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Emily Ihara, PhD, MSW, FGSA

$3 million NIH grant funds national study of Medicare Advantage’s benefit expansion into social supports

Taylor Thomas — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 12:47:22 +0000

$3 million NIH grant funds national study of Medicare Advantage’s benefit expansion into social supports Taylor Thomas Thu, 02/26/2026 - 07:47

Today, more than half of older Americans receive their Medicare coverage through private Medicare Advantage plans. In 2020, that program made a sweeping policy shift, allowing those plans to offer supplemental benefits beyond traditional medical care, including groceries, meal deliveries, utilities, transportation, pest control, and air filters.

Jeah Jung, professor in the Department of Health Administration and Policy. Photo provided

Now, with an approximately $3 million R01 grant from the National Institute on Aging, 911�� health economist Jeah Jung will lead a national study to evaluate whether those benefits reduce adverse health events and improve functional outcomes.

“Health-related social needs, such as food security, housing quality, reliable transportation, and social support, are increasingly recognized as important contributors to individuals’ health,” said Jung, a professor in the Department of Health Administration and Policy. Despite the wide rollout of the new initiative to meet those needs, she said, “there is currently no information or evidence of how many people are using it, how they’re using it, and whether it’s actually bringing the intended outcomes.”

As of 2025, 55% of Medicare beneficiaries, or 34.4 million Americans, were enrolled in Medicare Advantage, the private alternative to traditional Medicare. According to Jung’s data analysis, more than 30% of Medicare Advantage plans adopted non-medical supplemental benefits by 2025. Meanwhile, she found that more than 90% of dual-eligible special needs plans—serving low-income beneficiaries enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid—adopted the benefits.

“This is a really large-scale initiative by Medicare to address unmet social needs and see whether that helps maintain and improve beneficiaries’ health outcomes as well,” Jung said. “With an investment of this size, we want to see evidence on how it’s working and who it’s reaching so the policy can be refined in the future.”

Using secure Medicare administrative data, Jung’s five-year project will examine whether the availability of non-medical benefits is associated with changes in emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and whether patient can remain in their homes and communities rather than enter nursing homes. The study will also analyze who uses the new benefits, and whether uptake differs by demographics, such as race, ethnicity, sex, health risks, and area-level socioeconomic factors.

The project will also include contributions from Emily Ihara, professor and chair of the Department of Social Work in the College of Public Health. Researchers from Oregon Health and Science University and Dartmouth College are serving as co-investigators.

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Jeah Jung, PhD, MPH

Key Takeaways

A $3 million National Institute on Aging grant will fund a national study of Medicare Advantage’s benefit expansion into social supports such as food assistance, transportation, and other non-medical benefits.
Led by 911�� health economist Jeah Jung, the five-year study will use Medicare administrative data to examine whether these benefits reduce emergency visits, hospitalizations, and nursing home entry.
The findings will provide national evidence on who is using these benefits and whether this large-scale federal effort is working as intended.

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The full study can be seen at this webpage.

Poverty vs. Wealth: New Study Shows Biggest Buyers and Sellers of Illicit Kidneys

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:55:50 +0000

Poverty vs. Wealth: New Study Shows Biggest Buyers and Sellers of Illicit Kidneys Andrew J Schappert Wed, 02/25/2026 - 12:55

The study created a map of countries playing significant roles in the buying and selling of illicit kidneys.

An international team of researchers from 911��, Harvard University, and the University of Tokyo have used artificial intelligence to map the global underground market for illegal kidney transplants, finding that the United States consistently ranks among the world’s largest illicit importers.

The Schar School’s Naoru Koizumi led the international team that studied the illicit kidney trade.

The study, led by Naoru Koizumi, a professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government, and Schar School colleagues Olzhas Zhorayev, Zifu Wang, and Meng-Hao Li, as well as Chaowei Yang, a professor in the Department of Geography and Geoinformation Science in the College of Science.

The study appears in the International Journal of Health Geographics.

Illegal organ trafficking is widely viewed by health experts as a major but poorly measured global crisis. More than 840 million people worldwide live with chronic kidney disease, and demand for transplants far exceeds supply. On average, only about 13.5 kidney transplants occur for every 255 patients who need one, according to the study. Long waiting times—sometimes up to five years—contribute to roughly seven percent of patients dying or leaving transplant lists annually.

To better understand the hidden market, the researchers analyzed more than 50,000 news articles published over 23 years. Using large language models and retrieval-augmented generation, they built what they describe as the first global, geospatial database of illegal kidney trafficking. The system identifies reported cases and assigns roles such as seller, buyer, broker and surgery location, while also tracing financial flows.

Their analysis reveals a stark global pattern. Kidney sellers most often come from lower-income or vulnerable countries including India, China, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Buyers, by contrast, are concentrated in wealthier nations—notably Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany.

Illegal transplant surgeries most frequently occur in India, Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Thailand, and Egypt, the researchers found. Brokers often operate in the same countries as sellers but also appear commonly in Western countries.

The network is fluid: About half of the countries playing major roles shift each decade due to factors such as conflict, legal changes, enforcement intensity, and corruption. One pattern, however, has remained consistent: Over the past two decades, the United States has stayed among the top three illicit kidney buyer countries, accounting for more than 7% of documented cases.

Unlike some countries that rely on narrow supply channels, U.S.-linked cases connect to a wide range of supplier nations, including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and India—a pattern the researchers say points to structural demand pressures within wealthy health systems.

Financial data extracted in the study underscore the imbalance in the illicit market. Buyers typically pay between $50,000 and $120,000 for a kidney, while sellers often receive less than 10% of that amount. Most profits flow to brokers and organizers.

The authors say the new database enables systematic cross-country analysis that was previously impossible because evidence was fragmented and often limited to small regional studies. Future research will examine how illegal kidney prices and trafficking patterns relate to income levels, inequality, legal frameworks, and health care access.

More broadly, the researchers argue their work demonstrates how artificial intelligence can expose hidden global systems by converting scattered media reports into structured data. They say the findings could help policymakers target enforcement, strengthen international cooperation and better protect vulnerable populations.

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Printing play: A path forward for children with prosthetics

Nathan Kahl — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 13:32:50 +0000

Printing play: A path forward for children with prosthetics Nathan Kahl Thu, 01/15/2026 - 08:32

A child who uses a lower-limb prosthesis faces unique challenges when it comes to activities most children take for granted, such as running and being active. Without access to a prosthetic device designed to support these movements, children may miss out not only on the simple joys of play, but also on critical opportunities for physical development during key stages of growth.

Quentin Sanders. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

911�� researcher Quentin Sanders is part of a collaborative research team working to make high-performance prosthetic limbs more affordable, accessible, and better tailored to the needs of active children. Sanders, along with Jonathon Schofield, an associate professor at the University of California, Davis, and Garrett Melenka, an associate professor at York University, received a three-year, $500K grant from the National Science Foundation to support the project, which began in September 2025.

Most standard foot or leg prostheses are built for basic walking, not for the kind of active movement that helps children develop strength, balance, and coordination, the benefits that come from running and jumping with friends.

“This limitation can be especially challenging for children,” said Sanders, who has a joint appointment in the Department of Bioengineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “Kids want to run and play. When they can’t, they’re more likely to avoid physical activities, such as sports, or even stop using their prosthesis altogether.”

A 3D-printed running blade prototype, created using the technique Sanders and his colleagues are developing. Photo provided

Often seen in competitive events such as the Paralympic Games, running blades are curved, spring-like prosthetic feet made from carbon fiber that mimic the energy return of a biological foot. While these devices offer an alternative option to standard leg prostheses and can enable children to run, they are expensive and often inaccessible. A single running blade can cost several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars and is typically not covered by insurance because it is considered nonessential, rather than medically necessary.

Some charitable organizations help families access these devices, but demand far exceeds supply, and for growing children, one blade is rarely enough. “Kids grow quickly,” said Sanders. “As they get taller, they outgrow their prostheses, which means going through multiple blades over time.”

The research team has several goals, starting with identifying what children truly need from an activity-enabling prosthesis. The researchers are examining how motivation to be active, physical growth, and different types of movement influence prosthetic performance in everyday settings. “What do you use it for? What don’t you use it for? What do you wish you could do?” said Sanders.

The team is also analyzing how children move while using their current running blades, studying activities such as running, jumping, and changing direction to better understand the biomechanics and physical demands involved.

Finally, the team will take a close look at how today’s running blades perform under real-world demands. “We want to understand how stiff they are, how much load they can handle, and when they might fail,” said Sanders. “We can then combine that information with what kids tell us they want to do and use it to guide our 3D printing process—creating blades that are better suited for active play.”

Sanders and his collaborators are using an advanced additive manufacturing approach known as continuous-fiber 3D printing, in which carbon fibers are embedded within the printed plastic to reinforce the prosthetic structure. This method enables the creation of strong, lightweight devices that can be tailored to a child’s size, growth, and activity needs.

“By combining manufacturing, composite materials, prosthetics, design, and biomechanics, this project provides an innovative and holistic solution,” said Melenka.

The technique is already used to produce strong, lightweight components in the aerospace and automotive industries, but it has seen limited adoption in prosthetic design. This project represents one of the first efforts to apply it systematically to activity-enabling prostheses for children.

“What’s most exciting about this project is the collaboration across institutes, disciplines, and areas of expertise,” said Schofield. “We are bringing together researchers in movement mechanics, advanced materials manufacturing, and pediatric lower-limb prosthetic care. We are also incorporating the lived experience of children and families, along with clinicians who work with these patients every day.”

The work also has the potential for industry disruption, according to Sanders. “If we can show that a child’s physical measurements and movement needs can be translated into a digital model and then used to 3D print a customized prosthesis, existing prosthetic manufacturers would begin to integrate this approach into their production pipelines.”

For Sanders, the motivation goes beyond technical innovation. “I’ve always been interested in translating new technologies into real-world solutions,” he said. “Helping people with disabilities and impairments is why I got into this field in the first place.”

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911�� leads phase 2 clinical trial for pill to help maintain weight loss after GLP-1s

Taylor Thomas — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 15:52:49 +0000

911�� leads phase 2 clinical trial for pill to help maintain weight loss after GLP-1s Taylor Thomas Fri, 01/09/2026 - 10:52

GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy have transformed obesity treatment, but maintaining weight loss after the medications stop remains a challenge. 911�� is leading a new clinical trial that may help people sustain their results.

The university is one of six research sites across the United States administering a Phase 2 clinical trial of ARD-201, a novel weight-maintenance drug developed by Aardvark Therapeutics that works differently from existing obesity medications. Unlike injectable medications that drive significant short-term weight loss, ARD-201 is being studied for its potential role in appetite regulation and weight maintenance after injectable therapy ends. The oral medication works by activating the bitter taste receptors in the gut and brain without creating an actual bitter taste, signaling the body to eat less.

Lawrence Cheskin. Photo by Emma Anderson.

“It’s almost a survival instinct,” said Lawrence Cheskin, obesity researcher, professor, and past chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, which is leading the 911�� research site for the trial. “When something tastes bitter, the body assumes there may be a toxin, so you back off.”

By subtly triggering that signal, the drug appears to reduce appetite without the dramatic effects associated with injectable medications. “This isn’t going to cause large weight loss on its own,” Cheskin said. “The question is whether it can help people keep weight off.”

The trial will enroll adults who previously lost weight using injectable medications and have since stopped them. Researchers will track how much weight participants regain over time and compare outcomes with published data showing typical patterns of weight regain after injectables are ceased. The study is an open-label Phase 2 trial, meaning participants know they are receiving the drug, and there is no placebo comparison group.

Earlier research helped lay the groundwork for the current study. A closely related compound, ARD-101, was previously tested for treating Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic condition marked by extreme, chronic hunger. ARD-201 is now under investigation as an oral therapy for broader obesity and weight-management use.

911�� was selected as a trial site based on its longstanding expertise in obesity research and clinical weight management, according to Cheskin. If results from this Phase 2 study are promising, they could inform larger, randomized trials to more rigorously test the drug’s effectiveness for long-term weight maintenance.

Thumbnail photo by David Trinks via Unsplash.

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Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD

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$3 million National Institute on Aging grant will provide much-needed support to underserved dementia caregivers

Taylor Thomas — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 13:11:07 +0000

$3 million National Institute on Aging grant will provide much-needed support to underserved dementia caregivers Taylor Thomas Wed, 10/15/2025 - 09:11

More than 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), supported by 12 million unpaid family caregivers whose contributions are valued at $413 billion annually. As the U.S. population continues to age, the number of people with dementia and their caregivers will nearly triple by 2050. Innovative solutions to support family caregivers are urgently needed.

Y. Alicia Hong. Photo provided.

Now, with a $3 million R01 grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), 911�� digital health intervention researcher Y. Alicia Hong is poised to change that. Hong led an interdisciplinary team to develop the Wellness Enhancement for Caregivers (WECARE) as a culturally tailored, digital health intervention to enhance caregiving skills and improve the well-being of dementia caregivers. The new grant will allow her team to further refine WECARE using artificial intelligence (AI) and evaluate it with a randomized controlled trial.

“WECARE is one of the first personalized digital interventions for dementia caregivers,” said Hong, a professor in the College of Public Health's Department of Health Administration and Policy. "Though it is designed for Chinese American dementia caregivers, it can be adapted for other groups and serve the growing demand for digital support for dementia caregivers in an aging society

The seven-week program will provide participants with informational ADRD multimedia content, quiz games, social networking with other caregivers, personalized feedback, and additional individualized resources. WECARE’s success will be evaluated by measuring the depressive symptoms reported by participants. The project also intends to identify barriers to and facilitators of WECARE’s adoption and long-term use.

This resource comes at a critical time as the aging population grows, and more people with ADRD require caregivers. Additionally, most family caregivers have chronic conditions due to prolonged and intensive dementia caregiving, causing an increased need for resources that sustain the health of family caregivers.

Hong’s grant titled “WECARE: A Personalized Intervention for Underserved Chinese American Dementia Caregivers” will take place from September 2025 to August 2030, for a total of $3,088,427. WECARE is directly responsive to NIA’s priority of effective interventions for ADRD-affected populations.

Hong studies the intersection of health services delivery and consumer informatics. Her work explores chronic care and self-care solutions through innovative digital technologies to improve patient-centered outcomes and enhance health care accessibility. Hong’s research focuses on implementation and dissemination science and leveraging digital technologies to enhance health services delivery.

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911�� researchers awarded $4.65 million NIH grant to explore chronic knee pain

ckearney — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 21:31:42 +0000

911�� researchers awarded $4.65 million NIH grant to explore chronic knee pain ckearney Tue, 09/30/2025 - 17:31

For millions of Americans, chronic musculoskeletal pain is a daily reality that makes even simple activities like walking across a room, playing with grandchildren, or just getting through a workday feel daunting. At 911��, researchers at the Center for Advancing Systems Science and Bioengineering Innovation (CASSBI) are leading a new $4.65 million National Institutes of Health-funded R01 study to better understand what shapes those experiences, and how to improve care.

Photo by Getty Images

“Like many people all over the world, I have known close family members living with unexplained chronic pain,” said the project’s lead investigator Siddhartha Sikdar, professor of bioengineering and director of CASSBI. “I have seen firsthand how frustrating it can be to navigate a disjointed health care system that often does not prioritize patient voices. That’s why I’m so excited about this project. It prioritizes understanding each person’s lived experience of pain, so we can come up with better guidelines for personalized management of chronic pain.”

Chronic musculoskeletal pain is one of the world’s most common—and least understood—health conditions. It refers to ongoing pain in soft tissues of the neck, shoulders, back, hips, arms, or legs. Lower back and knee pain are leading causes of disability worldwide, disrupting work, family life, and well-being.

Despite its prevalence, the condition is poorly understood. Pain perception is difficult to measure, and each individual’s experience of chronic pain is unique. Findings on currently available diagnostic tests paint an incomplete, and sometimes misleading, picture of the underlying problems. Too often, people with chronic musculoskeletal pain encounter fragmented care, misdiagnoses, or treatments that are expensive, invasive, and ineffective. Many report feeling dismissed or unheard.

The research team will work to solve this problem by studying how physical, biological, emotional, and social factors come together to shape the daily experience of living with chronic knee pain. They will look at whether analyzing multiple symptoms over time can help identify important turning points in a person’s pain journey, and how each individual’s particular mix of stress, biology, and movement plays a role in achieving maximal potential for function.

Siddhartha Sikdar. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding.

Over the next four years, the team will recruit participants with chronic knee pain who are receiving treatment at Optimal Motion, a community-based physical therapy clinic. For one year, participants will be followed closely, with data collected every three months on their biomechanics, physical function, biological health, and psychosocial well-being. A smartphone app will also allow participants to share daily reflections, giving researchers an unprecedented look into the lived experience of chronic pain.

“Chronic pain is not just about an abnormal finding in a single body part,” Sikdar explained. “It’s an individual, day-to-day experience that cuts across physical, emotional, and social dimensions.”

Improving chronic pain management without overreliance on opioids and other medications with harmful side effects is a critical priority for addressing the ongoing public health crisis of opioid and other medication misuse, addiction, and overdose in America. Better understanding the factors that shape pain could lead to more effective personalized care and help reduce the devastating ripple effects of medication misuse and addiction.

This study is different from traditional pain research in three important ways. First, it uses a whole person focus. Instead of viewing knee pain only as a local problem in the joint, the team is taking a holistic approach that considers the entire person and the many factors influencing their pain. Second, it puts patient voices at the center. By using advances in large language models, researchers will analyze patient narratives, stories, and reflections, capturing rich perspectives often overlooked by conventional assessments. Third, it will track change over time. Rather than relying only on one-time snapshots, the study will follow patients’ pain experiences as they shift from day to day and month to month.

The interdisciplinary project will involve medical scientists, community-based medical professionals, engineers, data scientists, neuroscientists, and CASSBI’s chronic pain advisory board of patient advocates and community-based practitioners. 911�� faculty collaborators include:

Kevin Lybarger, assistant professor, Department of Information Sciences and Technology, College of Engineering and Computing (expertise: artificial intelligence, natural language processing)
Secili DeStefano, adjunct faculty, Department of Health Administration and Policy, College of Public Health (expertise: physical therapy)
William Rosenberger, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Statistics, College of Engineering and Computing (expertise: statistics)
Seiyon (Ben) Lee, assistant professor, Department of Statistics, College of Engineering and Computing (expertise: statistical modeling of complex data)
Samuel Acuña, research assistant professor, Institute for Digital Innovation, Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Impact (expertise: rehabilitation engineering, human-centered product design)
Cameron Nowzari, associate professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing (expertise: robotics)
Lynn Gerber, MD, professor emerita, medical doctor, Inova Center for Integrated Research (expertise: rheumatology, internal medicine, rehabilitation)

The team is also partnering with the University of Wisconsin–Madison and community-based providers such as Optimal Motion.

The project supports NIH’s interest in advancing the understanding of individual differences in pain with a whole person approach to personalized medicine. It also aligns closely with CASSBI’s mission to bring together scientists, engineers, health care professionals, and community members to drive real-world medical innovation.

For more than a decade, 911�� researchers at CASSBI have been working across disciplines to better understand chronic pain and this new study builds on that legacy with fresh tools, new partnerships, and functional outcomes that reflect wha patients have expressed is important to them .

“Pain is a uniquely personal perception and experience,” said Sikdar. “Our goal is to listen more closely, understand more fully, and translate those insights into better care guidelines and treatments. Ultimately, it’s about helping people get back to living their lives.”

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