Geriatrician Thomas Cudjoe studies social isolation and its effects on older adults, devoting his clinical practice and research time to improving their quality of life. His research examines older adults’ social connections and how isolation can harm their well-being and health outcomes, from functional limitations to cognitive status.

Cudjoe, associate professor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology and holder of the Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Endowed Professorship, developed an interest in the detrimental effects of social isolation, while conducting in-home visits for patients who were too frail or had too many complex needs to travel to a clinic.

He and his team found that 1 in 4 community-dwelling older adults are socially isolated. Addressing this isolation, he says, has the potential to protect people from physical and cognitive health issues.

Cudjoe, a Caryl & George Bernstein Center for Innovative Medicine/Human Aging Project scholar, is working with community partners to understand and support social connections and health among older adults living in congregate subsidized housing communities.

“One of the key parts of my work is focused on social connections and working with older adults to develop solutions that we hope to deploy in this population,” he says.

One such study involves CAPABLE, a program pioneered by a team led by Sarah Szanton, dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, and now available in multiple states. CAPABLE (Community Aging in Place Advancing Better Living for Elders) is an intervention designed to help older adults remain in their homes despite limitations in function. It works by coordinating the work of an occupational therapist, a registered nurse and a handyperson, who can set up an individual’s living space in ways that promote autonomy and safety. Crucially, this work is directed by each person’s specific goals.

“We’re about to start a phase of a study that examines the impact of CAPABLE for our patients who are receiving care via the Johns Hopkins in-home primary care program (JHOME),” Cudjoe explains. “We’re also advancing the science by trying to understand the impact of CAPABLE on both the physical and social functioning of a group of frail individuals.”

This research has the potential to reach and help a meaningful portion of the population, he says. “An increasing number of older people are living longer and developing functional challenges,” he says. “So you get this community-based program integrated with the primary care model. It’s really an opportunity to see how two programs that are established can work together to meet the needs of older adults.”

Cudjoe’s work has been supported over the past decade by the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Aging, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research.

But it’s the collaboration across Johns Hopkins that has made this research so successful, he says. “We have a really special context, considering the strength of our expertise in geriatric care and our excellent schools of medicine and public health and nursing. This has continually been a source of inspiration,” Cudjoe says.