A team of investigators co-led by Assistant Professor Julia Sheffler, Ph.D., has been awarded a $50,000 Clinical Catalyst Award from the Office of the Vice President for Research in support of a new initiative aimed at improving nutrition-based care for older adults.

The funded project, “Building a New Care Pathway: ICAN-Guided Nutrition Support for Aging Adults in Clinical Settings,” addresses a key gap in geriatric care by expanding evidence-based nutrition education and support for high-risk older populations. The project will evaluate the feasibility of adapting Sheffler’s Improving Cognitive Aging through Nutrition (ICAN) program for implementation within clinical workflows at the Nancy Van Vessem Center for Healthy Aging.

The interdisciplinary team includes Assistant Professors Andrea Lobene, Ph.D., Joseph Watso, Ph.D., and Kyle Smith, Ph.D., from the FSU Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, who will collaborate to assess how the ICAN program influences patient health outcomes and care delivery. The project also emphasizes a team science approach to evaluating nutrition intervention in real-world clinical settings.

Sheffler and colleagues acknowledge their clinical collaboration with Primary Care Provider Cielo Rose, D.O., of Capital Health Plan, whose expertise strengthens efforts to integrate lifestyle medicine into geriatric care. This partnership has been instrumental in bridging clinical practice with research priorities in aging health.