The Center on Aging at the University of Vermont has announced the winners of the 2016 Armin Grams Memorial Research Award.

The annual awards of $50,000, funds pilot research programs with the overall goal of increasing funded research on aging at the university, has gone to four researchers from the College of Medicine and UVM Medical Center. The two funded research projects and recipients are:

• "Frailty and Resilience in Older Adults with Advanced Kidney Disease." Katharine L. Cheung, MD, MSc, FRCPC and Virginia Hood, both from the Department of Medicine-Nephrology
• "Mobile Technology to Support Physical Therapy Exercise for People Aging with Arthritis." Nancy Gell and Barbara Tschoepe, both from the Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science

Armin Grams came to the University of Vermont in 1970 to establish the Human Development and Family Studies Program. Dr. Grams developed and taught several courses on gerontology and was instrumental in establishing the UVM Center for the Study of Aging. Grams retired from UVM in 1990 and died in 2002.

A Center for the Study of Aging was established at the University of Vermont in 1992 by action of the Board of Trustees. In 2008, Lois McClure announced her endowment of the newly named Center on Aging through a gift of $5 million. The mission of the Center on Aging is to forge an ongoing collaboration among faculty, students, staff and programs within the University of Vermont, Fletcher Allen Health Care, and the Vermont community to promote a sense of wellbeing and a high quality of life for older adults.