The Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative, funded through a generous donation from Chancellor Suzanne Labarge, has awarded funding to six new projects for the coming year. The projects are aligned with the theme of “mitigating risk, maximizing resilience” with a particular focus on mobility and knowledge translation, and raise the total to 25 supported projects.

The six new projects are:

• Evaluating the impact of the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal on knowledge, behavioural intentions and health behaviours related to physical mobility ($63,124 over two years; Maureen Dobbins, Sarah Neil-Sztramko, Julie Richardson, Jenna Smith, Susannah Watson)
• Optimal Prescribing to Enhance Mobility Among Seniors: A GeriMedRisk-TAPERMD collaboration ($81,500 for one year; Joanne Ho, Dee Mangin, Andrew Costa, Gordon Guyatt, Anne Holbrook, Reza Mirza, Julie Richardson, Justin Lee, Lehana Thabane, Kristina Frizzle)
• Co-design and production of a user-optimized communication toolbox for delivering research evidence to older adults ($65,000 for one year; Alfonso Iorio, Rebecca Ganann, Stephen J. Gentles, Ruta Valaitis, Cynthia Lokker)
• DANcing for Cognition & Exercise (DANCE) Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial ($75,000 for one year; Alexandra Papaioannou, Courtney Kennedy, George Ioannidis, Richard Sztramko, Dafna Merom, Laurel Trainor, Matthew Woolhouse, Sharon Marr, Christopher Patterson, Amanda Grenier)
• Staying mobile: age-related enhancement of multisensory integration ($40,000 for one year; Martin von Mohrenschildt, Judith M Shedden)
• Improving confidence and behind-the-wheel skills: Evaluating the feasibility of an older driver-health promotion intervention to optimize safe mobility ($66,445 over two years; Brenda Vrkljan, Jessica Gish, Lauren Griffith)

In addition to these new projects, there are two initiatives entering their second year of funding in 2017:

• TAPER-F: Team Approach to Polypharmacy Evaluation and Reduction ($74,980 over two years; Dee Mangin, Lisa Dolovich, Gina Agarwal, Anne Holbrook, Henry Siu, Cathy Risdon, Julie Richardson, James Gillett, Mat Savelli, James McCormack, Daria O’Reilly, Kiska Colwill, Jane Jurcic, Scott Garrison, Barbara Farrell, Peter Gøtzsche, Johanna Trimble, Alan Cassels, William Brown)
• Preventing hip fractures in the elderly by mapping subject-specific finite element models ($74,956 over two years; Cheryl E. Quenneville)

The Initiative has also created a robust strategy for knowledge translation, including the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal (http://www.mcmasteroptimalaging.org/), which was launched in 2014. The Portal offers the power of direct access to the world’s most trusted, evidence-based scientific information about optimal aging and the management of health conditions experienced by older adults. The work of the Portal team is complemented by the events and outreach coordinated through the McMaster Health Forum (http://www.mcmasterhealthforum.org/home) with a focus on optimal aging (http://www.mcmasterhealthforum.org/citizens/public-events/optimal-aging).

Further information about the Labarge Initiative and the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal is available at the Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative website (http://optimalaging.mcmaster.ca/).