NW Roybal Center for Translational Research on Aging

Catholic Community Services The Northwest Roybal Center for Translational Research on Aging (NRC) exists to accelerate the translation of Alzheimer’s and dementia-related research gains from the research environment to the community.

Our goal is to improve the health, well-being, quality of life and productivity of older adults with cognitive impairment; midlife and older adults at risk for cognitive impairment; and caregivers along the full continuum of environments in which older adults reside and receive care (including private homes, retirement communities, assisted living residences, adult family homes, and skilled nursing facilities).

The NRC is a collaboration between:

  • The Northwest Research Group on Aging, a consortium of clinicians and researchers;
  • The University of Washington School of Nursing, a leading School of Nursing for research in the United States.
  • Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, the research arm of one of the largest HMOs in the country. These multidisciplinary collaborators share a commitment to improving care through the direct translation of research into practice.

History

The National Institute of Aging’s Division of Behavioral and Social Research currently supports 13 Roybal Centers nationwide. The Roybal Centers are intended to develop and pilot innovative ideas for the translation of basic behavioral and social research findings into programs and practices that will improve the lives of older people and the capacity of institutions to adapt to societal aging.

The Roybal Centers are charged with building a research infrastructure that:

  • Enhances the productivity of relevant basic research and existing projects
  • Accelerates the development of new ideas or applications (including successful grant funding from other sponsors)
  • Facilitates collaboration among academic researchers and commercial interests and recruitment of new researchers to aging and/or translational research
  • Provides a context for assembling multidisciplinary teams to solve practical problems.

Funding for the Northwest Roybal Center is provided by the National Institute on Aging grant #5P30AG034592 — NRC: Improving Healthcare for Cognitively Impaired Elders and Their Caregivers, L. Teri, Principal Investigator.