Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC)

Miami GRECC

• 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/

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