Research

The Aging Adult Fraud Research & Policy Institute conducts rigorous scientific research about the risk factors, protective factors, and consequences of elder exploitation and victimization. The population of elderly Americans is rapidly increasing and the elderly represent a vulnerable target for violent victimization, sexual victimization, and financial exploitation. As a result, the Institute seeks to use evidence-based research to develop policy and practice recommendations that are presented to local, state, and national policymakers and practitioners to reduce the risk of victimization.

The Center offers a nonpharmacological approach to pain care using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Its research focuses on combined therapies, tDCS with mindfulness meditation for knee osteoarthritis pain in older adults to improve self-management of pain. Lab research aims to enhance health and independence in older adults using innovative technologies to optimize pain and symptom management.

The overarching mission of the Center of Population Sciences for Health Empowerment (C-PSHE) is to promote health access and reduce health disparities among all populations regardless of their demographic. We accomplish this by participating in community-engaged scientific and operational research and practices and employing the principles and tools of population science. Recent research at the Center includes examining psychosocial factors that contribute to the risk of age-related cognitive impairment as measured by Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Incidence of Dementia (CAIDE) score in a racially diverse sample of men who have sex with men living with HIV.

Claude Pepper Center aims to identify policy solutions that enhance the financial, psychological, cognitive, physical, and social wellbeing of older adults and their families in the state of Florida and beyond, and help people reach later life with the resources they need to be active and engaged members of their communities.

Claude Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy houses some of the nation’s premier voices on aging who, through research and policy efforts, are working to better understand and address the issues facing America’s ever-growing elderly population. The mission of the Institute is to initiate research, educate students, and provide outreach activities that address the opportunities and challenges of an aging population.

The Institute for Successful Longevity conducts research into how to live longer, stay active and be fully engaged in life. The Institute takes a multidisciplinary approach to better explore the complexities of life as an older individual. In the past, aging was seen as a problem, a condition or malady. Today, the Institute sees aging as a natural stage of life, looking at all the components of an older person’s experience as it pursues the causes of age-related cognitive and physical decline and translate those discoveries into practices and interventions that slow or halt these changes.