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Principal Investigator: Jessica N Cohan
Organization: UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $192,061
Funding agency: National Institute on Aging
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This is a 5-year K23 career development award for Dr. Jessica Cohan, a board-certified general and colorectal
surgeon and early career investigator whose research focus is optimizing person-centered surgical care for
older adults. As the population ages, an increasing number of older adults will face major, non-urgent surgery,
associated with significant risk of cognitive, functional, and physical decline. Traditional surgical consultations
do not include a discussion of the goals for surgery, i.e., what surgery can and cannot accomplish for the
patient. Only by identifying clear, realistic goals for surgery can patients and families meaningfully deliberate
about whether surgery is worth its burdens and risks. This proposal addresses a critical need to support older
adults, families, and surgeons in discussing the goals for surgery during outpatient consultations. Dr. Cohan
has developed a prototype intervention that consists of question prompts used by older adults, families, and
surgeons to identify clear, realistic goals for surgery during consultations. In this proposal, Dr. Cohan will use
the NIH Stage Model to 1) refine the intervention with input from key stakeholders, 2) adapt the intervention to
the clinical context through field testing, and 3) measure the efficacy of the intervention on treatment goal
documentation during surgical consultations. This work aligns with Dr. Cohan’s career development plan,
which provides a clear path to independence by providing the means to develop expertise in 1) stakeholder
engagement, 2) clinical intervention design, 3) intervention testing for aging populations using the NIH Stage
Model, and 4) leadership in aging research. The proposed research will provide novel insights into how person-
centered surgical care can be achieved for older adults and will result in a novel clinical intervention ready for a
multi-center trial. Thus, this work will directly impact the health and wellbeing of the growing population of older
adults facing major, non-urgent surgery.
To accomplish these endeavors, Dr. Cohan is supported by a highly skilled, multidisciplinary team of mentors
with expertise in geriatrics and aging-related research (Dr. Supiano), behavioral intervention development and
clinical trials (Dr. Ozanne), and patient-surgeon communication and stakeholder engagement (Dr. Schwarze).
The mentor team is complemented by three skilled and dedicated advisors with expertise in biostatistics,
caregiver research, and pragmatic clinical trials. The proposal leverages the rich research and clinical
resources of the University of Utah and provides a clear path by which Dr. Cohan will fulfill her career goal of
becoming a leader at the intersection of surgery and aging research, developing and disseminating clinical
interventions that advance high-quality, person-centered surgical care for older adults.
Terms: <Address><Age><Aging><Ambulatory Surgery><Ambulatory Surgical Procedures><Behavior Conditioning Therapy><Behavior Modification><Behavior Therapy><Behavior Treatment><Behavioral Conditioning Therapy><Behavioral Modification><Behavioral Therapy><Behavioral Treatment><Biometrics><Biometry><Biostatistics><Blood Vessels><Board Certification><Care giver research><Career Development Awards><Career Development Awards and Programs><Career Development Programs K-Series><Caregiver research><Caring><Clinic><Clinical><Clinical Trials><Cognition><Cognitive><Cognitive Disturbance><Cognitive Impairment><Cognitive decline><Cognitive function abnormal><Colon or Rectum><Colorectal><Communication><Communication Tools><Conditioning Therapy><Consultations><Data><Dedications><Development Plans><Diagnosis><Disability prevention><Discipline><Disturbance in cognition><Documentation><Elderly><Emotions><Ensure><Face><Family><Feasibility Studies><Focus Groups><Functional impairment><Future><Geriatrics><Goals><Health><Health Priorities><Impaired cognition><Institution><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Investigators><K-Awards><K-Series Research Career Programs><Leadership><Life><Life Support Care><Measures><Mechanics><Medical Records><Mentors><Mentorship><Modeling><Multi-center trial><Multicenter Trials><NIH><National Institutes of Health><Older Population><Operative Procedures><Operative Surgical Procedures><Out-patients><Outcome><Outpatient Surgery><Outpatients><Patient Outcomes Assessments><Patient Reported Measures><Patient Reported Outcomes><Patients><Personal Satisfaction><Pilot Projects><Population><Position><Positioning Attribute><Pragmatic clinical trial><Preventing disabilities><Procedures><Process><Production><Prolongation of Life><Provider><QOL><Quality of life><Research><Research Career Program><Research Personnel><Researchers><Risk><Scientist><Site><Surgeon><Surgical><Surgical Interventions><Surgical Procedure><Testing><Training><Treatment Efficacy><Uncertainty><United States National Institutes of Health><University resources><Utah><Work><acceptability and feasibility><advanced age><ages><aging associated><aging related><behavior intervention><behavioral intervention><career><career development><cognitive dysfunction><cognitive loss><colorectum><consultation><design><designing><develop therapy><doubt><efficacy trial><elderly patient><evaluation/testing><expectation><faces><facial><field based data><field learning><field study><field test><geriatric><geriatric medicine><insight><intervention design><intervention development><intervention efficacy><intervention refinement><interventional strategy><mechanic><mechanical><multi-site trial><multidisciplinary><multimorbidity><multiple chronic conditions><multisite trial><novel><older adult><older adulthood><older groups><older individuals><older patient><older person><over-treatment><overtreatment><person centered><pilot study><pilot test><primary outcome><prototype><psychosocial><repair><repaired><secondary outcome><senior citizen><skills><surgery><surgery outcome><surgical outcome><symptom treatment><symptomatic treatment><therapeutic efficacy><therapy design><therapy development><therapy efficacy><treat symptom><treatment design><treatment development><vascular><well-being><wellbeing>