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IUPUI

Kathleen Unroe

Department of Medicine

Expert Bio

Dr. Kathleen Unroe is a geriatrician, nursing home physician, associate professor of medicine at Indiana University and scientist in the Center for Aging Research at the Regenstrief Institute. Her focus is improving the quality of care in nursing homes, including the optimal use of palliative care and hospice in long-term-care settings.

She is co-PI of UPLIFT, a clinical trial of a robust palliative care model in nursing homes in Indiana and Maryland, funded in June 2020. She is the PI and project director for the $30.3 million CMS-funded clinical and payment demonstration project OPTIMISTIC — Optimizing Patient Transfers, Impacting Medical Quality, and Improving Symptoms: Transforming Institutional Care.

Unroe is the CEO and founder of Probari, a health care startup to disseminate the OPTIMISTIC clinical care model. She is co-PI of an NIA R21/R33 pragmatic clinical trial to improve advance care planning in nursing homes through the implementation of an ACP Specialist program, with a recently funded NIA bioethics supplement. Her NIH-funded Beeson K23 work focused on examining the use of hospice services in the nursing home.

Areas of Expertise

Nursing homes, older adults, geriatrics, palliative care, entrepreneurship.

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