The UF Institute on Aging received a $5.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging to continue research on physical disability in older adults.
Dr. Marco Pahor, director of the UF Institute on Aging, said UF is among 14 other U.S. institutions receiving the award.
The grant, which will be disbursed over five years, took effect April 1, Pahor said.
The money will be used for research resources, recruiting junior scholars and researchers and conducting studies on older adults, he said.
The grant is a renewal of another five-year award that established the UF Pepper Older Americans Independence Center in 2007.
Pahor said the grant’s renewal is a positive testament to the work the center has completed since then.
According to the center’s website, 18.1 percent of Floridians are at least 60 years old, which is the largest proportion in any U.S. state.
UF’s Institute on Aging focuses on how to maintain these older adults’ independence and avoid disability, Pahor said.
One of the center’s current projects is researching the effects of physical activity on disability in older adults. He said 16,000 participants around the country were recently selected and he expects results to be released in 2013.
The center is also working on studies involving the effects of antioxidants in red wine on older adults and testosterone in older men.
