# Mentoring Researchers in Advance Care Planning for Underrepresented Older Adults at Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias and Their Caregivers

> **NIH NIH K24** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2024 · $184,569

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
The aims of this proposal are to (1) enable the candidate to further develop her research program focused on
improving advance care planning (ACP) and medical decision making for older adults, particularly historically
marginalized individuals and persons with limited health literacy; (2) expand her research to older persons with
mild cognitive impairment (PMCI) at risk for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) and
caregivers of PMCI or ADRD; and (3) use her research platform to mentor junior investigators interested in
patient-oriented aging research, both within Geriatrics and other subspecialties. The candidate is a Geriatrician
and Palliative Medicine physician who has established a well-funded, high-impact, independent clinical
research program with an outstanding publication and mentoring record. In the past decade she has
established herself as a successful mentor of students, residents, fellows, and junior faculty who have
published high-impact aging research, become successfully funded, and continue to participate in patient-
oriented research in aging. The candidate has also developed an extensive research portfolio focused on
creating and testing literacy and culturally appropriate health education materials to improve ACP and medical
decision making for marginalized older adults. She developed an expanded ACP paradigm that focuses not
only on one-time treatment decisions, such as for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but also on the
process of preparing patients and caregivers to communicate their wishes and to participate with clinicians in
making complex, in-the-moment medical decisions over time. She operationalized this expanded paradigm into
easy-to-understand, person-centered programs (i.e., PREPARE for YOUR Care for patients and PREPARE for
THEIR Care for caregivers) that use video stories to teach people how to identify and communicate their
medical preferences and to make informed medical decisions. The candidate has received ongoing R01 and
other funding to test the efficacy of these programs in primary care settings. This K24 proposal will provide the
candidate with protected time to expand her research in a new direction. Grounded in implementation science
frameworks and community-engaged research, the candidate will conduct research to adapt the PREPARE
programs with and for PMCI and caregivers and test the acceptability of a new delivery model of online,
livestreaming, facilitated group classes. The candidate will also continue to develop her formal mentoring
program with plans for the recruitment, selection, development, and evaluation of mentees who will become
leaders in aging research. She will work with each mentee to establish an individualized career development
plan in which they complete research projects and develop the skills needed to become independent
investigators. These plans will make full use of the outstanding clinical research training environment at the
University of Ca...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10786059
- **Project number:** 5K24AG054415-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** REBECCA L SUDORE
- **Activity code:** K24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $184,569
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-02-15 → 2028-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10786059

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10786059, Mentoring Researchers in Advance Care Planning for Underrepresented Older Adults at Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias and Their Caregivers (5K24AG054415-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10786059. Licensed CC0.

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