# Advancing Capacity to Integrate Exercise into the Care of Older Cancer Survivors: The ACES initiative to establish guidelines, feasibility and best practices for research in cancer and aging

> **NIH NIH R21** · OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $238,771

## Abstract

The growing number of aging cancer survivors will pose a significant challenge for the healthcare system
because of the combined effects of cancer treatment and aging on the development of comorbid disease,
disability, and accidental death from injuries such as falls. Withinjust 5 years the number of older survivors in
theUnited States alone is projected to reach 14 million.Exercise has the potential to improve functioning and
QoL in older adults with cancer, however, and despite recent
American
to
survivors.
Research
because
exercise guidelines for cancer survivors from an
College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) but, due
 the lack of clinical trials in older cancer survivors, neither position issued age-specific guidelines for older
 Thus, clinical practice remains bereft of guidance to include exercise in care plans for older patients.
in older adults with complex health needs is challenging and they are often excluded from clinical trials
teams lack the expertise, experience and resources.An NIH funded cancer, exercise and aging expert
group they noted an absence of rigorously planned phase I-II feasibility trials for different exercise modalities
that would subsequently inform the a priori design of phase III efficacy trials. Despite this urgent call, there have
been no rigorously designed phase I studies in older cancer survivors, including those with functional limitations,
to establish the feasibility and safety of any exercise modality and particularly, resistance training. The
exercise
research
improve
lack of
guidelines and the paucity of clinical t rials specific t o older cancer survivors creates a significant
gap that i s impeding the implementation of exercise as a low-cost, accessible, and scalable strategy to
outcomes for older survivors.We are directly responding to NOT-CA-22-030 stating NCI's participation
in PA-20-070 Research Infrastructure Development for Interdisciplinary Aging Studies that calls for phased
R21/R33 applications for “studies that propose
advance
developing or scaling up a novel research infrastructure that will
the science of cancer and aging requiring interdisciplinary collaborations”. Per the PA-20-070 guidelines
requiring milestone-driven projects, we propose the following phased R21 to R33 projects: R21 project:
Develop consensus-based guidelines for exercise in older (65+) cancer survivors by: 1) assembling a community
advisory board for stakeholder input (Y1); 2) conducting a review of published trials and trials in progress (Y1),
3) conducting a Delphi study to outline an initial set of exercise recommendations (Y1); 4) convening an
interdisciplinary working group of experts to develop consensus-based exercise guidelines for older cancer
survivors (Y2); and, 5) finalizing a guideline-concordant R33 project protocol (Y2). R33 project: Establish the
feasibility and safety of resistance training in older functionally limited cancer survivors by: 1) conducting...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10875555
- **Project number:** 5R21CA280996-02
- **Recipient organization:** OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** KERRI M WINTERS-STONE
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $238,771
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10875555

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10875555, Advancing Capacity to Integrate Exercise into the Care of Older Cancer Survivors: The ACES initiative to establish guidelines, feasibility and best practices for research in cancer and aging (5R21CA280996-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10875555. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*