Q: Can you share a bit about your personal and professional background?

“I’ve worked in a health maintenance organization. I’ve worked in hospitals, including a hospital affiliated with a university. I’ve worked also in a tech company. So, [I have had] a broad range of experiences. Regardless, my focus has consistently been, ‘How do I improve the experience of the patient, the family and also the provider’?”


Q: What was your motivation to join the Older Adult Research Specialist (OARS) program? What was your experience like?

“My background provided me with [knowledge of] how challenging people find the maze of healthcare options and the language that's so challenging, and their own level of assets that make them pick one option versus another.”

Interested in research, Davis connected with Dr. Kathryn Nearing. Davis later completed the OARS training in Spring 2022 and subsequently joined the OARS consult service.

Q: What work are you currently doing as an Older Adult Research Specialist?

With the OARS consult team, Davis applies her knowledge of patient experience principles to help researchers design studies to consider participants’ motivations and needs. A major part of Davis’s work in the consult service involves health literacy.

“We work with researchers to make the language they are using more relevant to the people who might read the material or who might be interested in participating in the research. We work on making the information more relevant and more easily accessible.”

Q: What do you think older adults should know about participating in clinical trials and research?

“Very little of the clinical research is done on older adults. It's a limited percentage, and yet, older adults consume most of the healthcare services. The researchers and clinicians often extrapolate the research results done on a younger person to an older person, but the older person might not metabolize the drugs in the same way as a younger person. Their bodies might not react in the same way. They may be taking multiple drugs.

"It’s really important that older adults understand that for them to get the best care they need to participate in research. By doing so, they will ultimately get the best and safest care because it has been previously tried and tested on older adults."

Interested in the Consult Service? Want to submit a request?
Contact: olderadultresearch@cuanschutz.edu