The Center for Applied Health Research (CAHR) supports competitively funded investigator-initiated research to generate applied health knowledge across our health care system
Founded in 2010 under the guidance of Dr. Alejandro Arroliga, Chief Clinical Innovation Officer, Baylor Scott & White Health, we are a multidisciplinary, system-level research center within the Baylor Scott & White Research Institute (BSWRI) and serve as a collaborative for researchers, clinicians and community leaders who seek to improve health care delivery and health outcomes. The core value of CAHR is to support innovations that lead to improved outcomes and value of care for our patients and community. We are located in Temple and Dallas, Texas.
Research programs
CAHR's research programs include:
- Intervention development of community and family support programs for persons with dementia and their family caregivers
- Implementation science of evidence-based programs leading to innovations in care delivery
- Dissemination of evidence-based programs/practices for older adults from diverse settings
- Healthcare delivery implementation programs to address critical illness outside of the ICU
- Intervention development to support patients and families after critical illness
- Real-world clinical and economic evidence generation focused on drug therapy outcomes in ambulatory care
Aging and Dementia Care
Description: The research in this area involves family caregiving for person with dementia, translation of evidence-based interventions and transitional care
Program leader: Alan B. Stevens, PhD, FAPA, FGSA
Current projects
Comparative Effectiveness of Health System-based versus Community-based Dementia Care; Pragmatic Trial of the Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Dementia Care
This study compares three different approaches to managing persons with dementia and helping their caregivers. This pragmatic randomized trial is being conducted to determine the comparative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of two evidence-based models of comprehensive dementia care (Health Systems-based Dementia Care & Community-Based Dementia Care), as well as the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of both arms versus usual care. This is a multi-site clinical trial carried out at four sites-Baylor Scott & White Health (BSWH), University of Texas Medical Branch Health Care System, Wake Forest University, and Geisinger Health. UCLA is the prime site and Yale is the data coordinating center.
Project staff
Site coordinator
Sybila Godoy
Interventionists
Michele Matlock
Shannon Drew
Sara Kroloff
Research assistants
Breanne Collins
Amarine Ocloo
Donna Parker
** former D-CARE Staff members who contributed to the success of the project: Jordan Reese, Sitara Abraham, Sandhya Sanghi, Monica Shah, Ashley Vernon, Hannah Bartosh, Joseph Banda, Alexis Mack, Sophia Essiet, Taylor Roznos
Selected publications
- Reuben, D. B., Gill, T. M., Stevens, A.B., Williamson, J., Volpi, E., Lichtenstein, M., Jennings, L. A., Tan, Z., Evertson, L., Bass, D., Weitzman, L., Carnie, M., Wilson, N., Araujo, K., Charpentier, P., Meng, C., Greene, E. J., Dziura, J., Liu, J., Unger, E., … Abraham, S. D-CARE: The Dementia Care Study: Design of a Pragmatic Trial of the Effectiveness and Cost Effectiveness of Health System-Based Versus Community-Based Dementia Care Versus Usual Dementia Care. Journal of the American Geriatrics
- Reuben DB, Stevens AB, Gill TM, Williamson J, Volpi E, Lichtenstein ML, Jennings LA, Galloway R, Summapund J, Araujo K, Bass D, Weitzman L, Tan ZS, Evertson LC, Yang M, Green AS, Samper-Ternent R, Borek P, Xu Y, Peduzzi P, Greene EJ; D-CARE Study. Patient and Caregiver Outcomes of Health System, Community-Based, and Usual Dementia Care: A Prespecified Analysis of the Dementia Care Study (D-CARE) Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2025 Sep 2:e254247. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.4247. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40892399; PMCID: PMC12406143.
- Reuben DB, Gill TM, Stevens A, Williamson J, Volpi E, Lichtenstein M, Jennings LA, Galloway R, Summapund J, Araujo K, Bass D, Weitzman L, Tan ZS, Evertson L, Yang M, Currie K, Green AS, Godoy S, Abraham S, Reese J, Samper-Ternent R, Hirst RM, Borek P, Charpentier P, Meng C, Dziura J, Xu Y, Skokos EA, He Z, Aiudi S, Peduzzi P, Greene EJ; D-CARE Study. Health System, Community-Based, or Usual Dementia Care for Persons With Dementia and Caregivers: The D-CARE Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2025 Jan 29:e2425056. doi: 10.1001/jama.2024.25056. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39878968; PMCID: PMC11780506.
- Yang M, Samper-Ternent R, Volpi E, Green AN, Lichtenstein M, Araujo K, Borek P, Charpentier P, Dziura J, Gill TM, Galloway R, Greene EJ, Lenoir K, Peduzzi P, Meng C, Reese J, Shelton A, Skokos EA, Summapund J, Unger E, Reuben DB, Williamson JD, Stevens AB. The dementia care study (D-CARE): Recruitment strategies and demographic characteristics of participants in a pragmatic randomized trial of dementia care. Alzheimers Dement. 2024 Apr;20(4):2575-2588. doi: 10.1002/alz.13698. Epub 2024 Feb 15. PMID: 38358084; PMCID: PMC11032530.
Funders:
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)
Grant #: PCS-2017C1-6534, PAR-18-027
GamePlan4Care: Web-based Delivery System for REACH II
GamePlan4Care (GP4C) will adapt therapeutic components of an existing evidence-based intervention, Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health II (REACH II), and deliver them online by leveraging modern internet technology with integrated support from an interventionist (Dementia Care Specialist [DCS]) via telephone and video conferencing. The major goal of this project is to create an online family caregiver support system that would facilitate delivery of an evidence-based skills-training and support intervention for dementia caregivers, with the potential of both scalability and sustainability. Once the GP4C system is fully developed, a randomized control trial will be conducted to test the complete system against a control condition, Resources4Care (R4C). R4C will be similar to GP4C in system technical design but differ in system content, availability of skills training exercises tailored to the unique needs of the caregiver, and social support enhanced by online and telephone support from a DCS. The aims are to: 1) Advance the current proof-of-concept GP4C into a viable delivery system for the REACH II Intervention, and 2) Compare the relative impact of GP4C and R4C, both of which include access to a Dementia Care Specialist, on a wide range of family caregiver outcomes.
Project staff
Site coordinator
Jordan Reese
Interventionists
Donna Parker
Research assistants
Breann Collins
Publications:
- Stevens AB, Cho J, Birchfield T, Reese J, Han G, Thorud JL, Ory MG. A randomized trial of two online platforms for dementia family caregivers: GamePlan4Care and Resources4Care. Alzheimers Dement. 2025 Oct;21(10):e70690. doi: 10.1002/alz.70690. PMID: 41085219.
- Cho J, Birchfield T, Thorud JL, Ory MG, Stevens AB. GamePlan4Care, a Web-Based Adaptation of the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health II Intervention for Family Caregivers of Persons Living With Dementia: Formative, Qualitative Usability Testing Study. JMIR Form Res. 2025 Jul 11;9:e60143. doi: 10.2196/60143. PMID: 40654018; PMCID: PMC12274013.
Funders:
National Institutes on Aging (NIA)
Grant #: 5 R01 AG061973-05
Our team
Director
Alan B. Stevens, PhD, FAPA, FGSA
Director
Alan B. Stevens, PhD, FAPA, FGSA, holds the endowed Vernon D. Holleman-Lewis M. Rampy Centennial Chair in Gerontology at Baylor Scott & White Health (BSWH) and is the Director of the Center for Applied Health Research (CAHR), a system-level research center within the Baylor Scott & White Research Institute. As Director of CAHR, he promotes collaborative health research exploring the impact of innovative care models on population health within healthcare and community settings. Currently, he leads two research programs embedded in CAHR.
The Aging and Dementia Care program is focused on the establishment, translation, and implementation of evidence-based models of care for older adults and their family caregivers. Research studies engage healthcare systems and community organizations in the development and implementation of care programs that support meaningful outcomes for persons living with dementia and their family caregivers. Signature programs include REACH-TX (an evidence-based translation of the REACH II intervention) and the online version of REACH-TX, GamePlan4Care.
The Precision Medicine program of CAHR is focused on building a broad, representative cohort of participants within the NIH All of Us Research Program, NIH’s premier precision medicine research initiative. Additionally, he has collaborated extensively with clinical and research scientists within BSWH on a variety of healthcare sciences research and quality improvement projects and has mentored numerous post-doctoral fellows. Dr. Stevens currently serves as a primary mentor on a NIH/VA funded Career Development Award (CDA) to a Baylor College of Medicine faculty member.
To further translate applied health research into practice, Dr. Stevens has contributed to health policy at the local, regional, and national level. He recently completed an appointment to serve as a Co-Chair on the RAISE Family Caregiving Advisory Council (one of 15 non-federal, voting members). The Council provided Congress recommendations on effective models of family caregiving and support to family caregivers, and improved coordination across federal government programs in the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers. Additionally, Dr. Stevens has had appointments to Texas-based advisory boards including the Texas Institute of Health Care Quality and Efficiency, Texas Health Improvement Network, and Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium.