The Leadership and Administrative Core (LAC) provides the administrative infrastructure and scientific leadership necessary to achieve the overall aims of the UConn Pepper Center. The long-range goal of the LAC is to lead the way in establishing a highly productive research and education program in aging and geriatrics at the University of Connecticut, spanning laboratory, clinical and community, and population-based science collectively guided by the theme of Precision Gerontology.
The LAC is responsible for:
- Providing overall leadership to ensure successful administration and integration of all OAIC activities. The LAC coordinates activities of all administrative entities within the UConn OAIC, including the Steering Committee, the External Advisory Board, the Independent Review Panel and the Community Advisory Board.
- Exploring and assessing opportunities for scientific progress aligned with emphasis on multidisciplinary team initiatives consistent with the UConn OAIC theme of Precision Gerontology and the OAIC mission.
- Ensuring full compliance with all regulatory requirements. The LAC ensures that all studies supported by UConn OAIC funds meet all UConn and federal human subject and animal protection compliance regulations before they are permitted to commence, and monitors ongoing compliance of OAIC-supported studies with relevant regulations until they are completed.
- Evaluating progress of OAIC Cores and Components to achieve UConn OAIC research and educational goals.
Leadership
LAC Core Leader
George Kuchel, M.D.
Professor
Email: kuchel@uchc.edu
Phone: 860-679-3956
George A Kuchel, M.D., is a professor at the University of Connecticut (UConn) School of Medicine, where he is a core faculty member at the UConn Center on Aging. Dr. Kuchel serves as Director of the UConn Center on Aging and Chief of Geriatric Medicine. He also holds the Travelers Chair in Geriatrics and Gerontology with appointments in both the Department of Medicine and the UConn Graduate School. Dr. Kuchel has extensive experience with translational (bench-bedside) research, having made key contributions to enhancing health and independence in older adults through multidisciplinary geroscience-guided efforts designed to define and target mechanisms contributing to functional declines involving mobility, voiding, cognition and host defense. In order to move the field from a description of associations to an understanding of mechanisms, Dr. Kuchel has strived to overcome barriers between studies involving human subjects and research conducted using cells and animal models. His research has been funded by varied funders including the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH. Dr. Kuchel obtained his M.D. C.M. degree from McGill, followed by clinical and research training at McGill, Harvard, and Mount Sinai.
LAC Core Co-Leader
Richard Fortinsky, Ph.D.
Professor
Email: fortinsky@uchc.edu
Phone: 860-679-3956
Richard Fortinsky, Ph.D., is a professor at the University of Connecticut (UConn) School of Medicine, where he is a core faculty member at the UConn Center on Aging and holds the Health Net, Inc. Endowed Chair in Geriatrics and Gerontology. He holds academic appointments in the UConn School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine and Department of Public Health Sciences. Dr. Fortinsky has extensive experience designing and carrying out clinical trials and cohort studies in geriatrics and gerontology with colleagues from a wide range of scientific and clinical disciplines, and with healthcare delivery partners, with the goal of optimizing function and independent living for community-dwelling older adults and their families. His research has been supported by the National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Nursing Research, Patient-Centered Outcomes Institute, Alzheimer’s Association, and the Fulbright Commission. Since 2001, Dr. Fortinsky has directed the Clinical Data and Geriatric Outcomes Core at the UConn Center on Aging, which provides high quality, customized data collection design, management, and analysis services for investigators conducting aging-related clinical research UConn and at other academic and health care institutions. Dr. Fortinsky received his doctoral degree in sociology from Brown University, specializing in medical sociology and gerontology.
LAC Advisor
Julie Robison, Ph.D.
Professor
Email: robison@uchc.edu
Phone: 860-679-4278
Julie Robison, Ph.D., is a professor at the University of Connecticut (UConn) School of Medicine of Medicine, where she is a core faculty member at the UConn Center on Aging. She holds academic appointments in the UConn School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine and Department of Public Health Sciences. Dr. Robison conducts evidence-based health services research and intervention studies focused on aging families and long-term services, supports and policy, with the goal of improving quality of life and quality of care for people who need long term services and supports (LTSS), and their families. The results of her work have direct impact on the implementation of policies and programs that serve extremely vulnerable populations in Connecticut and nationally. Her research has been supported by the National Institute on Aging, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Administration for Community Living, and the State of Connecticut. Dr. Robison is the director of the UConn Center on Aging’s Recruitment and Community Engagement Core and Evaluation and Population Assessment Core. Dr. Robison is also the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Applied Gerontology, an international forum for research with applicability to the health, care, and quality of life of older adults. Dr. Robison received her doctoral degree in human development and family studies from Cornell University and completed postdoctoral training in epidemiology of aging from the Yale University School of Medicine.