Study to improve geriatric care in Ontario receives CIHR funding

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has awarded a $100,000 grant to a project that aims to examine and improve the delivery of care for older adults.

Dr. Jacobi Elliott, Associate Scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute and Coordinator (Geriatrics) at St. Joseph’s Health Care London, has received a Priority Announcement award for her study titled “Implementation, Equity and Impact: Examining specialized geriatric care programs in Ontario.”

“It is critical to provide older adults with timely and equitable access to specialized geriatric care,” says Dr. Elliott. “However, waitlists are growing with the current aging population and there is an increased demand for these services.”

Currently 1.6 million older Canadians are considered to be living with frailty, and that number is expected to double over the next decade. Without adequate geriatric services, older adults living with frailty are more likely to need hospital care. The goal of this research is to examine specialized geriatric care programs in Ontario.

“Across Ontario, there are more than twelve different geriatric outreach models of care, but we have no clear understanding of how these models were developed, implemented or evaluated,” says Dr. Elliott. “It is critical to understand whether the existing services are meeting the needs and goals of the diverse older adult population.”

Dr. Elliott hopes that the project’s findings can be used to inform the development of future specialized geriatric care programs.

Congratulations also goes out to the Lawson Scientists who are receiving CIHR funding totaling nearly $2.5 million through Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry:

Dr. Pingzhao Hu with Dr. Samuel Asfaha
A deep learning approach to identify inhibitors of adherent invasive Escherichia coli in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease

Dr. Steven Laviolette
Understanding the Effects of Adolescent Nicotine Exposure on Increased Risk for Mood and Anxiety Disorders: Bridging the Gap from Pre-Clinical to Clinical Investigations

Dr. Aaron Ward with Dr. Stephen Pautler
Histopathology image analysis for prostate cancer prognosis after radical prostatectomy

CIHR Priority Announcement recipients:  
Dr. Xiao Zhen Zhou and Dr. Doug Fraser
Identification of Novel Disease Drivers, Therapeutic Targets, and Biomarkers of Sepsis