Our team

Lana Sargent, Ph.D., RN, FNP-C, GNP-BC

1100 East Leigh Street, Room 3043
Box 980567
Richmond, VA 23298-0567

Phone: (804) 828-3410
Email: lsargent@vcu.edu

TEACHING:

With a passion for bio-physical optimization in the older adult, it is a privilege to teach graduate students about the complex care needs of older adults, gero-pharmacology, and diagnosis and treatment of chronic disease.  My approach to teaching is based on my secondary research interest in active and technology-enabled learning and simulation that reinforces context-based learning.  In community-based clinical settings I work with nursing and other interprofessional students with the aim of helping seniors age in place through prevention and early detection of health conditions, particularly associated with chronic care management.

RESEARCH:

Prior to nursing, a degree in biomedical research led me to work in genomics and genetics at Pennington Biomedical Research Center and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. From this experience, I developed a desire to link bench science to translational clinical practice, I pursued nursing, eventually achieving a graduate degree before completing my PhD in nursing. Predoctoral and post-doctoral training through the NIH’s National Institute of Aging, Division of Neuroscience has allowed me to combine my biomedical and clinical training to further develop my research.

As a nurse scientist, my research interest is aimed at deepening the knowledge associated with discovering clinical and biological determinants for the detection and prevention of physical and cognitive decline in older community-dwelling adults.  When frail adults experience a clinical event that requires medical or surgical intervention, some experience rapid and serious cognitive and physical decline.  My research integrates neurogenetics and bioinformatics to develop disease prediction models for the detection and prevention of physical and cognitive decline. Studies are under development to validate the prediction models with the intent to translate these models into the clinical setting and explore interventions to effectively detect high risk patients and implement interventions to improve health outcomes for older adults.

SERVICE:

An active practitioner, I maintain certifications as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP-BC) and Geriatric Nurse Practitioner (GNP-C), primarily with the practice sites associated with the Richmond Health and Wellness Program.  Other service activities include work with the Alzheimer’s Association Medical Community Relations Work Group – Greater Richmond and the Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners (VCNP), the Southern Nursing Research Society (SNRA) and the Gerontological Society of America (GSA).  As a speaker, I have addressed topics that address the biological plausibility of a phenotype for cognitive frailty, issues in coordinating care for low income adults, and interprofessional collaboration.

EDUCATION:

• NIH/IPA – Postdoctoral Researcher – National Institute of Aging – Division of Neuroscience
• NIH Graduate Student – National Institute of Aging- Division of Neuroscience
• PhD Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
  Nursing
• MSN Regis College, Weston, MA
  Nursing
• BSN Regis College, Weston, MA
  Nursing
• BS Research Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 
  Nursing

AWARDS/HONORS:

• Excellence in Nursing Research Award, Sigma Global Nursing Excellence 2021
• Distinguished Educator in Gerontological Nursing National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing Excellence (NHCGNE) 2020
• Audrey Nelson Research Lecture Recipient 2020
• Council for Community Engagement’s Currents of Change Award 2018

RESEARCH FUNDING:

• 2020-2024 Co-Investigator, Sargent, L. (Shah, PI) Global Prevalence of Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) in Participants with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF). Pfizer study B3461087
• 2021-2024 Administration for Community Living. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Sargent, L., Zanjani, F., Berman, B. (MPI) Richmond Brain Health Initiative: Behavioral Health Intervention Health Coaching for Alzheimer’s and Related Disease Risk Reduction

• 2021-2022 Multiple- Principal Investigator, Sargent, L. Richmond Brain Health Initiative. VCU Community-Engaged Research Impact Grant: Health Equity Grant

• 2021-2022 Multiple- Principal Investigator, Sargent, L. Using 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) to examine the association between blood pressure phenotypes and cognitive impairment among African Americans Center on Healthy Aging Behaviors and Longitudinal Investigations P30AGO66619, NIH-NIMHD
• 2021-2022 Principal Investigator, Sargent, L. The Association of Ambulatory Blood Pressure Phenotypes with Cognition in Community-Dwelling Older Adults. Center for Clinical and Translational Research Endowment Fund U54 MD010723
• 2020-present Principal Investigator, Sargent, L. Alzheimer’s Disease Progression and Resiliency Prediction National Institute of Aging (NIA), Division of Neurogenetics: Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA).
• 2020 Principal Investigator, Sargent, L. Barriers for the Detection of Dementia: Exploring Geriatric Needs and Healthcare Underutilization in Latino/a Older Adults, School of Nursing Intramural Grants Program (IGP).
• 2020-2021 Co-Investigator, Sargent, L. (Chung, PI) UL1TR002649 Out-of-home mobility assessment in dementia patients/caregiver dyads, CCTR Endowment Fund, Funded by the NIH-funded Center for Clinical and Translational Research, Virginia Commonwealth University.
• 2019-2020 Principal Investigator, Sargent, L. Socially Relevant Approaches to the Detection of Dementia in Older Adults in Community-Based Settings, VCU Presidential Research Quest Fund (PeRQ).
• 2018-2020 Principal Investigator, Sargent, L. Precision Health: Predicting Frailty National Institute of Aging (NIA), Division of Neurogenetics: Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA).

• 2018-2019 Co-Investigator, Sargent, L. (Price, PI) U54 MD010723, NIH-NIMHD Pilot-PI: Cardiovascular Pharmacogenomics in Community Dwelling Older Adults.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

• *+ Sargent, L., Smitherman, J., Brown, R., Sorenson, M., Starkweather, A. (2022) Cognitive and Motor Impairment in Spinal Cord Injury: A Scoping Review and Call for New Understanding. Journal Spinal Cord Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1080/10790268.2022.2134634
• *Bergen, A. W., Cil, G., Sargent, L. J., & Dave, C. V. (2022). Frailty Risks of Prescription Analgesics and Sedatives across Frailty Models: the Health and Retirement Study. Drugs & Aging. https://doi.org/10.1007/S40266-022-00941-2
• * Bauermeister, S., Phatak, M., Sparks, K., Sargent, L., Grizwold, M., Mchugh, C., Nalls, M., Young, S., Bauermeister, J., Elliot, P., Steptoe, A., Porteous, D., & Gallacher, J. (2022). Evaluating the harmonisation potential of diverse cohort datasets. Research Square https://doi.org/10.21203/RS.3.RS-1668271/V3
• *Mackiewicz, M., Brown, R. E., Price, E. T., & Sargent, L. (2022). Quality of life in older adults with opioid use disorder: A scoping review. Geriatric Nursing, 46, 118–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.GERINURSE.2022.05.002
• * + Moreno, O., Garcia-Rodriguez, I., Fuentes, L., Hernandez, C., Munoz, G., Fluellen, K., Hobgood, S. & Sargent, L. (2022) Non-Latinx healthcare provider’s knowledge and awareness of Latinx geriatric clinical health needs, Clinical Gerontologist, DOI: 10.1080/07317115.2022.2065943.
• *Makarious, M. B., Leonard, H. L., Vitale, D., Iwaki, H., Sargent, L., Dadu, A., Violich, I., Hutchins, E., Saffo, D., Bandres-Ciga, S., Kim, J. J., Song, Y., Maleknia, M., Bookman, M., Nojopranoto, W., Campbell, R. H., Hashemi, S. H., Botia, J. A., Carter, J. F., … Nalls, M. A. (2022). Multi-modality machine learning predicting Parkinson’s disease. NPJ Parkinson’s Disease, 8(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1038/S41531-022-00288-W
• Sargent L, Zanjani F, Winship J, Gendron T, Mackiewicz M, Diallo A, Waters L, Battle K, Ford G, Falls K, Chung J, Price ET, Cisewski M, Parsons P, Health VI. Socioeconomic Effects on Psychosocial Factors Among Low-Income Older Adults. Gerontol Geriatr Med. (2022) Jan- Dec;8:23337214221084866. doi: 10.1177/23337214221084866. eCollection 2022 Jan- Dec. PubMed PMID: 35299880; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8921758.
• *Winship, J. M., Gendron, T., Waters, L., Chung, J., Battle, K., Cisewski, M., Gregory, M., Sargent, L., Zanjani, F., Slattum, P., Mackiewicz, M., Diallo, A., Ford, G., Falls, K., Price, E. T., & Parsons, P. COVID in Context: The Lived Experience of Richmond’s Low-Income Older Adults. Gerontology & Geriatric Medicine, 8, 233372142210792. https://doi.org/10.1177/23337214221079208
• Nawaz, H., Sargent, L., Quilon, H., Cloud, L. J., Testa, C. M., Snider, J. D., Lageman, S, K., Baron, M. S., Berman, B. D., Zimmerman, K., Price, E. T., Mukhopadhyay, N. D., & Barrett, M. J. (2021). Anticholinergic medication burden in Parkinson's Disease outpatients. Journal of Parkinson’s Disease. doi:10.3233/JPD-212769. PMID: 34806617
• Barrett, M. J., Sargent, L., Nawaz, H., Weintraub, D., Price, E. T., & Willis, A. W. (2021). Antimuscarinic Anticholinergic Medications in Parkinson Disease: To Prescribe or Deprescribe? Movement Disorders Clinical Practice. https://doi.org/10.1002/MDC3.13347
• Parsons P, King Horne K, Popovich A, Waters L, Price E, Diallo A, Sargent L, McQueen-Gibson E, Prom-Wormley E, Wilkerson T, Zanjani F. Creating structural community cohesion: Addressing racial equity in older adult homelessness. J Prev Interv Community. 2021 May 25;:1-13. doi: 10.1080/10852352.2021.1930819. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 34033741.
• Nalls, M. A., Blauwendraat, C., Sargent, L., Vitale, D., Leonard, H., Iwaki, H., ... & Singleton, A. B. (2021). Evidence for GRN connecting multiple neurodegenerative diseases. Brain Communications. fcab095, 3(2), fcab095,  https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcab095
• Chung, J., Sargent, L., Brown, R., Gendron, T., & Wheeler, D. (2020). GPS Tracking Technologies to Measure Mobility-Related Behaviors in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Systematic Review. Journal of Applied Gerontology, PMID: 33356769, DOI: 10.1177/0733464820979801
• Khaddage, S. J., Patterson, J. A., Sargent, L. J., Price, E. T., & Dixon, D. L. (2020). Sex and Age Differences in Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Tolerability. American Journal of Hypertension. PMID: 33180905, DOI: 10.1093/ajh/hpaa18
• Sargent, L., Flattery, M., Shah, K., Price, E. T., Tirado, C., Oliveira, T., ... & Salyer, J. (2020). Influence of Physiological and Psychological Factors on Cognitive Dysfunction in Heart Failure Patients. Applied Nursing Research, 151375.
• Winship, J.M., Falls, K., Gregory, M., Peron, E.P., Donohoe, K.L., Sargent, L., Slattum, P.W., Chung, J., Tyler, C.M., Diallo, A., Battle, K., and Parsons, P. A case study in rapid adaptation of interprofessional education and remote visits during COVID-19. Journal of Interprofessional Care. DOI: 10.1080/13561820.2020.1807921 PubMed PMID: 32838597
• Sargent L, Mackiewicz M, Roman Y, Diallo A, Russell S, Falls K, Zimmerman KM, Dixon DL, Prom-Wormley E, Hobgood S, Lageman SK, Zanjani F, Price ET. Transdisciplinary, iCubed Health and Wellness in Aging (2020). Bringing Transdisciplinary Aging Research from Theory to Practice. The Gerontologist. Doi: 10.1093/geront/gnaa214
• Sargent, L., Nalls, M., Amella, E., Mueller, M., Slattum, P., Bandinelli, S., Tain, Q., Swift-Scanlan, T., Lageman, S., Singleton, A. (2020). Shared Mechanisms for Cognitive and Physical Frailty: A Model for Complex Systems. Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions. eCollection 2020. PubMed PMID: 32685657; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC736221
• Satone, V. K., Kaur, R., Leonard, H., Iwaki, H., Sargent, L., Scholz, S. W., Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Nalls, M.A., Singleton, A., Faghri, F., Campbell, R.H. (2019). Predicting Alzheimer’s disease progression trajectory and clinical subtypes using machine learning. bioRxiv, 792432.
• Zimmerman KM, Linsky AM, Donohoe KL, Hobgood SE, Sargent L, Salgado TM. An Interprofessional Workshop to Enhance De-prescribing Practices Among Health Care Providers. J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2020;40(1):49-57. doi:10.1097/CEH.0000000000000280. PubMed PMID: 32149948
• Sargent, L., Nalls, M., Amella, E.J., Meuller, M., Lageman, S.K., Bandinelli, S., Colpo, M., Slattum, P.W., Singleton, A., Ferrucci, L. (2018). Anticholinergic Drug Induced Cognitive and Physical Impairment: Results from the InCHIANTI Study. The Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences PMID:30590397
• Oliveira, T., Starkweather, A., Ramesh, D., Fetta, J., Kelly, D. L., Lyon, D. E., & Sargent, L. Putative mechanisms of cognitive decline with implications for clinical research and practice. In Nursing Forum. doi: 10.1111/nuf.12247
• Sargent, L.,& Brown, R. Assessing the Current State of Cognitive Frailty: Measurement Properties. Journal of Nutrition Health and Aging. January 2017, Vol 21, Issue 1. doi: 10.1007/s12603-016-0735-9. PMID: 28112769
• Davis, K., Sargent, L., & Menzies, V. (2017). Community-based care of the fibromyalgia patient: Strategies to promote self-management. Home Healthcare Now, 35(7), 2-10. doi: 10.1097/NHH.0000000000000570 [I] PMID: 28650366
• Starkweather, A., Sargent, L., Nye, C., Albrecht, T., Cloutier, R., & Foster, A. (2017). Progressive Assessment and Competency Evaluation Framework for Integrating Simulation in Nurse Practitioner Education. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 13(7), e301-e310.
• Sargent, L., & Miles, E. Transforming the Classroom with Tablet Technology. Nurse Educator. November-December 2016, Vol 41, Issue 6. doi: 10.1097/NNE.0000000000000278 PMID: 27232371
• Sargent, L.J. (2015). Functional Ability, Chapter 2. In J.F. Giddens, Concepts for Nursing Practice. St. Louis, MI: Elsevier, In Press

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS:

National and International Presentations         

• Rhodes, A.S., Sargent, L.S., Zanjani, F. Differences in Community and Provider Stakeholders’ Perceptions on Brain Health Service Gaps and Screening Needs. Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting. Symposium. United States [Poster]
• Sargent, L., Barrett, M., Nawaz, H., Mackiewicz, M., Roman, Y., Slattum, P., Hobgood, S., Price, E.P. Vulnerability to Anticholinergic Medication Associated Frailty in Low-Income Minority Older Adults. Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting. Symposium. United States [Poster]
• Sargent, L., Slattum, P., Brooks, M., Gendron, T., Mackiewicz, M., Diallo, A., … Transdisciplinary, iCubed Health and Wellness in Aging. Bringing Transdisciplinary Aging Research from Theory to Practice. Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting. Symposium. United States [Presentation]

• Sargent, L., Lageman, S., Thacker, L., Russell, S., Mackiewicz, M., Price, E.T., Socially Relevant Approaches to the Detection of Dementia in Minority Older Adults, Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting. Symposium. United States [Poster]

• Qu, T., Bigel, M., Varma, V., Bouhrara, M., & Sargent, L., (September, 2020) The Aging Brain: Crossroad of Normal Aging and Dementia. Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting. Symposium. United States [Online]

• Sargent, L., (August, 2020) Cognitive frailty: Evidence for the relationship between cognitive decline and physical frailty. Academy of Spinal Cord Injury. United States, [Online]

• Sargent, L., Worthington, G., Virginia’s Dementia State Plan 2020-2024. (April, 2020). Aging Better
  Together: Building an Inclusive Aging. Southern Gerontological Society Conference. Norfolk, VA
• Sargent, L., (March, 2018) Presentation: Biological Plausibility for a Novel Phenotype: Cognitive Frailty. VCU Medical Grand Rounds. Richmond, VA
• Sargent, L., Starkweather, A., Hobgood, S., Thompson, H., Nalls, M., Singleton, A., Amella, E., (June, 2017) Poster: Establishing Biological Plausibility for Cognitive Frailty: A Systematic Review, 21st IAGG World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics, San Francisco, CA
• Sargent, L., (February, 2016) Cognitive Frailty: An Innovative New Area for Nursing Research, Southern Nursing Research Society (SNRS). Williamsburg, VA