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Miami GRECC
Miami GRECC
Bruce W. Carter VA Medical Center
1201 N.W. 16th Street
W. GRECC (11GRC)
Miami, FL 33125
Phone 305-575-3388
Fax 305-575-3365
GRECC Director
Enrique Aguilar, MD (Interim)
Associate Director, Research
Stuti Dang, MD, MPH (Interim)
Associate Director, Clinical
Jorge G. Ruiz, MD
Associate Director, Education and Evaluation
Iriana Hammel, MD
Administrative Officer
Mitscher S. Gajardo, MBA
Mitscher.Gajardo@va.gov

- Metabolism and aging (diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer)
- Frailty and related geriatric syndromes
- Reparative/regenerative therapies
- High need high risk veterans and their caregivers

- Peer Veteran Intervention for High need-high risk veterans integrated with the PACT
- Measuring Frailty in older Veterans and its associated illnesses, geriatric syndromes, complications and mortality during medical and surgical care
- Stem cells: Using stem cells as reparative and/or regenerative intervention in Veterans with Frailty
- Elizabeth Dole Center of Excellence, with an interdisciplinary team including geriatricians, nurses, anthropologists, gerontologists and GECDAC staff
- The Glycemia Reduction Approaches in Diabetes: A Comparative Effectiveness Study (GRADE)
- The Gulf War Illness Clinical Trials and Interventions Consortium (GWICTIC)
- DEPTH: VA-NIH Investigative Deep Phenotyping Study of Gulf War Veteran Health
- COVID 19 – Understanding the Post-Viral Phase (COVID-UPP)

- Geriatric and Palliative Medicine Grand Rounds: monthly high-level presentations focused on groundbreaking topics to encourage discussion and development of future collaborations and research
- Weekly sessions to prepare Geriatrics Fellows to demonstrate use of common geriatric assessment tools and basic communication skills with older persons and to recognize and manage patients experiencing geriatric syndromes
- and illnesses
- Annual lecture for first year medical students, Interviewing Older Adults, acquaints them with changing demographics in the US, common communication barriers with older adults and strategies for improving communication
- Annual session for second year medical students, Breaking Bad News, focuses on a 6-step protocol and role play practice delivering bad news and discussing advance directives
- A Research Scholars Program offering international physicians the opportunity to learn research methodologies to improve their professional trajectory
- Resident Scholarly Activity Program: longitudinal course to teach research methods to residents, fellows and faculty, with the goal of doing presentations and submitting publications to journals
- Faculty offers lectures as invited speakers in national and international venues

- An interdisciplinary outpatient care model providing comprehensive geriatric assessment, care coordination and co-management of high need high risk Veterans meeting Home Based Primary Care criteria
- An intervention to reduce overtreatment of Type 2 diabetes in older Veterans with hypoglycemia: Detection and prevention Project (HDPP) for older Veterans at high risk – project identified patients at high risk for hypoglycemia, reaching out to Veterans and their primary teams when appropriate
- Improving Outcomes for Surgical Patients with Frailty (V-SAFE SURG)
- Needs assessment of high need high risk Veterans and their caregivers
- Implementing a patient centered, low intensity exercise and physical activity program to improve residents’ well-being, physical and psychological function at three VA CLCs
- Gerofit exercise interventions for older Veterans: expanded telehealth services during COVID, with the main objective to enhance physical activity and exercise in the Veteran population during the pandemic forced isolation
- Telehealth consultations and interventions for geriatric Veterans
- Post COVID Clinic: Understanding the Post-Viral Phase and establishing a Long-Haulers Post-COVID clinic
- Vaccine hesitancy among older adults
- Social determinants of health and their impact on COVID outcomes and health outcomes in general

- Suitable Use of Injectable Agents to Overcome Hypoglycemia Risk, Barriers, and Clinical Inertia in Community-Dwelling Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Drugs Aging. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31565780/
- Prevalence of microvascular and macrovascular disease in the Glycemia Reduction Approaches in Diabetes – A Comparative Effective (GRADE) Study Cohort. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32450102/
- Impact of Supervised Exercise on One-Year Medication Use in Older Veterans with Multiple Morbidities. Gerontol Geriatric Med Published 9/24/20, pending PubMed ID
- Social Determinants of Health Mediate COVID-19 Disparities in South Florida, J Gen Intern Med. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7673244/
- Post-traumatic stress impact on health outcomes in Gulf War Illness, BMC Psychol. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8056666/