Spring 2000

University of Colorado Denver

Volume 3, Number 1

We are pleased to announce that Evelyn Hutt, M.D., Assistant Professor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine, has received a Hartford/Jahnigen Center of Excellence Assistant Professor Stipend for her project entitled Development and Testing of Standards for Treating Nursing Home Acquired Pneumonia in a Managed Care Setting. This award is provided in conjunction with an Academic Medicine and Managed Care Forum Quality Care Research Fund Grant.

Jean Kutner, M.D., M.S.P.H., Assistant Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and recipient of a Hartford/Jahnigen Center of Excellence grant award, received a Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholar Award and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar Award.

Four Faculty members and
fellows receive faculty
development and
fellowship training awards

Her project entitled Symptom Management at the End of Life builds on the work she has conducted jointly with David Nowels, M.D., with Center of Excellence grant funding to develop a hospice network. She will use the funds for her research and to develop teaching opportunities. Our congratulations to Jean for receiving both of these very competitive faculty development awards.

Michele Basche, M.D., first-year fellow, was awarded Hartford Foundation funding for a joint fellowship in geriatrics and oncology. The University of Colorado Denver is one of twelve sites nationally chosen for this

fellowship program. Wendee Gozansky, M.D., another first-year fellow, was awarded fellowship funding by the Hartford Foundation to continue her research on hormonal replacement therapy under the mentorship of Wendy Kohrt, Ph.D.

Five UCD
faculty members will be
presenting at this year's
AGS/AFAR Annual Meeting.

The 2000 American Geriatrics Society/American Federation for Aging Research Annual Scientific Meeting will be held May 17-21, 2000 in Nashville, Tennessee. Several faculty members affiliated with the Hartford/Jahnigen Center of Excellence will present papers and/or posters at this year's meeting.

The presenters include:
v Evelyn Hutt, M.D., presenting a paper entitled Prospective Payment for Nursing Homes Increased Therapy Provision without Improving Community Discharge Rates;

v James Martau, M.D., presenting a poster entitled No Evidence of Reduction in Pressure Sore Prevalence Since the Implementation of OBRA '87;

v John Weil, M.D., presenting a poster entitled Circulating Levels of L-Arginine (L-ARG) are Depressed in the Elderly and Increase with Supplementation;

v Eric Coleman, M.D., M.P.H., presenting posters entitled Improving Risk Identification in Medicare Managed Care: Combining the Pra with the Frailty Score and Outcomes and Utilization for Acute Hip Fracture in Managed Care and Fee-For-Service Delivery Systems;

v Robert Schwartz, M.D., presenting posters entitled GHRH and Exercise Effects on Body Composition in Healthy Older Women and GHRH and Exercise Effects on Strength and Function.

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The IMAGE (Investigations in Metabolism, Aging, Gender, and Exercise) Research Group was established in August 1999 by Wendy Kohrt, Ph.D., to study the effects of exercise training and hormone replacement therapy in elderly persons. Current IMAGE Research Group members include Wendee Gozansky, M.D., Robert Schwartz, M.D., Rachael VanPelt, Ph.D., Cathy Jankowski, Ph.D., and Angie Moquin, M.S. Following are brief summaries of two studies that are currently underway.

AFTER Menopause Study (Altering Fat through Estrogen and Raloxifene)

There is now a wealth of evidence indicating that excess fat deposition in the abdominal region is more strongly associated with increased risk for coronary artery disease (CAD), Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), and hypertension than is total degree of obesity. More specifically, it is fat that is stored in intra-abdominal, or visceral, regions that is most strongly related to metabolic dysfunction.

The IMAGE Research Group
was established to study the
effects of exercise training
and hormone replacement
therapy in elderly persons.

Although most premenopausal women store excess fat in gluteal and femoral regions, abdominal fat accumulation increases after menopause. The sharp rise in risk for cardiovascular disease in women after menopause is well recognized, but the extent to which this is related to increasing abdominal adiposity is unknown.

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