What is your specific area of interest in Geriatric Surgery?
Much of my research address the needs of people with multiple chronic conditions, most commonly cancer survivors with cardiovascular disease risk factors. Many of these people are older adults who need surgical treatment for their cancer.
What is an example of your best work in geriatric research?
Our team implementation a brief geriatric screening tool in two community-based cancer clinics. Geriatric screening can be resource-intensive and we wanted to evaluate the feasibility of doing this in a community-based setting, which is were most North Carolinians receive their cancer care. Our study demonstrated that clinics could successfully do this work, that we could identify geriatric syndromes, and trigger referrals to get older adults the services that they needed to be most successful with completing their cancer treatment. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29958815)
In your opinion, what is an important health services research question that needs to be answered in the field of Geriatric Surgery?
Older adults are a growing segment of the US population, but they are often excluded from clinical trials and other research studies. To understand the best approaches for delivering and implementing interventions to help older adults achieve the person-centered care and the best possible outcomes, they need to be included throughout the research continuum.
What are your most relevant geriatric surgery publications?
What is a fun fact about you?
When not working or spending time with my family, I enjoy scuba diving. My favorite animals to dive with are sand tiger sharks.