# Social Convoy Palliative Care (Convoy-Pal) Mobile Health for Older Adults with Advanced Heart Failure

> **NIH NIH K76** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · 2020 · $184,871

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This is a submission for the NIA K76 Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging.
Dr. Jennifer Dickman Portz’s long-term career plan is to become a leader in developing and implementing
digitally-supported palliative care that can be used by older adults with advanced illnesses and their “social
convoy” (i.e. family members, informal and formal caregivers) to effectively improve patient-family centered
health outcomes. Her proposed research will refine and test the Social Convoy Palliative Care (Convoy-Pal)
mobile application, a new intervention that integrates the social convoy in digitally-supported palliative care to
promote symptom management and quality of life among older adults with advanced heart failure.
Candidate: Dr. Portz is currently a T32 Aging and Palliative Care Research Fellow in the School of Medicine
at the University of Colorado, and an Assistant Professor of social work at Colorado State University and the
Colorado School of Public Health.
Training: The proposed K76 career development plan is designed to develop Dr. Portz’s expertise in digital
health for geriatric palliative care with 1) training in clinical palliative care, digital usability testing, mixed
methods, pragmatic clinical trials, and leadership skills, and 2) hands-on research experience in mobile health
development. Dr. Portz proposes ongoing mentorship, coursework, and research leadership experience.
Mentors/Environment: Dr. Portz and her primary mentor, Dr. Sheana Bull, assembled an interdisciplinary
team with expertise in digital health, heart failure, geriatrics, computer science, and palliative care who will
mentor Dr. Portz through the proposed training and research activities. To augment this team, an advisory
commitee of nationally recognized experts in palliative care, aging and technology, and social work will monitor
Dr. Portz’s career development progress. With support from Colorado State University and the University of
Colorado, Dr. Portz is well-positioned to lead geriatric palliative care research efforts across Colorado.
Research: As older adults with advanced illness increasingly rely on the support of others to help manage
their health, there is a critical need to foster approaches for effective integration of the social convoy in mobile
health. Thus, the objective of this award is to use heart failure specific palliative care as a model to investigate
the design, usability, and feasibility of digitally supported palliative care by older users and their social convoy.
Dr. Portz will work with her mentors to develop, refine, and test the Convoy-Pal.
Summary: Dr. Portz proposes a patient-family centered approach to the design and evaluation of the first
convoy-focused heart failure palliative care specific mobile application. She has an established interdisciplinary
mentorship team to ensure the completion of the proposed research and complimentary training. The Beeson
Award will enable Dr. Portz t...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10002828
- **Project number:** 7K76AG059934-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
- **Principal Investigator:** Jennifer Portz
- **Activity code:** K76 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $184,871
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10002828

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10002828, Social Convoy Palliative Care (Convoy-Pal) Mobile Health for Older Adults with Advanced Heart Failure (7K76AG059934-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10002828. Licensed CC0.

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