# Improving Outcomes of Older Adults with Psychosocial Vulnerability Undergoing Major Surgery

> **NIH NIH K76** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2020 · $236,329

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
 This application for the Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging (K76)
describes the five-year career development plan of Dr. Victoria Tang, a geriatrician and young physician-
scientist in the Division of Geriatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Tang’s long-term career
goal is to develop a research niche that bridges the field of aging and surgery to improve the care of older
surgical patients.
 The specific career development goals outlined in this application include developing expertise in
implementation science, intervention development, clinical trial design/analysis, and building a research niche
that bridges the field of aging and surgery to improve the care of older surgical patients at the national level.
The primary mentor for accomplishing these career development goals is Dr. Ken Covinsky, Professor of
Medicine at UCSF and Principle Investigator of the UCSF Older Americans Independence Center. Dr.
Covinsky will be assisted by co-mentor Dr. Emily Finlayson, Professor of Surgery and Director of UCSF’s
Center for Surgery in Older Adults. The career development plan of Dr. Tang includes individualized
mentorship with her mentorship team, formal coursework, one-on-one tutorials, and leadership training.
 The overall objective of the research plan is to understand the role of psychosocial vulnerability in post-
operative outcomes with the largest cohort of older surgical patients to date and to develop a pilot test a
psychosocial intervention to improve depressive symptoms, coping skills, and social support. The central
hypothesis of this project is that preoperative psychosocial vulnerability is associated with post-operative
functional recovery, and a greater understanding of psychosocial vulnerability and interventions designed to
mitigate its effects will improve post-operative outcomes, such functional recovery. The specific aims of the
project include (1) determining the independent association between pre-operative psychosocial vulnerability
with 2-year overall mortality and functional decline following major surgery; (2) understanding how
psychosocial vulnerability impacts post-operative recovery in older surgical patients through semi-structured
interviews with older surgical patients and caregivers; and (3) comparing 6-month functional recovery
outcomes between those randomized to a psychosocial intervention (navigator-led social support and problem
solving therapy) versus usual care. These aims will permit a better understanding of psychosocial vulnerability,
a geriatric-specific risk factor, in older adults that may be especially important in a time of major surgery. The
application is relevant to NIH and NIA because Dr. Tang’s career goal is to leverage an understanding of the
geriatric-specific risk factors to elucidate potential aspects needing interventions and to improve shared
surgical decision-making among older adults and their physicians.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9997779
- **Project number:** 5K76AG059931-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Victoria Lai-Yen Tang
- **Activity code:** K76 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $236,329
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9997779

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9997779, Improving Outcomes of Older Adults with Psychosocial Vulnerability Undergoing Major Surgery (5K76AG059931-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9997779. Licensed CC0.

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