Category Archives: Center Highlights

We are excited to launch our “COAH Champion” series this year, which is a fun and informal way to become better acquainted with our team members as both people and professionals. Our inaugural COAH Champion is Alden L. Gross PhD, Associate Professor with the Bloomberg School of Public Health.  Alden is known for his work in Alzheimer’s disease, and he has a keen knack for harmonizing (combining) data across multiple studies, including international studies of aging.  Let’s learn a little more about him!

 Tell us about your background, education, and path to COAH.

My admiration for psychology began in high school when I took a college level Psych 101 course at a local college. I majored in Psychology as an undergraduate student (University of Maryland, College Park), and that fascination with the mind coupled with my love for my own grandparents to fortify my interests in gerontology and mental health once I entered graduate school. I think that classes in graduate school began on a Friday and by 9am the following Tuesday, I was meeting with my future mentor, Dr. George Rebok. My interests were settled by then!

Why did you choose to go into this field of work?

I have always had an interest in mental health of older adults, specifically cognitive health. I spent a lot of time with grandparents while growing up. Professionally, there are a slew of measurement challenges in cognitive aging research that keeps me fascinated, including selection effects, measurement biases, and more.

What are you currently researching?

Cross-national comparisons of cardiovascular and socio-economic correlates of cognitive performance across high-income and low-income countries.

 What paper are you most known for or most proud of?

Can I give two? I’m going to give you two papers. The first is a 2012 paper called “An Exploratory Data Analysis of a Graduate Student (N=1).” I wrote this paper in one day on a weekend while in graduate school, after prodding from one of my doctoral defense committee members, Dr. Elizabeth Stuart. It was a fun reflection paper, and it even got an honest peer review. I was able to dig into 400 years of my own family history to illustrate some very basic concepts.

My second paper, and probably emblematic of what I am most known for, was a 2015 paper, “Effects of Education and Race on Cognitive Decline – An Integrative Study of Generalizability Versus Study-Specific Results.” This study was my first big integrative data analysis of multiple studies. It took a long time to write up, both because the methods were new and because I was harmonizing together 4 disparate cognitive aging studies. A lot of the work was interfacing with multiple groups of investigators and my own mentors. The revision with the Journal’s reviewers was actually pretty straightforward after all that hard work on the front end of writing this paper.

America and the world are celebrating the life of the late famed actress Betty White right now. As a tribute to her memory… and to quote Betty White’s Golden Girls character, Rose Nyland… “If you could invite any two people, living or dead, over for dinner, what would you eat?”

I would love to feast on steak and pasta.

Now, who would those people be?

I’m an introvert, so my approach to meeting people is to prepare a flamboyant initial greeting, and perhaps an opening conversation topic. But heaven help me, if I had to be part of a conversation for a whole dinner, especially after two years under a pandemic lockdown, I’d be terrified. And it’s just for one meal, right? I’d like some longer-term follow-up. I suppose a smattering of distant family ancestors would be nice to hear from.

What is the top item on your bucket list?

In the short term, I have a lot of lawn work to do and I need to get 2 important papers out the door. So those are 2 competing priorities. In the longer term, well I’m pretty content where I am on my current research and personal tracks. In terms of research, I really need to hire a postdoc and staff to help with expanding work.

Tell us about your hobbies…. What renews you?

My hobbies include building with Legos, spending time with my family (I have 2 toddlers roaming about), and yardwork!

Give us a short list of favorites….

• Author/Book–Academically, Denny Borsboom! In fiction, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.
• Song/Performer–Michael Jackson
• Actor/Film–Leonard Nimoy

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.?

I have been a treasurer of some organization or another for 64% of my life, since 1997. I’m a former world champion powerlifter and 4-time marathoner.  I was born here, grew up here, went to school here, and now I work here.

 

 

 

 

 

By Anthony Teano, Communications Specialist

The Johns Hopkins Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratory for Aging Research (JH AITC) launched on January 10 with a website that listed two impressive Requests For Proposals (RFPs) that seek to make an impact on technological projects to improve the health and well-being of older adults.

Funded by the National Institute of Aging Grant P30AG073105, the aging-focused JH AITC is designed to foster the development of novel uses of artificial intelligence and technologies to improve the health and well-being of older adults. The JH AITC is one of three centers at significant leading research institutions resulting from the new $20M federal grant. The other two are at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Pennsylvania.

You can read more background about this coordinated, multicenter effort at Johns Hopkins University here. Collaboratory leaders include members from the Johns Hopkins University schools of Medicine, Nursing, the Whiting School of Engineering, and the Carey Business School, as well as stakeholders including older Americans and caregivers, technology developers and innovators, and industry partners.  The JH AITC’s tagline nicely sums up their role and goal among their peers: “Engineering Innovations to Change Aging.”

COAH colleagues Drs. Jeremy Walston and Peter Abadir are among the multidisciplinary PIs leading the effort. According to Dr. Walston, this initiative is important because “Many older adults accumulate health problems and have functional and cognitive declines that impact their ability to stay in their own homes and enjoy meaningful social interactions… This new enterprise is attempting to disrupt these problems in ways that will lengthen the years that people have to enjoy independent, highly functional lives, free of cognitive impairment.”

To this purpose, the RFPs can be found here:

• Pilot A Funding: Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia
• Pilot B Funding: Geriatrics and Age-Related Conditions

Interested applicants are encouraged to attend an informational webinar on January 18 at 3 PM ET. To register, visit here. The applications are due a month later on February 18.

For more information about this program and about JH AITC resources, please email jhu-aitc@jh.edu and follow @JH_AITC on Twitter.

COAH welcomes the JH AITC and looks forward to watching its successes unfold, making a meaningful difference in the real world of older adults.

By Anthony L. Teano, COAH Comm. Spec. & Ann Wiker, JH AITC Admin. Mgr.

Ravi Varadhan, PhD, an Associate Professor of Oncology in the Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and a Core Faculty member at the Center on Aging & Health in the Division of Gerontology in the Department of Geriatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine will present “Variety is the Spice of Life: An Exploration of the Various Facets of Heterogeneity in Aging” at the February 7th Scientific Seminar Series.  In person attendance is encouraged.  To attend via Zoom, registration is required at https://bit.ly/3eZo8Qc.

Recently, COAH Director Dr. David L. Roth was interviewed by the American Heart Association for an article about caregiving titled, “The risks and rewards of caregiving for loved ones with dementia.” The story is about the struggles of a husband and wife, Pat and John Sullivan, who have been together for forty years. John has Lewy body dementia. Pat is taking care of him.

The act of caring is clearly a gift of love, especially when dementia is involved; that scenario may last for years, and it may be very emotional and physically exhausting, to the point that it might affect the caregiver’s health. Adding to that risk, and what may not be readily apparent at first glance is that Pat needs to take care of her health, too, since she has type 2 Diabetes and is 79 years old.

In the AHA story, Dr. Roth explains, “The main people who are at risk of physical health problems are those who feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities and have been doing it many months or even years, so it has a wear and tear effect on their systems… They feel like they have little control or choice and can’t get additional resources to help them carry the load.”  Yet, Dr. Roth’s research on stress biomarkers among caregivers has shown that the act of caregiving may actually have health benefits, akin to the effects of volunteerism.

Aside from the inevitable heavy responsibilities associated with caring for someone with dementia, the article implies that stress management may actually be the key difference between caregivers’ ability to cope. Pat Sullivan makes time to meditate, practice gratitude, and call upon her family and support system when needed.

As you call, Zoom, or visit with family and friends this holiday season, consider asking caregivers how they are doing, if they need anything, and how you can help.  Be ready to point the caregiver in the right direction. To that purpose, here are a few caregiver resources:

National:

• Alzheimer’s Association Caregiver Health
• AARP Family Caregiving
• Caregiving in the LGBT Community
• Family Caregiver Alliance
• National Institute on Aging Caregiving

State of Maryland:

• Department of Aging Caregiver Support Program

Johns Hopkins Affiliated:

• Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia
• Called to Care
• Medicine for the Greater Good Caregiver Cafes

In the article, Dr. Roth indicated that one caregiver shouldn’t try to do it alone. There are community resources that can help, and perhaps other family members or loved ones can contribute to respite care. In summation, the gift of caring needs to extend to caregivers, too. And the resources above may offer direct services or help identify providers.

Additionally, here is a short list of Dr. Roth’s research on caregiving:

• Reduced Mortality Rates among Caregivers: Does Family Caregiving Provide a Stress-Buffering Effect?
• Informal caregiving and its impact on health: A reappraisal from population-based studies
• Improving caregiver well-being delays nursing home placement of patients with Alzheimer disease
• Appraisal, coping, and social support as mediators of well-being in black and white family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease

Dr. Roth also recently wrote this blog for National Family Caregiver’s Month in which you might be interested:

• Family Caregiving: An Essential Resource for Older Adults

We wish you and yours a safe, healthy, and happy holiday season!

By Anthony L. Teano, Communications Specialist