Alice Ryan
University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD·Medicine & Clinical Research
Many older adults lose the ability to move about and live independently. This can happen suddenly, after a stroke, heart attack or hip fracture, or slowly as chronic diseases worsen.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Physiology
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
aging
older adults
geriatrics
- Grants
- 1 known grant, last ended Aug 2026
What they work on
- Examine the mechanisms behind functional impairments in older people after acute disabling events such as stroke and hip fracture, and in chronic diseases such as heart failure and cancer.
- Design new exercise-based and activity-based rehabilitation interventions that produce clinically relevant outcomes, and study how they affect multiple body systems.
- Translate rehabilitation interventions developed in clinical laboratories into home and community settings, and rigorously evaluate how well they work there.
- Train junior faculty and Scholars from many disciplines in aging and disability research through mentoring, coursework and hands-on translational research.
More about the research
As life expectancy rises, keeping older people functionally independent becomes a major public health priority. This center is organized around enablement. That means restoring function in people who already have impairments and preventing or delaying further decline in those who are already disabled.
Why it matters
Older adults recovering from stroke, heart attack or hip fracture, and those living with heart failure or cancer, often lose mobility and independence. Exercise-based and rehabilitation programs tested here could help restore function and slow further disability. Programs adapted for home and community use could reach more older people outside the clinic.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Sherrie Khadanga
University of Vermont, VT·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test in a randomized controlled trial whether high-intensity interval training plus high-intensity resistance training improves peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and physical function more than standard moderate cardiac rehabilitation exercise.
Christiaan Leeuwenburgh
University of Florida, FL·Physiology
Follow low- and high-functioning adults aged 70–80 for 3 years to test whether higher blood hepcidin, an iron-controlling hormone, and muscle iron buildup predict faster decline on the SPPB, 6-minute walk and strength tests.
Rebecca Rodin
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY·Public Health & Epidemiology
Compare changes in opioid use after the 2016 CDC guidelines between older adults with and without Alzheimer's disease and related dementias who have cancer or hip or pelvic fracture, using Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data and a difference-in-differences design.
The school
University of Maryland, Baltimore: 23 labs on PI Pages, $1.5B a year on research, 79 research doctorates a year.
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