate curriculum that teaches the care of older adults to residents and medical students. Our work includes older adults with complex heath issues who receive care in hospital and ambulatory environments.

The primary area of statistical expertise in the Qian-Li Xue Lab is the development and application of statistical methods for: (1) handling the truncation of information on underlying or unobservable outcomes (e.g., disability) as a result of screening, (2) missing data, including outcome (e.g., frailty) censoring by a competing risk (e.g., mortality) and (3) trajectory analysis of multivariate outcomes. Other areas of methodologic research interests include multivariate, latent variable models. In Women's Health and Aging Studies, we have closely collaborated with scientific investigators on the design and analysis of longitudinal data relating biomarkers of inflammation, hormonal dysregulation and micronutrient deficiencies to the development and progression of frailty and disability, as well as characterizing the natural history of change in cognitive and physical function over time.

The Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) studies frailty, an age-related condition in which older adults lose the capacity to cope with stressors and become vulnerable to functional decline, loss of independence and mortality. Since its original funding in 2003, the center has helped demonstrate that frailty is a syndrome caused by multiple biological mechanisms that are expressed through characteristics of decreased resiliency and reserve in older adults. The mission of OAIC is to provide a hypothesis-driven, frailty-focused, highly interdisciplinary center where supported investigators receive the expertise, resources and training necessary to make fundamental discoveries related to the origins and causes of frailty and then move these discoveries towards frailty-focused interventions.

The Frederick Sieber Lab studies the impact of sedation on geriatric surgical patients—especially those undergoing orthopaedic or pelvic procedures—with the goal of preventing postoperative delirium. We are using electroencephalography to investigate the effect of sedation depth during spinal anesthesia. We are also working to determine the effects of using propofol for sedation in elderly patients as well as the effects of robotics and surgical positioning on cerebral blood flow.

Research interests in the Michelle Belantoni Lab include osteoporosis screening using heel ultrasonography and quality outcomes in post-acute care settings.