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Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC)

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Eastern Colorado GRECC Team

Home | Research | Education | Clinical | Investigators & Team | Fellowships
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Leadership | Administrative | Investigators | Projects | Fellows

Eastern Colorado Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center Team

 

Joshua F. Yarrow, MS, PhD, FACSM
Title: EC GRECC Director
Contact: joshua.yarrow@va.gov
Research Activities:
My research spans the preclinical-translational-clinical spectrum and focuses broadly on determining how the endocrine and nervous systems regulate bone and muscle integrity, along with cardiometabolic and prostate health in adulthood, with two primary themes:
—  determining the sex-steroid hormone-mediated mechanisms that underlie maintenance of bone, muscle, and adiposity, and that influence cardiovascular and prostate health in adults and
—  evaluating pharmacologic and activity-based physical therapy interventions to enhance musculoskeletal integrity and promote use-dependent neuromuscular plasticity after spinal cord injury (SCI) and in the aging population.
 
Jennifer Stevens-Lapsley, PT PhD, FAPTA
Title: Associate Director for Research
Professor, Physical Therapy
Contact: jennifer.stevens-lapsley@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— Improving Function in Older Veterans with Hospital-associated Deconditioning
— Improving Rehabilitation Outcomes After Total Hip Arthroplasty
— Shifting Rehabilitation Paradigms in Skilled Nursing Facilities toward Higher-Intensity Rehabilitation
 
Kathryn Nearing, PhD, MA
Title: Associate Director Education and Evaluation and Founder, Coordinator and Facilitator of the Older Veteran Engagement Team
Contact: kathryn.nearing@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— Aging as a moderator of behavior change
— Rural Veteran health disparities
— Community-based Participatory Research, including stakeholder engagement
— Qualitative research (e.g., regarding patient and caregiver experience)
— Innovative approaches to inclusion of diverse older adults in clinical trials
— Education, training and career development, including interprofessional education and training
 
Daniel Matlock, MD
Title: Associate Director Clinical Innovations
Associate Professor, Geriatric Medicine
Contact: daniel.matlock@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— Shared Decision Making; Hospice Decision Aids
— Decision Aids for ICDs and LVADs
— Doctor-Patient Communication and Patient Engagement
 

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Administration

 

Eric Qualls
Title: Administrative Officer
Contact:
(720) 788-6733
alfred.qualls@va.gov
 
Danielle Crowley, LPN
Title: Administrative Support Assistant
Contact:
(720) 788-6733
danielle.crowley2@va.gov
 

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Investigators

 

Lauren Abbate, MD PhD
Title:
Director, RMRVAMC Geriatric Emergency Department
Medical Director GeroFit
Former GRECC Advanced Research Fellow – Emergency Medicine
Contact: lauren.abbate@cuanschutz.edu | lauren.abbate@va.gov
Research Activities:
— Evidence-based exercise interventions for Veterans with knee osteoarthritis
— Non-pharmacological interventions for managing chronic diseases (specifically arthritis) in older adults
 
Michael Bade, PT, PhD
Title: EC GRECC Investigator; Associate Professor, Physical Therapy
Contact: michael.bade@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— Improving rehabilitation in individuals with degenerative joint disease or following joint arthroplasty
 
Marian (Emmy) Betz, MD, MPH
Title:
EC GRECC Investigator; Director, Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative, Patient Centered Injury Prevention
Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine
Contact: marian.betz@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— Innovative approaches in firearm injury prevention for Persons with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) and their caregivers, working collaboratively with affected communities to develop solutions that are tailored to the preferences and values of firearm owners
— Older driver safety and considerations about driving retirement
 
Cory Christiansen, PT PhD
Title: EC GRECC Investigator; Professor, Physical Therapy
Contact: cory.christiansen@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— Translational science focused on clinical trials for targeting biobehavioral and biomechanical mechanisms for physical function and activity in older adult populations with chronic health conditions (e.g., Physical Activity Behavior Change for Older Veterans after Dysvascular Amputation)
— Optimizing movement patterns for people with unilateral dysvascular amputation to prevent secondary pain problems
 
Russ Glasgow, PhD
Title:
EC GRECC Investigator; Director, Dissemination and Implementation Science Program, Adult & Child Consortium for Health Outcomes Research & Delivery Science at the University of Colorado School of Medicine
Research Professor of Family Medicine
Contact: russell.glasgow@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— Chronic illness prevention and care models that can improve healthcare in the real world
— Original developer of RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance)
 
Michael Harris-Love, PT, MPT, DSc, FGSA
Title: EC GRECC Investigator; Professor, CU Physical Therapy Program
Contact: Michael.Harris-Love@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— Clinical trials involving participants with myopathy and neuromuscular disease within the NIH Intramural Research Program
— Developing viable methods of assessing muscle quality and employing innovative exercise interventions for those with sarcopenia.
 
Elizabeth Juarez-Colunga, PhD
Title: Associate Professor, Biostatistics and Informatics, Colorado School of Public Health
Contact: elizabeth.juarez-colunga@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— Models for data with dependencies at different levels including longitudinal and clustered data
— Models for repeated events
— Joint modeling of multiple outcomes
— Data with many zeros
— Modeling of epileptic seizures
 
Dwight Klemm, PhD
Title: EC GRECC Investigator; Professor, Pulmonary Sciences
Contact: dwight.klemm@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— Age- and Sex-associated Production of Adipocytes from Bone Marrow Stem Cells
 
Wendy M. Kohrt, PhD
Title: EC GRECC Investigator; Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatric Medicine
Contact: wendy.kohrt@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC): NIH Common Fund initiative to establish a comprehensive map of the molecular responses to endurance and resistance exercise, with long-term goal of understanding mechanisms for health benefits of exercise. CU-AMC is one of seven Clinical Centers that will enroll 3000 participants.
— Bioenergetic and Metabolic Consequences of the Loss of Gonadal Function
— Novel Modifiers of Musculoskeletal Adaptations to Exercise
 
Kerrie Moreau, PhD
Title: EC GRECC Investigator; Professor, Geriatric Medicine
Contact: kerrie.moreau@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— Gonadal Regulation of Cardiovascular Aging and Vascular Contributions to Alzheimer’s Disease and its Related Dementias
 
Christine Swanson, MD, MCR
Title: EC GRECC Investigator; Associate Professor, Medicine-Endocrinology/Metabolism/Diabetes, Ludeman Family Center for Women's Health Research
 
Sarah Wherry, PhD
Title: EC GRECC Investigator; Assistant Professor, Medicine-Geriatrics
Contact: sarah.wherry@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— Effects of exercise mode (aerobic versus resistance, weight-bearing versus weight-supported) on the bone biomarker response to exercise
— Role of exercise frequency, mode, and duration on changes in bone mass in response to exercise training
— Exercise as a strategy to offset deleterious changes in bone in response to dietary weight loss (i.e., caloric restriction)

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Projects Team

 

Sarah Beck, MD
Title: GeriPACT clinic Director; Assistant Professor, Medicine-Geriatrics
Contact: sarah.beck4@va.gov
Research Activities:
— Fall Prevention Clinic, clinical demonstration project
— Gait Speed Initiative
— BRAVe Home Medication Management (Boxed, Reconciled, Assistance for Vets Home Medication)
— Healthy Aging group educational visit, clinical demonstration project
— Rural tele-dementia clinic, GRECC CONNECT clinical demonstration project
Lynette R. Kelley, FNP
Title: Research Nurse Practitioner/Clinical Analyst
Contact: lynette.kelley@va.gov
 
Stephanie Hartz, LCSW, BCD
Title: Geriatric and Palliative Care Telehealth Senior Social Worker, GRECC Connect Site Director
Contact: stephanie.hartz@va.gov
Research Activities:
— Home-Based Palliative Care for Rural Veterans
 
Robyn Moon, RN, BSN, CCRN
Title: ECHCS GRECC Clinical Innovation Coordinator
Contact: robyn.moon@va.gov
Research Activities:
— Coordination and Program Development Support for Clinical Demonstrations such as CAD Roadmap
— Home-Based Palliative Care for Rural Veterans
— BRAVe Home Medication Management (Boxed, Reconciled, Assistance for Vets Home Medication)
 

 

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Fellows

 

Alexander J. Garbin, PT, DPT, PhD
Title: GRECC Advanced Research Fellow, Physical Therapy
Contact: alexander.garbin@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
—  Implementing regular walking speed measurements at primary care clinics serving a high proportion of older adults to enhance the healthcare provider referral decision-making process
—  Identifying older adults at risk for falls and developing strategies to reduce fall risk
 
Lauren Hinrichs-Kinney PT, DPT, PhD(c), OCS
Title: GRECC Advanced Research Fellow, Physical Therapy
Contact: lauren.hinrichs-kinney@cuanschutz.edu
 
Jonathan Kurche, MD, PhD
Title: GRECC Advanced Research Fellow
Contact: jonathan.kurche@cuanschutz.edu
Research Activities:
— understanding the pathobiology
— management of acute respiratory failure and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
 
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