Summer 1998

The University of Colorado Denver

Volume 1, Number 3

In addition to the stipend and grant awards announced in the Spring 1998 edition of The Geriatrics Forum, The Hartford/Jahnigen Center of Excellence has awarded grants for two additional projects.

A grant was awarded to Dr. Mark Nehler, Assistant Professor of Surgery. His project will focus on outcomes of elderly patients receiving bypass surgery for critical lower extremity ischemia. In his study,

A Hartford/Jahnigen
Center of Excellence
grant was awarded to
Dr.Mark Nehler.

Dr. Nehler will follow elderly patients undergoing revascularization procedures to assess technical success outcomes such as limb salvage and reconstruction patency. He will then examine the extent to which successful technical outcomes predict other outcomes such as improved ambulation, independent living, global function, limb pain relief, and anxiety relief.

Another grant was awarded for a collaborative project by Dr. Jean Kutner, Assistant Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine and Dr. David Nowels, Assistant Professor, Division of Family Medicine. Their project entitled Psychosocial and Spiritual Symptoms among Hospice Patients will initiate a hospice network and describe the prevalence of psychosocial and

spiritual symptoms among newly admitted hospice patients. Drs. Kutner and Nowels will investigate whether psychosocial and spiritual

A second grant was
awarded to Drs. Jean Kutner
and David Nowels.

symptoms affect outcomes such as length of hospice stay, patient/caregiver satisfaction with hospice care, and disposition at discharge from hospice.

A second round of Center of Excellence stipends and grants will be awarded by March 1, 1999, to begin July 1, 1999. Applications are available now. For further information, or to receive an application for these awards, please contact Danielle Holthaus at 303-315-0128 or Danielle.Holthaus@uchsc.edu.

The Division of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver welcomes two new faculty members.

Evelyn Hutt, MD completed a geriatrics fellowship at Stanford University and served as Director of Geriatrics at Denver Health Medical Center for five years. Most recently, she practiced at Kaiser Permanente Medical Group emphasizing nursing home care. She will divide her time between clinical work at the UCD Seniors Clinic, Denver Health Medical Center Eastside, and research.

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Founded by Robert Schrier, MD in 1989, the Colorado Prevention Center (CPC) is a not-for-profit corporation created to mobilize state, community, and foundation resources in order to promote the role of preventive medicine in controlling human disease. Now under the direction of William Hiatt, MD, the CPC conducts community screening programs, health education programs, research studies, and industry-sponsored clinical trials for disease prevention.

Over the last 8 years, the CPC has conducted a variety of clinical trials and community screening programs involving elderly populations. Following is a brief summary of each of these trials and programs.

The CPC has conducted a
variety of trials and
community screening
programs involving elderly
populations.

Clinical Trials

The Appropriate Blood Pressure Control in Diabetes (ABCD) Trial evaluates the optimum level of blood pressure control in patients who have Type 2 Diabetes. Several publications have been generated from the first phase of this clinical trial, which concludes in October 1998. The second phase of the study will begin in October 1998, and will continue until 2003.

Twelve other clinical trials are actively being conducted at the Colorado Prevention Center to evaluate new medication indications and/or treatments for

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