New techniques may be able to solve old problems at UF’s upcoming research center.
UF’s Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence and UF’s Institute on Aging were awarded a $1.9 million grant Sunday from the National Institute on Aging.
Over the course of five years, the grant, which will support minority involvement and the decrease in pain in the elderly, will allow the UF centers to partner together to create the UF Resource Center for Minority Aging Research, which will work to diversify the research workforce and improve the health of older adults, said Roger Fillingim, the director of the UF Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence.
“The more diverse the perspective of a research environment, the more productive an environment is,” said Fillingim, a professor at the UF College of Dentistry.
Every year, the center will hire three new early-stage investigators, or people who have completed their final residency or graduate program, to work on pilot projects, such as pain treatments for older adults and psychological studies, Fillingim said. The Center will use adult participants.
The Center will be located at UF’s Clinical and Translational Research Building. Researchers will work on these pilot projects for three months before real trials could begin, Fillingim said.
“Pain is a major public health issue,” Fillingim said. “It’s arguably the most expensive and most prevalent health condition in the world.”
This is an important grant for UF because it will foster research and training for junior faculty and scientists, said Marco Pahor, director of the UF Institute of Aging.
“The grant provides unique opportunities for underrepresented scientists in a research area,” Pahor said.
In the future, Pahor and Fillingim hope to have the grant renewed, as well as receive more money to improve the health of the older population and expand the diversity rates in the research field.
“The more we can diversify our workforce and bring new perspectives in, the more creative and successful we’re going to be in developing really impactful research,” Fillingim said.
Contact Dana Cassidy at dcassidy@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @danacassidy_
