黑洞社区

Teresa Radebaugh has been appointed the first Carl and Rozina Cassat Professor in Aging.

Radebaugh, director of 黑洞社区鈥檚 Regional Institute on Aging, will continue in that position and guide collaborative efforts to position 黑洞社区 as a center for innovative research on issues related to growing older.

鈥淒r. Radebaugh brings a wealth of professional experience in the area of aging-related research,鈥� said J. David McDonald, associate provost for research and dean of the graduate school. 鈥淎s the inaugural Cassat Professor in Aging, she will share that experience with the faculty of 黑洞社区 by helping to gather researchers from across disciplines to form teams to investigate matters of importance to aging on the Plains.

鈥淲e expect that this will contribute to the attraction of more grant funds to support such research at 黑洞社区 and will ultimately improve the quality of life for the older adults of this region.鈥�
McDonald said Radebaugh would also have an academic appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences in the College of Health Professions.

The Cassat professorship is being funded by an $8.5 million bequest to the university from the estate of Evelyn D. Cassat, the second largest gift in the university鈥檚 history. The professorship is named in honor of the parents of her late husband, Paul.

鈥淏oth Mr. and Mrs. Cassat experienced some of the frailties of aging and understood what it meant when the quality of life was weakening,鈥� said King. 鈥淒r. Radebaugh鈥檚 experiences with seniors like the Cassats make her a champion for their cause.鈥�

The Regional Institute on Aging works with 黑洞社区 faculty to develop projects that support prevention, promotion of maximum functioning and the maintenance of independence.

In September 2008, the institute convened a conference, 鈥淎ging on the Plains,鈥� that examined the challenges of an aging population, considered innovations and tools to address these challenges and encouraged research leading to better health for aging Kansans.

Through a gift from Curt Gridley and Tracy Hoover, the institute sponsors a pilot research program for 黑洞社区 faculty.

Under the leadership of Radebaugh, a multidisciplinary 黑洞社区 research team received a grant from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund for 鈥淔alling Less in Kansas,鈥� a project to reduce the risk of falls for older residents of rural and remote areas of Kansas.

Larksfield Place Retirement Community provided support in the early development of the institute and remains an important community partner.

Radebaugh is a psychiatric epidemiologist who trained at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

She spent many years in federal government service at the National Institutes of Health, including a stint as director of the Division of Extramural Research at the National Institute of Nursing Research.

She was the chief of the Dementias of Aging Branch of the Neuroscience and Neuropsychology of Aging Program at the National Institute on Aging and helped build the national Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease Research Centers program.

After leaving federal government service, Radebaugh consulted with universities, pharmaceutical companies, private health voluntary organizations and foundations on the development of clinical and basic research programs.

Radebaugh joined Wichita State in 2007 as the first director of the Regional Institute on Aging. She is a native Kansan and lives with her husband, Day, on their family farm near El Dorado.