The Center on Aging is a research, service, and education center at the Medical University of South Carolina. The center was approved by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education December 3, 1987, giving it the status of the oldest research center at the University. Dr. Lotta Granholm came on board as the fourth director for the center, July 1 of 2001. The Healthy Aging work group was instituted by the president of MUSC, Dr. Greenberg, and began its work on a new strategic plan in the beginning of 2002.
The Healthy Aging work group also functions as the Internal Advisory Committee for the Center on Aging. The hard work of this committee resulted in a revised strategic plan for MUSC, which has recently been approved by the board of directors. The overall vision of the Healthy Aging work group was to " establish a plan that addresses MUSC's role in promoting the health, increasing longevity, and improving the quality of life of senior South Carolinians." This can be divided into three principal areas:
The Healthy Aging work group report can be read in its entirety at the MUSC Strategic Planning website. This strategic plan is a "living document", which will be used as a business plan for improvement in all of these areas within the next 5 years and beyond. The Center on Aging will work in synchrony with MUSC's overall strategic plan, and will gain momentum by the obvious general campus-wide engagement and interest in this area.
The Center on Aging consists of several different research programs that are defined by specific areas of research. The Movement Disorders Program is directed by Dr. Vanessa Hinson (Neurology), the Stroke Program by Dr. Mark Kindy (Neurosciences), the Alzheimer Program by Dr. Jacobo Mintzer (Neurosciences and Psychiatry), the Biology of Aging by Dr. Lina Obeid (Medicine), the Outreach and Education Program by Drs. David Garr and Esther Forti (Medicine, College of Health Professions) and the Clinical Geriatrics Program by Dr. David Bachman (Neurosciences and Psychiatry).
The CoA has organized 3 Aging Research Days to date, with the last conference held April 7, 2006, on the USS Yorktown. These events have been completely funded (Predix Pharmaceuticals, Forest Pharmaceuticals, Nikon, Clear Mountain Water, Bank of America, Harris Teeter, MUSC Printing Services and Bamboo Spa Salon) and have grown each year, this year to encompass more than 50 abstracts and 10 speakers on clinical, social, and basic science aspects of aging.
We have invited over 20 prominent scientists over the last 3 years, who are experts in the field of aging and age-related disease. Made possible by a private donation from Dr. R. Marks.
Grant from Duke Foundation, $410,000, Dr. Bachman is PI, funded December 2004. This program was launched in January 2006 for all first year medical students.
This collaborative work between 4 different departments at MUSC was made possible by the administrative funds provided by the Center on Aging and was funded in September of 2005 for 5 years.
Bachman/Forti received a gift from Janssen to provide training on Alzheimer's disease to more than 800 African Americans in South Carolina in 2004.
(Forti/Bergmann) grant from the Fullerton Foundation
Dr. Sambamurti plays a crucial role in the Alzheimer Program.
Fundraising in the field of Aging and Neurosciences (> 5million, Bordeau). This was made possible by funds from the Center on Aging and from the Neuroscience Institute. The building at 26 Bee St. has played a major role in hosting luncheons and other fundraising events for both of these Centers.
$250,000 was gifted to the Center on Aging Alzheimer Program in 2004 for implementation of the clinical core of an Alzheimer Research Center.
(2004-2005; $240,000 including full indirect cost recovery of 46% for collaborative studies with the company). Please note that this type of company based grant is very difficult to obtain in a traditional department as we can project our work in the context of its relevance to age related diseases. This grant was made possible by collaboration between Dr. Mintzer in the Alzheimer Program and Dr. Granholm and Dr. Sambamurti in Dept. of Neurosciences.
(2004-2006, $562,000 including full indirect cost recovery of 46%) Please note that this type of company based grant is very difficult to obtain in a traditional department as we can project our work in the context of its relevance to age related diseases.
Dr. Marks is a retired faculty member from MUSC and an active participant in our Center on Aging activities. In 2005, he gifted the Center with a grant to hire a full-time education coordinator, Deronda Corbin. Further, he also serves as a Senior Mentor for two medical students in our education program. We are grateful to Dr. Marks for these extraordinary contributions to our Center.
Sally Smith is an author and local artist in Charleston, who has become well known for her artwork and wonderful children's books. She is very active in the support group for Alzheimer's disease, as her mother was diagnosed with this disease a few years ago. In the spring of 2005, Sally approached the Center on Aging with the gift of a wonderful manuscript about her mother. This manuscript has now been developed into a novel and resource book, which is sold through the Center on Aging. Initially, we had three book signing parties in May of 2006 and sold more than 100 books. The income from this book will be used entirely for research on neurodegenerative disease.
The Center on Aging received a bridge grant in 2005 from Dean Jerry Reves, College of Medicine for pilot studies leading to the Program project Grant.
(IWHR, PI Brady, Co-PI Granholm, submitted in 2005) made possible because of collaboration between the Women's Center in Psychiatry and Center on Aging.
(PI Granholm, Co-PI Middaugh) has initiated collaboration between faculty working on drugs of abuse (Psychiatry and Neurosciences) and those working on aging (Ophthalmology and Neuroscience). This is unique in the country and will hopefully lead to powerful insights into the long-term effects of drug abuse during the teenage years.
A collaboration has been initiated with the Movement Analysis Lab lead by Dr. Jim Krause at CHP. The collaboration will lead to mentorship (Dr. Granholm will serve as a co-mentor for Dr. Tasos Karakostas in the Dept. Rehabilitation Sciences) and hopefully development of a novel analysis instrument for movement analysis in animal models of neurodegenerative disease. Dr. Karakostas received a pilot grant for junior faculty from the Center on Aging to initiate the development of animal models for movement disorders.
Since its inception, the SC-GEC has trained over 8,000 individuals in gerontology and geriatrics. Since we moved to the 26 Bee St. location, Center on Aging has provided housing at no cost for the SC-GEC (which was originated in CHP and is directed by Dr. Esther Forti. There are only 43 of these centers around the country, and SC-GEC provides valuable training and outreach in geriatrics and gerontology to faculty, students, health care providers, and communities statewide with 203 partners.
This program, which was initiated in 2001 and is lead by Dr. Jacobo Mintzer, is truly an interdisciplinary program with faculty from CHP, Nursing, Medicine, and Graduate studies participating. Collectively, this has lead to unique collaborative teams between Biometry, Rehabilitation, Psychiatry, and Neurosciences. We brought in a nationally renowned consultant, Dr. Zaven Katchaturian, as well as many internationally known scientists to set up the program. To date, the program has collected tissues and cognitive data from more than 100 patients, and has a functional database, which has rendered interesting data about Alzheimer's disease in our state. This is much thanks to the resources provided by Dr. Mintzer's and Dr. Bachman's group, but also to resources provided by the Center on Aging.
(Dr. Ken Bergmann, Dr. Vanessa Hinson, Dr. Istvan Takacs). This program has successfully implemented a clinical program on movement disorders at MUSC. There is a close collaboration between the movement disorders program (which has provided pilot funds and mentoring to young faculty and graduate students) and the Center on Aging.
During 2004, Center on Aging formalized its relationship with the Geriatrics Group at USC-Palmetto Health. Dr. Granholm is now a joint faculty member at Department of Medicine, USC, and Dr. Paul Eleazer (director for the Geriatrics Division at USC) is a joint faculty member in our Department of Medicine. Further, this collaboration led to a successful Duke Foundation Grant to implement the senior mentor program at MUSC. Since October of 2004, we have paid salary (10% effort) to Dr. Ellen Roberts who is in charge of the Senior Mentor program at USC. She is working with Dr. Amy Blue and Dr. Jeff Wong as well as the education coordinator at Center on Aging, Deronda Corbin, on implementing the program at MUSC. Meetings are scheduled monthly between the two programs, and are conducted by TV-conferencing housed in the Center on Aging conference room. Joint MUSC/USC education retreats are held annually to foster this program and coordinate education efforts on geriatrics and gerontology between the two schools. The next retreat is planned for August 2006. All the coordination for this project is handled by the Center on Aging.
Collaboration has been initiated between the Center on Aging and the Alzheimer Disease Registry at USC. Our first collaborative meeting took place in March of 2005, and is scheduled to occur every 3 months, to implement grant applications between the Alzheimer Disease Registry and our Alzheimer Program.
Is organized so that every other year it is held in Columbia, hosted by USC, and on alternate years it will be hosted by MUSC Center on Aging. Three conferences have been held to date and these continue to grow and foster aging research at the two schools.
Faculty members in the Center on Aging have initiated collaboration with a nutrition group (PI Vivian Haley-Zitlin) that has lead to a pilot grant, which was funded by the South Carolina Nutrition Research Consortium. The collaboration is between the Department of Pediatric Endocrinology and the Department of Neurosciences at MUSC and the Nutrition Research Center at Clemson, and was made possible by connections made at the Aging Research Day last year.
A collaborative consortium has been developed in June 2006 (MUSC/USC/Clemson/Greeneville Hospital/Health Sciences of SC) to develop a statewide Aging Organization.
As shown in the lists below, the past year has been a productive year for Center on Aging faculty. We have submitted two programmatic grants to the National Institutes on Aging (an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, ADRC, proposal and a program project grant), and received competitive scores on both. In addition, this collaborative effort has resulted in several research grants with specific collaborations between Center on Aging faculty. This is reflected by the increased number of jointly published work. The center continues to mentor young faculty and to encourage collaborations between different departments and colleges.
As shown in the lists below, the past year has been a productive year for Center on Aging faculty. We have submitted two programmatic grants to the National Institutes on Aging (an Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, ADRC, proposal and a program project grant), and received competitive scores on both. In addition, this collaborative effort has resulted in several research grants with specific collaborations between Center on Aging faculty. This is reflected by the increased number of jointly published work. The center continues to mentor young faculty and to encourage collaborations between different departments and colleges.
The Center on Aging consists of a core Executive Committee which meets weekly to discuss the Center's work and progress. A full time office and development staff is also based at the Center on Aging's headquarters located on the 8th floor of Harborview Office Tower in Charleston, SC.
In addition to these key personnel, there are numerous affiliated faculty throughout the Medical University of South Carolina with expertise in areas of Geriatric health care, who contribute the Center's research and activities.
The following diagram represents the organizational structure of the Center on Aging:
