My research focuses on developing and testing interventions to restore function and minimize disability following acute disabling events and to prevent declines related to serious chronic diseases. In addition, my work aims to advance our understanding of the mechanisms by which exercise and rehabilitation interventions directed at specific impairments affect body systems and tissues. My passion is also to train the next generation of investigators who will further the understanding of the aging process and develop interventions that help promote health and independence in older adults with disabling medical conditions. My work aligns well with the mission of Rehabilitation Research & Development (RR&D) and renewal of this Senior Research Career Scientist Award will allow me to continue this path. My entire career has been within the VA Maryland Health Care System with my first VA Merit awarded in 2001 Clinical Science Research & Development (CSR&D) and appointment as a VA Research Scientist, receipt of a NIH RO1 in 2001, and award of the Research Career Scientist (RCS) within CSR&D in 2004. During the first 5-years of the RCS, I was awarded a second VA Merit (CSR&D), a second NIH/RO1, and played an integral role in the receipt of three center grants where I was PI or co-investigator on research cores. During years 5-10 of the RCS, I obtained a third VA Merit (RR&D), a Merit Pilot Award (RR&D), was a co-investigator on four VA Merit Awards (CSR&D and RR&D), five NIH RO1 grants, two NIH-R awards, and led cores in three center grants. I was awarded a fourth VA Merit (RR&D) in 2015. During the SRCS which began in 2015, I was awarded a VA SPiRE (RR&D) in 2018, and fifth and sixth VA Merit Awards in 2019 and 2020 in RR&D and CSR&D, respectively. I was also awarded or a co-investigator on multiple NIH projects during this past cycle. I will be MPI in the renewal of the University of Maryland (UM) Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC). My research career has thrived in this enriched research environment in collaboration with Veterans Affairs and University of Maryland M.D. and Ph.D. investigators. My leadership, independence, collegial attitude and collaborative nature serve to promote innovative patient-oriented research in preventive medicine, exercise rehabilitation, nutrition and aging in the VA Research Service, Baltimore GRECC, UM-OAIC, the Division of Gerontology and Palliative Medicine and in the past for the VA RR&D Center of Excellence, Exercise and Robotics in Neurological Disease and the Mid-Atlantic Nutrition and Obesity Research Center. I have enjoyed more recent opportunities to conduct multi-site clinical trials which further strengthen and expand the science in our goals to maximize independence in aging Veterans. I hold leadership positions within the Geriatrics, Research, Education & Clinical Centers (GRECC), have been a long-standing member of local VA committees (R&D and SRS), am a 13-year member of the Medicine Appointment, Promotions, Tenure (APT) Committee at UM, and have a continuous track record as member and chair of VA and NIH review panels. In my leadership positions, I promote and assist investigators in combined exercise and rehabilitation medicine interventions to examine changes in the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems and the link to function and mobility. Further, I have a successful history of training of junior scientists in becoming independent academic careers in exercise and rehabilitation science as a primary mentor of numerous postdoctoral fellows and upon receipt of their VA CDA or NIH K-Award. My commitment and joy in mentoring medical students, fellows and junior investigators in rehabilitation research continues to grow. I am indeed fortunate to have collaborators which cross so many disciplines including gerontology, exercise physiology, infectious disease, neurology, oncology, physical therapy, vascular surgery, radiology, pulmonology, and rheumatology. I am honored to have received the Senior Research Career Scientist and greatly appreciate the opportunity to renew this prestigious award.

In the aging Veteran population, the prevalence of acute disabling events and chronic diseases will continue to escalate. Dr. Ryan’s ongoing research tests interventions to improve the health in aging Veterans after stroke and in those with diseases and comorbidities including obesity, HIV, and cancer. Her work develops exercise rehabilitation strategies to improve cardiorespiratory fitness and strength and reduce sarcopenia by providing new information to guide risk reduction and potential rehabilitative strategies in older Veterans. She also designs creative rehabilitative mechanistic research translating findings from the bedside to understanding basic mechanisms underlying disability at the cellular and molecular level. Dr. Ryan’s research, leadership, service, and mentoring combine to enhance the independence of aging Veterans.