University of Southern California

Redesigning Lives. The Future of Healthcare

Active Projects

Research Grants

Principal Investigator:  Olga Solomon
Amount Awarded:  $1,248,025
Project Period:  10/01/09 – 09/30/11
Title: Autism in urban context: Linking heterogeneity with health and service disparities
Agency: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Collaborators: Sharon Cermak, Mary Lawlor, Melissa Park, Marie Poulsen, Thomas Valente, Marian Williams, Larry Yin
Abstract:
This two year multi-method, ethnographic project examines health and service disparities in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) diagnosis of African American children living in Los Angeles. We are following a cohort of 16 African American children diagnosed with ASD, their primary caregivers and extended kin and social networks, and the practitioners who serve them, to document the families’ trajectories to an ASD diagnosis. The project is carried out at two study sites: USC University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles (USC UCEDD at CHLA) and San Gabriel/Pomona Regional center.  We examine heterogeneity in ASD in relation to three previously unexamined domains: 1) barriers to and opportunities for African American children receiving timely and accurate diagnosis and appropriate services; 2) patterns of communication among African American caregivers and practitioners during clinical encounters that are vital for developing partnership and that are vulnerable to misunderstanding; and 3) African American caregivers’ knowledge and expertise about ASDs and the social networks relevant to gathering information about existing evaluations, interventions and services. The results of this project will identify opportunities for and barriers to the development of collaboration among families and practitioners in a timely and efficient ASD diagnosis and interventions for African American children.

Principal Investigator: Florence Clark
Amount Awarded: $2,882,372
Project Period: 09/01/2008 – 07/31/2013
Title: Lifestyle Redesign for Pressure Ulcer Prevention in SCI
Agency:  National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Specific aim: To test a lifestyle intervention that promises to significantly reduce pressure ulcers in the population of adults with spinal cord injury.
Collaborators:
    USC Collaborators:  Stan Azen, Erna Blanche, Joel Hay, Jennifer Unger
    Rancho Los Amigos Collaborators:  Salah Rubayi, Michael Scott
Abstract:
Advanced pressure ulcers are a common and medically serious complication of spinal cord injury (SCI) and are associated with extremely high treatment costs and reduced quality of life.  However, preventive interventions that address this problem have received very little research attention.  To address this gap, we will investigate the efficacy of a promising lifestyle intervention designed to prevent pressure ulcers among at-risk members of the SCI population.  The resulting five-year study will involve collaboration between researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center (RLANRC), who have developed the intervention based on the results of a qualitative investigation of lifestyle and ulcer risk among adults with SCI.  The long-term objective of this project is to identify an intervention option that can enhance the health and life quality of the population of adults with SCI while simultaneously diminishing the heavy healthcare burden that results from the problem of SCI-related pressure ulcers.

Principal Investigator:  Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
Amount Awarded:  $162,500
Project Period:  09/01/09 – 06/30/11
Title: Neural Basis for the Production and Perception of Prosody
Agency: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Collaborators: Antonio Damasio and Hanna Damasio
Abstract:
Prosody, the melody and intonation of speech, is an extremely important and usually undervalued component of human communication.  A significant component of human social interactions depends on prosody.  This project is to explore the application of recent approaches and concepts in human brain mapping to the study of perception and production of prosody.  Elucidating the neural basis of prosody will make an important contribution to the neurobiology of non-verbal communication, and by extension, of social communication.  Furthermore, this research will improve the understanding of the communication deficits which result from brain injury, as well as the understanding of core deficits of socially isolating neurological and psychiatric disorders (such as stroke), traumatic head injury, and autism.

Principal Investigator:  Mary Lawlor
Amount Awarded:  $2,424,288
Project Period:  07/27/05 to 05/31/10
Title:  Boundary Crossings: Re-Situating Cultural Competence
Agency: NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Collaborators: Cheryl Mattingly, Lanita Jacobs-Huey
Abstract:
This 4 year longitudinal, urban, multimethod ethnographic study will examine cross cultural healthcare encounters. The study will identify, describe and situate how families contribute to the production of culturally responsive care and the strategies families and practitioners employ to establish commonality, bridge difference, and effectively “partner up.”  This is a continuation of Boundary Crossing: A Longitudinal and Ethnographic Study (R01 HD 38878, 2000-2004).  It builds upon research conducted with a cohort of African American children with special health care needs, their primary caregivers, extended family networks, and the practitioners who serve them.

Principal Investigator:  Florence Clark
Amount Awarded:  $2,280,668
Project Period:  5/1/04 to 4/30/10
Title:  Health Mediating Effects of the Well Elderly Program
Agency: NIH/NIA
Collaborators:
Abstract:
This research program addresses a major public health concern, the rapid growth of the older adult population, and with it expected increases in chronic disease and disability. Fortunately, lifestyle interventions have the ability to forestall such conditions. As early as 1993, the USC Well Elderly Research Group began conducting the first USC Well Elderly Study (R01 AG11810), a community-based RCT (n=361) which demonstrated that a preventative, activity-based occupational therapy intervention can cost-effectively slow down age-related declines and improve health in older adults.  The current trial, also a community-based RCT, went beyond efficacy to assess the effectiveness of the same intervention when transported across diverse community sites that primarily serve older individuals at high risk for health disparities.

Training Grants

Principal Investigator:  Diane Kellegrew
Amount Awarded: $800,000
Project Period:  09/01/08 to 8/31/2012
Title:  Training Occupational Therapy Specialists: Personnel Preparation to Serve Young Children with Disabilities
Agency:  U.S. Department of Education
Project Identification Number: H325K080306
Abstract:
The purpose of this project is to train 60 occupational therapy Master’s students (15 per year) of high academic quality to provide occupational therapy services for infants, toddlers and young children with disabilities and their families. The project design will be implemented in the culturally diverse and low-income communities and schools of inner city Los Angeles (same wording you used in budget). The project outcomes will be to 1) recruit entry-level occupational therapy students of high academic quality and from diverse backgrounds; 2) prepare occupational therapy students to provide evidence-based and culturally sensitive intervention for children with disabilities from birth to five years of age and their families; 3) assist to employ project graduates in settings that serve young children with disabilities; 4) institutionalize and disseminate the project outcomes to foster the specialized preparation needed for entry-level occupational therapists to serve infants, toddlers and young children with special needs throughout California and nationally.

This project represents the first of its kind in the USC Occupational Therapy program and in the State, as no California occupational therapy school offers a focus on services for children from birth to five years of age. USC has pledged substantial support for the project to include generous in-kind contributions of faculty time, allowing 77% of the funds to be dedicated to student support.

Contracts

Principal Investigator: Florence Clark
Amount Awarded:  $80,239
Project Period:  01/01/07 to 12/31/09
Title:  Development of Teaching Material in Support of SIPT
Agency: Western Psychological Services
Abstract:
Under this contract the USC Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy provides updates to the teaching materials for use in WPS’ continuing education program and provides administrative services related to the program.