Projects of Interest

Project Descriptions

Illinois Department on Aging Project - Illinois has created a dementia-capable home and community-based service delivery system, but service gaps still exist with specific populations with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. Specialized supportive services are needed to target services to the above individuals with dementia and their family caregivers within the existing dementia-capable service system.

Assessing Health and Geographic Disparities in Asthma and COPD Morbidity: A GIS Approach - The Illinois Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (IL-BRFSS) prevalence estimate indicates that 13.2% of adults in Sangamon County have physician-diagnosed asthma, putting Sangamon County in the worst quartile of Illinois’s 102 counties. The IL-BRFSS estimates that about 7.5% of the Sangamon County population has COPD, compared to 5.8% in Illinois.

All of Us (formerly Precision Medicine Initiative) - Precision medicine seeks to capitalize on growing capabilities in the areas of genomics, clinical phenotyping, clinical informatics, EHR availability and interoperability, and mobile health technologies to improve understanding of human health and disease. Improved understanding of the complex interplay of genetic and environmental exposures, beyond those previously available in long-term observational epidemiological research, holds the promise of better prediction, prevention, and treatment of a host of human diseases including coronary heart disease, stroke, numerous cancers, dementing illnesses, arthritis, and other major causes of disability and early death. 

Illinois Department on Aging Project

Background
Illinois has created a dementia-capable home and community-based service delivery system, service gaps still exist with specific populations with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. There are current service gaps and a critical need to further develop and expand supportive services for individuals living alone with ADRD in their communities; improve the effectiveness of programs and services targeted to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities with ADRD; deliver behavioral symptom management training and expert consultation to family caregivers, and develop additional person and family-centered care and training to improve care for, and prepare individuals living with moderate to severe impairment and their caregivers for the future. Specialized supportive services are needed to target services to the above individuals with dementia and their family caregivers within the existing dementia-capable service system.

Project Lead
IL Department of Public Health with Wiley Jenkins, Ph.D. serving as PSP lead

PSP Team Members
Lauren Slomer, MPH

Collaborators
Illinois Department on Aging, SIU Center for Alzheimer's disease and Related Disorders

Goals
The purpose of this grant is to: train Aging Network and PAS ISC agencies on ID/DD and Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders; train CCU, CCP, CRP in-home workers, and HDM assessors and volunteers to identify, and refer for assistance individuals who live alone with ADRD; conduct Savvy Caregiver Programs in selected geographic areas; develop behavioral symptom management and expert consultation through evidence-based Music and Memory, Opening Minds through Arts and Mental and Physical Exercise Programs; develop and deliver a TimeSlips Program at adult day centers, supportive living facilities and at other community locations; and develop and implement an evaluation of grant activities. PSP staff will provide evaluation services.

Findings
N/A

Publications
N/A

Assessing Health and Geographic Disparities in Asthma and COPD Morbidity: A GIS Approach

Background
Asthma and COPD are pervasive diseases. Asthma is a chronic lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways, causing recurring periods of wheezing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), asthma affects as many as 17.7 million U.S. adults. The Illinois Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (IL-BRFSS) prevalence estimate indicates that 13.2% of adults in Sangamon County have physician-diagnosed asthma, putting Sangamon County in the worst quartile of Illinois’s 102 counties. COPD causes irreversible airflow blockage and breathing-related problems, usually in adults 40 and older. It is the third leading cause of death in the United States and is severely underdiagnosed.6 The IL-BRFSS estimates that about 7.5% of the Sangamon County population has COPD, compared to 5.8% in Illinois. Approximately 40% of those with COPD also have asthma.

Project Lead
Wiley Jenkins, PhD

PSP Team Members
Amanda Fogleman, MEng

Collaborators
Maithili Deshpande, Ph.D. (SIU Pharmacy) and Kristin Osiecki, Ph.D. (UIS)

Goals
The collaboration between SIUSOM and UIS seeks to identify spatial clusters of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) related Emergency Department (ED) visits and hospitalizations in Sangamon County, IL using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques. The findings of this study can provide key information to develop geographically targeted interventions that can improve asthma and COPD management and patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.

Findings
N/A

Publications
N/A

Media
School of Pharmacy’s Deshpande in Research Project with SIU School of Medicine and UIS - February 1, 2018
Researchers to Analyze Asthma, COPD Rates in Sangamon County - September 17, 2017
Illinois Medical Universities to Study Factors Affecting Rural Opioid Epidemic - October 02, 2017

All of Us (formerly Precision Medicine Initiative)

Background
Precision medicine seeks to capitalize on growing capabilities in the areas of genomics, clinical phenotyping, clinical informatics, EHR availability and interoperability, and mobile health technologies to improve understanding of human health and disease. Improved understanding of the complex interplay of genetic and environmental exposures, beyond those previously available in long-term observational epidemiological research, holds the promise of better prediction, prevention, and treatment of a host of human diseases including coronary heart disease, stroke, numerous cancers, dementing illnesses, arthritis, and other major causes of disability and early death. Internationally, efforts to address the opportunities of precision medicine have led to the assembly of large cohorts in the UK (UK Biobank), the China Kadoorie Biobank, and in a selected sub-population in the US (the Million Veteran Project - MVP). In January 2015, President Obama announced a plan for the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) to address this significant scientific opportunity.

The US health system faces a crisis in health disparities that could be ameliorated by a greater understanding of the link between genetic underpinnings of disease and the environmental and behavioral milieus in which they operate. Conversely, since minorities are under-represented in biomedical research, there is the risk that discoveries from precision medicine research may further widen disparities unless large numbers of minorities participate in such research.

Project Lead
Illinois Precision Medicine Consortium with Wiley Jenkins, Ph.D. serving as site PI

PSP Team Members
Christofer Rodriguez, MPH; Amanda Fogleman, MEng

Collaborators
University of Illinois Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Blessing Health Systems, Decatur Memorial Hospital, OSF St. Francis, Sarah Bush Lincoln, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria

Goals
Recruit, consent, examine, collect biospecimens, and transmit curated data and processed biosamples to the PMI Coordinating and Biobanking Centers, on at least 10,000 people from diverse ethnic, social, and economic backgrounds who are patients in 1 of the 3 Illinois area HPOs (and their affiliates). In accomplishing this aim, we will engage HPO staff, patients, and the general community to generate support for, and participation in, the PMI HPO cohort.

Findings
N/A

Publications
N/A