Todd Manini, Ph.D.

Since the start of my career, I’ve pursued contributing knowledge on a gerontological understanding of mobility deficits during the aging process and impact resulting from health events in late-life. I have a wealth of experience conducting both observational studies and clinical trials involving frail and low functioning older adults (minority and non-minority) that will support the organization, administration, planning, compliance, standardization, documentation, monitoring and reporting activities in the current study. As an added asset, I am or have been a key part of several consortia that involve behavioral modifications (UO1 AG022376, U01 AG048270), medication/neutriceutical (U01 AG050499), and body composition (U01 AG15013) studies that overlap operational and scientific elements of the current work. I am also actively leading or have led numerous government-sponsored studies that have strong connections to the ROAMM infrastructure (SBIR 261201500014C, R21 AG031974, UO1 AG022376, U01 AG050499, and R01 HL121023). I feel well qualified and I’m excited to undertake the responsibilities of being a co-investigator on this important study.

I currently serve as the Co-Director of the University of Florida’s Claude D. Pepper Older American’s Independence Center (OAIC) and the Director of the T32 Translational Research on Aging and Mobility (TRAM – T32 AG062728) program. I serve as a Professor and Division Chief of Clinical and Population Health Integration in The Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics. Lastly, I am the Co-Leader of the Data Science and Applied Technology Core of the UF OAIC. In these roles, I lead an interdisciplinary team of investigators, staff and trainees. I currently lead both clinical trials and observational studies involving cognitive and physical impairments in older adults. In these studies, besides conducting rigorous science, I manage staff, oversee the finances, ensure regulatory compliance, monitor measurement standardization, and report data and safety information for these programs. I involve trainees at all levels for them to gain an appreciation of not just the science methods, but the overall operations of managing a complex primary data collection research program. I also preach rigorous data collection procedures and transparency throughout the scientific process. As an added asset, I am or was a key part of several consortia that involve behavioral modifications (UO1 AG022376, U01 AG048270), medication/nutraceutical (U01 AG050499), body composition (U01 AG15013) studies that encompass both operational and scientific elements that are matched to career development goals. My collaborative nature and diverse experiences have prepared me well to closely integrate with the team while being conscience of timely deliverables.

I’ve mentored or coached 42 men and women at various stages of their careers (post-doctoral fellows, pre-doctoral students and faculty). I also currently serve as a co-primary mentor and co-mentor of post-doctoral fellows in the T32 TRAM program in which I am Principal Investigator. In the past 5 years, I’ve served as the primary mentor of six post-doctoral fellows, one of which remain an active part of our research team. I’ve served as the primary or co-primary mentor for six doctoral students, five of which have subsequently gone on to either tenure-track faculty positions or post-doctoral positions. Of note, one of my recent doctoral students was accepted at John’s Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and was recently promoted to a faculty position in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Another formal doctoral student, who worked as part of our core, is currently employed at Google’s research and development team. My goal for these advanced scientists is to train and instill the Gerontological philosophies— preservation of function in conjunction with chronic disease management— to a variety of researchers and practitioners in health-related disciplines. As such, I mentor them on how to incorporate gerontology and geriatrics measures into their domain.

0000-0002-5970-4462