Barry Gurland, MD, Director
The Morris W. Stroud III Center for Study of Quality of Life was founded and endowed in 1995. Its mission is to foster scholarly activities contributing to the prevention or delaying of losses in quality of life that may accompany chronic diseases and aging.
Research, theory building, statistical method development, and educational projects are conducted by core staff with a wide range of collaborating colleagues, departments and institutions.
Main research projects and theory development focus on:
- Identifying frequent complex syndromes undermining quality of life: Anergia project (Divisions of Cardiology and Geriatric Medicine)
- Geriatric services mediating the contributions that elders make to the quality of life of their family and community (Downstate Public Health)
- Theory and model building: Choices and choosing model of quality of life (Benjamin Rose and Channel islands)
- Heritability of domains of quality of life: A cohort of 2,600 aging veteran fraternal and identical twins (Duke University and Institute of Medicine (IOM) Medical Follow-up)
- Codifying caregiver and care recipient experiences in improving quality of life: Edited transcripts from interactive workshops with 500 participants in seven regions of the world: (London Psychiatric Institute, and Alzheimer International).
Measurement and statistical development involves:
- Establishing item banks and Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) methodology as an infrastructure for clinicians and researchers dealing with patient reported outcomes (PROMIS Statistical Coordinating Center)
- Identifying and disseminating evidence-based models of enhanced quality of life for residents of long-term care (NYSDOH Dementia Grants Program )
- Methods and Data Core mentoring program for junior faculty research scholars in the Columbia Center for the Active Life of Minority Elderly (Division of General Medicine).
Training, education, and clinical service centers on:
- Interdisciplinary training for qualities of life associated with co-morbidities in aging (Psychiatric Institute Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Elmhurst Hospital, and Cornell Dept of Psychiatry)
- Interdisciplinary Services and Education in Medically Underserved Areas: Effectiveness for qualities of life associated with aging, health, and mental health co-morbidities (The Statewide Geriatric Psychiatry Residency and Fellowship Programs, and The Statewide Geriatric Grand Round Series; The Consortium of New York Geriatric Education Centers (CNYGEC); and the Columbia-New York Geriatric Education Center).