The Midwest Roybal Center for Health Promotion and Behavior Change [1], based in the Center for Research on Health and Aging [2], hosts an annual pilot grant competition to faculty, academic staff and doctoral candidates studying health promotion among older adults.

From 2004 to June 2007, the center funded 12 pilot studies, including:

• Assessing the Impact of Secondary Conditions on the Functional States of Older Adults (Jennifer Rowland, PhD, PT, MPH, principal investigator)
• Factors Related to Exercise Among People with Osteoarthritis (Cheryl DerAnanian, PhD, principal investigator; Thomas R. Prohaska, PhD, co-investigator)
• Health Promotion for People with Intellectual Disabilities: Train-the-Trainer Dissemination Pilot Project (Tamar Heller, PhD, principal investigator; Beth Marks, RN, PhD, and James Rimmer, PhD, co-investigators)

With this pilot funding, these and other investigators conducted preliminary research that produced results published in 17 scholarly articles and led to $10.2 million in additional funding from federal, state and nonprofit agencies for further research.

For more information, contact:

Louise Martinez, MPH, Coordinator, Center for Research on Health and Aging
E-mail: lmarti5@uic.edu [3]
Phone: (312) 413-9831