Project Description

Interdisciplinary Research And Creative Activities Fund (IRCAF) Planning Grant

Title: "Niagara Regional Consortium on Disability & Aging"

Investigators:

• Steve Bauer, PhD; Director, RERC on Technology Transfer
• Richard Salvi, PhD; Director, Center for Hearing & Deafness
• Jeffrey Higginbotham, PhD; Director, Communication and Assistive Device Lab
• Michael Noe, MD; Interim Chairman, Department of Rehabilitative Sciences
• Edward Steinfeld, D. Arch; Director, Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access
• Donald Rowe, PhD; Public Health Liaison, School of Public Health and Health Professions

1. Background for Planning Proposal

In response to UB’s recent solicitation regarding Centers of Excellence, we propose to establish the Niagara Regional Consortium on Disability and Aging (NRCDA) that will link the UB research community with regional resources. The NRCDA will establish a regional infrastructure to address the four inter-related topics of disability, aging, assistive technology and enabling environments. The NRCDA’s agenda will encompass research, product development and clinical practices that support independent living and community participation of elders and people with disabilities of all ages. Core NRCDA members will include academic and business entities in Buffalo, Rochester and Southern Ontario. Scholarly and entrepreneurial efforts can be coordinated to establish regional "branding" similar to Silicon Valley or the Research Triangle.

Formation of a UB Consortium on Disability & Aging would uniquely position UB as a catalyst for establishing the Niagara Regional Consortium:

1. Over forty UB investigators, spanning nine schools, are conducting nationally recognized research in the areas of disability, aging, assistive technology, and enabling environments. Among this group, five are in the top thirty funded researchers at UB;
2. UB is not networked with regional resources, yet strong win-win opportunities are present to drive the development of this network with UB’s Niagara Regional Consortium providing leadership;
3. The Health Care Industries Association (HCIA) links related businesses in Western New York and sponsors cross-border networking events with the Association of Ontario Medical Manufacturers. Tom Stewart, President and CEO of Gaymar Industries Inc and current HCIA President, expressed strong interest in regional university-private sector collaboration and further extending HCIA membership to address rehabilitation and independent living needs;
4. The UB Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology Transfer has a decade of experience developing successful collaborations between the academic and private sectors.
5. UB is at the geographic center of the partnering entities, which carries pragmatic advantages associated with face-to-face interaction.

Formation of the Niagara Regional Consortium would capitalize on complementary resources in the surrounding region, including:

1. The Center for Future Health, a university & corporate consortium based at the University of Rochester;
2. The University of Toronto's Centre for Studies on Aging and Adaptive Technology Research Centre;
3. The Health Technology Exchange, being established by Ontario’s Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity & Innovation;
4. McMaster University 's CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, which includes: the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, Evidence-based Practice Centre, and the Occupational and Environmental Health Laboratory.

The NRCDA initiative would establish communication, and collaboration among these entities through a two-phase process. Phase 1, proposed here, will identify and network local academic and business entities, along with key representatives for the region. Phase 2, requiring follow-on support from academic, corporate, and government sectors, will link participants through projects that leverage the region’s expertise. Demonstrated success at securing extramural funding will generate new campus revenue, support active faculty researchers, cement cross-sector projects, and improve our ability to recruit new talent. The NRCDA can readily become the nation’s undisputed leader in the field of disability and aging.

This initiative comes at a crucial juncture, as UB’s competitive position within this field is challenged by others adopting similar regional strategies (detailed below). As the general population of baby boomers age, as people with lifelong disabilities extend their lifespan, and as more people survive increasingly severe traumatic injury, the civil and economic stakes are rising at an accelerated rate. The top tier research universities and largest multi-national corporations are turning their attention to these issues. UB has two choices: either scale-up our initiatives or lose out to these competitors.

2. Rationale for IRCAF Planning Proposal

Despite the array of expertise and resources within our immediate region, UB must take the steps to identify and organize our internal research faculty. We can readily list forty UB investigators active in this field. However, even with those numbers we know our knowledge of UB faculty with expertise and interest in this area is currently ad hoc and incomplete.

The initial work of the NRCDA planning group will establish the following:

• All faculty with an active research & development interest in aspects of disability and aging;
• Status of all relevant research and development activity including completed, active, proposed and planned projects;
• Academic, corporate and government affiliations maintained by each faculty member;
• Academic and private sector expertise and resources desired, but not currently available to each faculty member.

This information is critical to knowing what UB resources are available for future research and development collaborations, what networks already extend from UB faculty, the current status of research and development activity, and the relevance of these activities to the private sector. Such a survey is not a novel approach to initiating collaboration. According to Dr. Tom Stewart, the HCIA is conducting a survey of WNY corporate resources to be completed in 2004 and UB recently assessed faculty research areas that could support initiatives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Generating this baseline knowledge will permit the UB Consortium on Disability & Aging to identify new research and development projects for UB investigators and other opportunities for academic-private sector collaboration. These candidate projects will necessarily include collaborators from within the Rochester & Southern Ontario and represent the academic, corporate and government sectors.

The selected projects would address critical health and quality of life needs of people with disabilities and the elderly on multiple levels including: (a) clinical practices used by physicians and therapists, (b) adaptation strategies for family members and caregivers, (c) development and use of assistive technology devices, (d) environmental design and appropriate modifications, (e) state and federal policies concerning reimbursement of durable medical equipment (e.g., wheelchairs and other mobility aids) and associated therapy services, and (f) functional outcomes research that contributes to evidence-based clinical practices. These projects will demonstrate our ability to organize UB investigators and collaborate with others in the region, providing preliminary evidence regarding the value of regional partnerships.

3. Proposed Planning Activities

Step 1: Draft and send an email query to forty known faculty to secure critical information and invite them to join the UB Consortium of Disability & Aging. Each person will be asked to identify other faculty whose research interests have potential application to disability and aging.

Step 2: Convene two receptions to formally kick-off the UB Consortium, one per campus. Provide overview of research opportunities with examples of on-going work, and enlist participation in network.

Step 3: Establish a UB Consortium of Disability & Aging website directory, featuring information compiled about faculty interests and expertise, as well as a list of upcoming “opportunities” for collaboration among UB investigators.

Step 4: Establish a “steering committee” for the UB Consortium of Disability & Aging including regional corporate and government representation

These actions will consume the time and resources available through the Planning Grant. Ensuing activity would include working with HCIA to compare the resources and opportunities available through the corporate and academic sectors; expanding the network to the Ontario and Rochester regions; identifying program level research initiatives that would capitalize on the regional capabilities; selecting one “demonstration” grant opportunity involving participants from across the region and across sectors.

4. Significance of proposed activities

As 40 million Americans can attest, not all disability resulting from disease or injury is preventable. The converging fields of disability and aging offer fertile grounds for sponsored research. Other universities are already pursuing community partnerships to pursue these growth opportunities, such as:

• University at Pittsburgh/Pittsburgh VA/ARTSCO Inc/Three Rivers Holdings;
• University of Florida, Gainesville/ Gainesville VA;
• Georgia Tech/Emory University/Atlanta VA/Shepherd Center;
• Northwestern University/Chicago VA/Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago/Center for International Rehabilitation.

The Western New York and Southern Ontario region harbors a rich pool of business and academic talent that exceeds these other regional partnerships. The missing element here is an umbrella entity that integrates our disparate resources with deliberate and proactive collaborations directed toward large-scale center-level funding efforts. With respect to UB’s public service mission, our community would embrace a highly visible research and development program with such humanitarian impact.

5. Potential for extramural funding opportunities

Extramural funding programs at the State/Provincial and Federal levels are increasing their support for research and development projects in this combined field of disability and aging. Some examples of likely funding sources are:

• NYS State : Office of Science, Technology & Academic Research (NYSTAR), Department of Public Health, Department of Senior Services.
• U.S. National: National Institutes of Health, Center for Disease Control, National Science Foundation, Department of Education, Department of Commerce, Department of Labor & Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Canada : Ontario Provincial Ministries and Industry Canada.