Clinical Age Research Unit

The Clinical Age Research Unit is the research arm of the Department of Clinical Gerontology. Directed by Professor Stephen Jackson, the unit undertakes research in three main areas:

  • the clinical pharmacology and physiology of ageing
  • falls & bone health
  • cognitive ageing and dementia

Contact details
Professor Stephen Jackson, Director
Nuri Miah, Research Co-ordinator
Research Nurses and Fellows

telephone: 020 3299 3420
fax: 020 3299 3441.
Email: nurjahanmiah@nhs.net

Current research programmes

  • Prescribing in older patients. Development of prescribing indicators and use in hospital, primary care and nursing homes to enhance the quality of prescribing.
  • Investigation of the determinants of ageing investigating the older women in the Twins UK cohort.
  • Cognitive ageing, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. Development of functional imaging markers of MCI and Alzheimer’s disease, investigation of discordant cognitive ageing in twins.
  • Investigation of risk factors for falls in patients with dementia
  • Investigation of the pathophysiology of carotid sinus syndrome

Funding sources

  • Research into Ageing
  • The Wellcome Trust
  • NHS Research & Development
  • European Union Framework
    These four funding streams totalled £4 million over the last 7 years.

Commercial funding, which comes from the pharmaceutical industry, includes research funding and consultancy on strategy and trial design.

160 peer-reviewed publications were written by staff from the unit in the last 10 years.

Other activities

In addition to undertaking research, we also make use of our research facilities to undertake specialist investigation of patients referred by primary or secondary care. This includes dementia and cardiovascular investigations.

  • Tilt table investigation of patients undergoing investigation of unexplained falls/syncope
  • 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure measurement
  • Finger arterial BP measurements in patients who may have pseudohypertension
  • Neuropsychological assessments of patients with memory problems.

Publications

For further information, refer to our full listing of peer-reviewed publications.