The new multi-site research award is designed to pursue the goal of healthy aging in Los Angeles County through collaborations with communities and community members as well as efforts to develop, evaluate and disseminate a coordinated set of interventions intended to promote healthy aging in Los Angeles County.

It is a collaborative initiative between the Clinical and Translational Science Institutes at USC/CHLA and UCLA in partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LAC DHS) and the Department of Public Health (LAC DPH).

Proposals that facilitate research across UCLA, USC, CHLA and partner institutions or national CTSA consortium institutions will receive the highest priority.

“To promote healthy aging throughout Los Angeles, we need to bring together researchers, policy makers and practitioners from various disciplines,” said SC CTSI director Thomas Buchanan, MD, vice dean for research and professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “That’s exactly what we want to foster with this award.”

Thomas Buchanan, MD

Healthy aging broadly relates to physical, emotional and social health. It involves physical activity and fitness, mobility, the ability to age “in place” as well as the maintenance of meaningful social interaction with others. It also includes health care interventions that prevent, slow or mitigate the impact of chronic conditions among older populations, including mental illness and substance use.

Each awarded research team will receive up to $50,000 for a period of up to one year.  These funds must be matched by an equal dollar amount or in-kind support from the home institution(s)/department(s)/community partner(s). 

"The new award is an important step in coordinating our efforts to build new teams across institutions," said Sarah Hamm-Alvarez, PhD, director of the SC CTSI Research Development program, Executive Vice Dean and Vice Dean for Research and Graduate Affairs at the USC School of Pharmacy.

Sarah Hamm-Alvarez, PhD

Applicants are encouraged to consider:

• accelerate aging in minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in selecting the target population. Populations aged 50 years and older should be the primary focus, recognizing that health benefits in the younger part of the continuum may not be immediately evident, and
• multi-generational approaches to healthy aging, such as involving older individuals with school-age children or youth. While the primary focus is older populations, a life course orientation is encouraged within teams.

Examples of topical areas include but are not limited to: health behaviors, health literacy and self-management, and special/vulnerable populations. Proposals that focus exclusively on medical treatment for older adults without attention to other domains of health and well-being will not be considered responsive to this guidance. Multidisciplinary approaches are a requirement of team science funding.

Each application must include Co-PIs, with one from LAC DHS or DPH, and at least one associated with either the UCLA CTSI or SC CTSI at USC/CHLA. Teams must include a partner from at least one community-based organization, including but not limited to health or service agencies and organizations, community clinics, health care or public health providers, policy makers and lay groups with health concerns.

Learn more and apply now