Category Archives: Center Highlights

We are delighted to share that COAH Core Faculty member Dr. Karen Bandeen-Roche has been named our 2024 Champion.  She is a Professor and Emeritus Chair of the Department of Biostatistics at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.  Also, Dr. Bandeen-Roche holds joint appointments in Medicine and Nursing. Dr. Bandeen-Roche’s research focuses on biostatistics and aging. Her career’s mission is to create statistical reasoning needed to learn how we can lengthen healthy life and increase independence for older adults, with special interests in physical frailty, resilience and cognitive dysfunction. To this purpose, Dr. Bandeen-Roche’s methodological research includes latent variable models, longitudinal data analysis, and multivariate survival analysis.

Beyond contributing to COAH as Core Faculty, Dr. Bandeen-Roche has several leadership roles at Johns Hopkins University, including serving as Co-Director of our Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC), Data Core Leader with the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Co-Director of our Frailty Science team, and Deputy Director with the Institute for Clinical & Translational Research, where she leads the Biostatistics and Research Design Program. Plus, she directs Hopkins’ Epidemiology and Biostatistics in Aging (EBA) T32 Training Program.  Additionally, she serves on the Leadership Committee of the National OAIC Coordinating Center. And at one point in time, Dr. Bandeen-Roche served as the Interim Director for COAH. In fact, she has been a true champion of COAH since our beginning.

We are grateful to her for taking the time to be interviewed for this Summer 2024 COAH Champion feature story.

Tony Teano:  Congratulations upon being named COAH’s Summer 2024 Champion!  Please tell us about your background, education, and path to COAH.

Dr. Bandeen-Roche:  I originate as a serious math geek—the kind whose leisure activities included calculating square roots by hand for fun. This continued through an undergraduate degree in mathematics—but by then I wished for a life activity with more immediate benefit for life on earth than to derive theorems. I sought an applied math field for graduate school—pursuing Operations Research and Industrial Engineering (ORIE) at Cornell, but soon discovered that statistics fascinated me a lot more than any of the other ORIE disciplines. I landed in Biostatistics because Johns Hopkins offered the most vibrant science/statistics interface—by far—among the several statistics and biostatistics faculty positions I was offered as I concluded my doctoral degree. This was 1990.

I stumbled upon aging much as I stumbled upon statistics. Scott Zeger walked me around to meet his research collaborators soon after I arrived at JHU: Two of them were Sheila West and Linda Fried. I was attracted to collaborate with them, first, because their personalities were inviting and their work fit within my interest of complex measurement problems, but before long, I was compelled by the vast opportunity aging science offered to benefit people. Once lit, this fire has never dimmed.

I can say truly that my path to COAH was at the very start of the road. I was a member of the 1997 JHU-wide committee that recognized aging as a major concern and opportunity for Johns Hopkins, and declared that a Center on Aging should be established. I’d already contributed to the Women’s Health and Aging Study and led in the statistical design of the Women’s Health and Aging Study II—pillars of COAH at its beginning. I led the first COAH Biostatistics Core. When Linda left to become the Columbia School of Public Health Dean in 2008, I was appointed as the Interim Director of COAH—a role I held for four years. I would have loved to direct the Center fully, but by then I was the Biostatistics chair, and I considered it not fair to either role to attempt it.

COAH is important in so many ways. It was the University’s first stake—and remains one of the most important—that it’s worth building an interdivisional presence on aging. It leverages the synergies that only can arise in this way. It has an important visioning role for the most important research we can accomplish together, and a key role in establishing bridges and communication pathways across units, disciplines and programs. May it flourish in all these regards and more.

Tony Teano:  The purpose of this interview is to learn more about you both as a professional as well as a person. Let’s start with your research.  What papers are you most known for or most proud of?

Dr. Bandeen-Roche:  I would say there are three papers.  In statistics, it’s my paper demonstrating that the specific distributional assumptions of latent variable models can be checked, and how to do it. This debunked a major, mistaken common wisdom about these models.  Here’s the reference: Bandeen-Roche, K., Miglioretti, D. L., Zeger, S. L., & Rathouz, P. J. (1997). Latent Variable Regression for Multiple Discrete Outcomes. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 92(440), 1375–1386. https://doi.org/10.2307/2965407 A more accessible link can be accessed with Johns Hopkins credentials here.

Gerontologically, there are two papers addressing frailty. Here’s the reference for the first: Bandeen-Roche K, Xue QL, Ferrucci L, Walston J, Guralnik JM, Chaves P, Zeger SL, Fried LP. Phenotype of frailty: characterization in the women’s health and aging studies. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2006 Mar;61(3):262-6. doi: 10.1093/gerona/61.3.262. PMID: 16567375.  This was the first paper, to my knowledge, to attempt a construct validation of frailty (as opposed to content and predictive validation). Physical frailty phenotype measures were shown to behave consistently with a critical mass syndrome, as theorized, using latent class analysis. In the years since, construct validation of frailty measures has become more common. These don’t always agree with my substantive findings, but that’s fine—to pursue this important type of investigation is the thing!

The second gerontological paper to which I am referring established nationally representative estimates of frailty prevalence in the US – an important benchmark in its own right. It also evidenced stunningly large disparities in frailty prevalence for historically under-represented racial/ethnic groups, laying foundation for further research to better understand why and how this might be addressed. Here’s its reference: Bandeen-Roche K, Seplaki CL, Huang J, Buta B, Kalyani RR, Varadhan R, Xue QL, Walston JD, Kasper JD. Frailty in Older Adults: A Nationally Representative Profile in the United States. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2015 Nov;70(11):1427-34. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glv133. Epub 2015 Aug 21. PMID: 26297656; PMCID: PMC4723664.

Tony Teano:  You recently stepped down from your role as Chair of BSPH/Biostatistics. What were you proud to have accomplished during your time as chair?

Dr. Bandeen-Roche:  I’m proud to have helped the department navigate a difficult time as I was taking on the role and then to strengthen its promise to advance science through statistics by broadening its tent of expertise. We now span the whole spectrum from theory to practice and from modeling to data science both as a faculty and in our educational programs. I think we achieved it while maintaining and growing respect for one another. We also have upheld a culture of mutual caring and supportiveness that we believe fosters risk taking and creativity, in addition to enhancing life quality.

Tony Teano: What have you been doing with your additional time since you stepped down?

Dr. Bandeen-Roche:  I began by teaching more than usual—rewarding, but not the optimal choice for transitioning. Since my teaching for the year ended, though, I’ve been spending more time in research—everything from thinking to planning to analyzing data, and loving it. The email and meeting time has dropped significantly, and I celebrate this!

Tony Teano:  These are major transitions. How do you navigate and prepare for change, either at work or in life in general?

Dr. Bandeen-Roche:  This is a tough question.  Change can be hard particularly because it may come unexpectedly.  One key to navigating, then, is to maintain an even keel, and this in turn requires self-care, developing ability to maintain perspective, and remembering that changes present opportunity.

One more specific answer is to create reserve (and hence resilience) to meet change—by ensuring personnel and resource buffers, for example. Another is to keep one’s (personal or organizational) portfolio diversified. Yet one more is to emphasize assets above specific foci. In biostatistics, for example, data science is huge now, but ten years ago it was genomics, and another 10 years before that it was computational statistics, and before that it was modeling for complex data. 10 years from now it may be something else entirely! As long as one has faculty who are intellectually curious, broadly knowledgeable about fundamentals of statistical ideas and practice, span the gamut of strengths from basic knowledge to detailed application, and like each other/work well together, we can pivot to take on whatever comes next.

Tony Teano:  Work/Life balance is related to creating reserve. What you do to unwind, such as hobbies or interests you enjoy?  What renews you?

Dr. Bandeen-Roche:  Being with my husband and other loved ones (including our dogs when we have them—are currently in between…), being in nature—particularly birding… reading… losing myself in sports events involving the teams I care about – the Orioles; various Maryland Terrapin college teams; the Ravens.

Tony Teano: Tell us more about what in pop culture you escape into—a few of your favorite things.

Dr. Bandeen-Roche:  Here’s the short list.

Favorite performer: Rush (the Canadian rock band). The Tragically Hip (another Canadian rock band) is a close second.

Favorite TV show: Probably “Scrubs” for a long-running series; Slings and Arrows (three-year mini-series about a Shakespeare Festival troupe) overall.

Daytrip getaway destination: DC, as I love the Smithsonian. An “everyday” getaway is the Font Hill Wetland Park, just two miles from my home.

Tony Teano:  If you could go anywhere in the world, what place would you like to visit and why?

Dr. Bandeen-Roche:  Scotland; land of my forebears. Best trip of my life was here (1999), and I’d love to return. Never yet seen but bucket list includes the Apostle Islands (northern Wisconsin) and UP of Michigan, and Nova Scotia.

Tony Teano:  As we wrap up this interview, please share the best advice, personal or professional, you have ever received.

Dr. Bandeen-Roche:  Two items:

(1) From my PhD advisor, Dr. David Ruppert: Remember that it’s a marketplace of ideas. It doesn’t matter how good your ideas are if you can’t sell them to the key stakeholders (scientific community… institutional leaders… policymakers… the public).

(2) From Dr. Linda Fried (former COAH director): Sit at the table. This means placing oneself in the middle of discussions that matter (as opposed to the sidelines or the perimeter of the room), and then contributing to them robustly (as opposed to observing or only responding in narrow areas one considers one’s purview). Fortunately, Linda welcomed everyone to the table who wanted to be there. As a statistician, this changed my life. I would never have become a gerontologist otherwise.

 

 

By: Anthony Teano, MLA
Communications Specialist

 

Save the date and support the Johns Hopkins Aging & Alzheimer’s Centers Team for the Baltimore Walk to End Alzheimer’s on Sat., Oct. 26^th! The walk is a community event, and all are invited to participate. It will take place at the Hunt Valley Towne Centre in Cockeysville, Maryland; check-in starts at 8 a.m., and the walk steps off at 9 a.m.

Sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/JHWalkTeam2024

If you are unable to join our team and walk with us in person, you may walk “virtually” as an individual at a location, date, and time convenient to you. Or, consider making a donation to our team via the link above. Tax-deductible donations for this year’s walk will be accepted through Dec. 31, 2024.

Last year, our team raised $5,000 for the Baltimore Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Hopkins’ Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Director Dr. Marilyn Albert said, “It is wonderful to see so many members of the Hopkins community participate in the ‘Walk to End Alzheimer’s.’ The walk here in Baltimore, combined with those elsewhere in the US, represents the world’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for dementia and memory loss prevention, care, and research. The annual walk provides the funds that help the Association to advocate for improved care for patients and increased funding for research.”

The Johns Hopkins Aging & Alzheimer’s Centers Team is co-sponsored by the: Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center; Center on Aging & Health; Older American’s Independence Center; Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research; Hopkins’ Economics of Alzheimer’s Disease & Services Center; and the Memory and Alzheimer’s Treatment Center.

We look forward to seeing you there.  Thank you for your support!

Questions? Email tony.teano@jhu.edu

 

 

By: Anthony L. Teano, MLA
Communications Specialist

 

The Center is pleased to announce that the Spring 2024 COAH Champion honor is bestowed upon our Core Faculty member Dr. Amal A. Wanigatunga, Assistant Professor with the Department of Epidemiology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health (BSPH).  Dr. Wanigatunga’s research focuses on: physical activity and sedentary behavior; technology; wearables; aging; disability; and dementia.  Also, he is a key contributor at BSPH’s ENGAGE Lab, which aims to understand changes in physical activity and energy expenditure with aging, and how they contribute to changes in physical and cognitive health.

Tony Teano:  Congratulations on being pronounced the COAH Champion for the Spring Term! And thank you for taking the time to answer a few personal and professional questions that will allow us to get to know you better as an academic researcher and as a real person. To start, please tell us about your background, education, and path to COAH.

Dr. Wanigatunga:  I was born in Staten Island, New York, but I spent almost all of my childhood in New Jersey and Florida. I completed all my undergraduate and graduate training at the University of Florida (Go Gators!). Both my parents are chemists, so I naturally went into chemistry for my undergraduate degree. After graduating, I completed an ORISE fellowship at the CDC focused on toxic chemical biomonitoring from everyday products. It was there I first saw an epidemiologist using the data we collected and making inferences at a population level. This is where I was introduced to public health and prevention. Afterwards, I went to get my MPH, and I met a fantastic exercise physiologist and epidemiologist, Dr. Todd Manini. He showed me that you can learn so much about someone’s health just by the way they move and function. This got me hooked into physical activity and aging research. Under Todd’s mentorship, I earned my epidemiology PhD and gerontology certificate and through his collaborations, met Dr. Jennifer Schrack (now our COAH director). She convinced me to join her as a postdoctoral fellow at Hopkins, and the rest is history!

Tony Teano:  I think it is amazing how the influence of a few people are oftentimes the great catalysts for life-changing pathways to open up before us!  And you continue to participate in research collaborations about aging and physical activity with amazing colleagues, not the least of which is Dr. Schrack. As you reflect on your prolific research, what paper are you most known for or most proud of?

Dr. Wanigatunga:  It is difficult to select one paper—they all contribute to the science in their own unique way. Most people know me through my research using accelerometry to measure physical activity. Some of our most cited work examines the various ways we can extract useful measures of physical activity and see how they are related to health. As of right now, a large body of research focuses on exercise and its influence on brain health. So, I think some of the most interesting papers we recently published or are getting ready to publish are where we challenge readers to also think how the brain controls movement-based behavior by showing evidence to this relationship. These papers suggest we might be able to capture early aging- and disease-specific patterns of daily movement loss. For example, in relation to brain disorders like dementia, capturing subtle and specific changes in movement might inform early screening efforts to detect and intervene on preventable declines in cognition.

Tony Teano:  That’s a great example of how your research is directly applicable to real people today facing real challenges in the now.  I appreciate research that can be translated and implemented very quickly from bench to bedside. Why did you decide to focus on this area—aging and movement?

Dr. Wanigatunga:  Physical activity is involved with nearly everything intrinsically and extrinsically when related to health. Aging is inescapable—often described as entropy—and it is one of the most understood health risk factors. The intersection of both physical activity and aging nearly affects everyone globally. One of the most promising ways to maintain a high quality of life as we age (or slow intrinsic entropy) is to be active! Yet, being active is not just willpower, motivation, or driven by goals–but it is also largely determined by context and extrinsic factors (e.g., environmental build, access to medications, etc.). I see a lot still needs to be done in the worlds of physical activity and in aging, but much can be effectively accomplished when combining both fields together.

Tony Teano:  Tell us more about encompassing aging and also physical activity as a combined research topic. What are you currently researching in this space?

Dr. Wanigatunga:  I think the main driver to why we are so physically inactive these days is because of unintended consequences of technological advances—which increase convenience and extend life, but also “engineer” activity out of our lifestyles and possibly increase life lived with debility. To me, there is an immediate need to “re-engineer” activity back into our daily lives that require less effort than structured exercise, but as effectively improve quality of physical and mental health. My main focus is finding simple and effective ways to replace excessive sitting with very light physical activity. The goal is to study ways sedentary behavior reduction can be used as an effective first step towards initiating an active lifestyle. While—dare I say—everyone knows exercise is good for health, there are very real barriers to engaging in an active lifestyle. These barriers expand and are magnified with age. Yet, engaging in any amount of activity (above and beyond the daily routine) seems to be beneficial not only for the body but also for the mind, regardless of age. I think addressing this need is most impactful among our older adult populations, who often (and largely unintentionally) experience ageism from their family, friends, and even practitioners who operate under the misguided notion that “slowing down” or “being inactive” is normal for older adults.

Tony Teano:  That is an interesting paradox with unforeseen consequences. I’m so glad you’re bringing rigorous data to these questions through your research findings, and seeking practical, workable solutions from which many will undoubtedly benefit. It has to be gratifying work. So… what is the best and worst part of your job?

Dr. Wanigatunga:  The best part of my job is that I get to work with amazing people who inspire me and who share similar priorities towards caring about the health and interconnectedness of our communities. The worst part of my job is seeing trainees and collaborators eventually leave, but I am happy they are going on to do great things!

Tony Teano:  Those are very kind-hearted sentiments. And, yes, from looking at your research collaborations, I can see that you team up with some amazing, dynamic people, who—like you—have keen insights as researchers and who are otherwise also great people.  Now, let’s pivot to a few personal questions. Over the last few years, it seems like burnout has been a trending topic.  It takes practice to form habits that rejuvenate the self.  Please tell is about any hobbies or interests that give you an opportunity to relax, refresh, and renew.

 

Dr. Wanigatunga:  My wife, Sarah, and I try to go out once a week or two to unplug. We have a two-year-old son, Kian, and I love chasing him around and learning the world from the ground up with him. Also, I played a lot of sports when I was younger, but it has narrowed to largely just tennis. I like to work out and one thing that crosses my personal and professional interest is trying different work out programs available to the general public (e.g., HIIT, dance, shadow boxing, etc.) to see how different people create popular exercise programs. I also like all things technology and DIY, which can be an expensive hobby. I build my own computers, and these days I am learning to develop the software that goes with the hardware. Lastly, my old college buddies and I keep in touch by playing computer games together (e.g., Rocket League) when we can swing it.  And as far as board games go it has been a while since I played, but Gloomhaven is really fun!

 

 

Tony Teano: That’s a very well-rounded assortment of activities that are really quite holistic when taken altogether—to nurture treasured relationships and be social, and to keep the body and mind fit and active!  You’re a great role-model!  Now let’s talk about a few of your personal favorites in popular culture. Who are you a fan of in the entertainment industry?

Dr. Wanigatunga:  There are so many films I love but one that always makes me laugh and feel good is Galaxy Quest. There are so many big names in that movie, but one of my all-time favorite actors in it is Sam Rockwell!  Also, I’m a fan of The Office.

Tony Teano:  Clearly, you have a great sense of humor!  Is there any additional fun fact to know and tell you’d like us to know about your home life, family, where you grew up, etc.?

Dr. Wanigatunga:  When I was in elementary school, we could spend our PE class learning how to juggle. I spent so much time learning to juggle during that time that I can juggle scarves, balls (up to four), rings, and pins.

Tony Teano:  I think it might be time for a COAH Talent Show! That is wonderful.  And I’m sure that skill fascinates your two-year-old, and amuses children of all ages. Since I know you’re juggling a lot of things—including several forthcoming research papers—I will bring this interview to a close. Thanks again so much for allowing us to get to know you better.

Recent Research:

• Relationship between skeletal mitochondrial function and digital markers of free-living physical activity in older adults
• Differences in Daily Physical Activity by Alzheimer’s Risk Markers Among Older Adults
• Physical activity cut-points for older adults using the Zio XT onboard accelerometer

Keep up-to-date with Dr. Wanigatunga’s research; follow him on X (former Twitter) @AmalForResearch. 

 

 

 

By Anthony L. Teano, MLA
Communications Specialist

 

Update (6/27/2024):
A recording of the event is now available here.

Also, we prepared a summary of takeaway messages and resources, which you may find here.

Finally, if you are concerned about changes in your memory or other thinking abilities, your annual Medicare Wellness Check may be a great opportunity to receive a (free) cognitive screening.

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COAH Senior Associate Faculty Dr. Marilyn Albert will present on lifestyle factors that may influence risk for cognitive decline as part of the next #BrainMatters webinar slated for Wed., June 12 from 7-8pm, for which you may register here.

Dr. Albert is a professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins (JH), and Director of the JH Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (JHADRC)—which is a co-sponsor of #BrainMatters. Dr. Albert’s research focuses on the cognitive and brain changes associated with aging and memory loss. Her work has delineated the cognitive changes associated with aging and the earliest phases of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as well as lifestyle factors that promote maintenance of mental abilities with advancing age.

Following her presentation, Dr. Albert will join a panel discussion on lifestyle factors, the importance of early detection, and research participation. The panel will additionally include two JHADRC research participants, Mr. Willie Powers of central Virginia, and Ms. Teriko Epps, a former caregiver and Baltimore-based author, as well as Dr. Janero Hernandez with Kaiser Permanente in Maryland.

COAH Communications Specialist, Anthony L. Teano, MLA, will host the webinar along with Dr. Corinne Pettigrew, Outreach Team Leader with the JHADRC. The event will be moderated by JoAnn Scipio, MSN, RN, with the Anne Arundel County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. They are all co-founders of #BrainMatters–a community-based regional collaboration that is dedicated to sharing science-based information about brain health, health disparities, memory loss & Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, along with representatives from the Greater Maryland Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, the Columbia (MD) Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the JHAD-RCMAR, and the Global Council on Brain Health.

By Anthony L. Teano, MLA
Communications Specialist