About

Despite the high prevalence of sensory impairments among older adults, efforts to examine and mitigate the impact of sensory impairments on aging and health outcomes remain fractured with limited collaboration. The SENSE Network is created to more efficiently combine sensory aging research efforts, which addresses key scientific priorities to comprehensively characterize the effects of aging-related changes on the multiple physiologic systems and functions that affect humans, and assess interventions that may counter or reverse such changes, with a focus on factors that contribute to multiple age-related conditions. This network leverages the diverse and ideal combination of expertise of Drs. Swenor, Deal, Lin, Pinto, and Ehrlich among other epidemiologists studying sensory impairments, aging researchers, physicians, as well a researcher with the lived experience of a sensory impairment. Through their leadership, this network aims to accelerate sensory aging research far beyond the pace of existing individual research programs and efforts. We aim to create a diverse and inclusive network, and encourage researchers from all backgrounds and underrepresented groups, including researchers with disabilities to participate.

Network Leaders

Bonnielin Swenor

Dr. Swenor is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute and the Department of Epidemiology and Core faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health. Her research examines how visual impairment affects function and quality of life, and healthcare disparities among older adults with vision loss. Dr. Swenor draws on her personal experience with visual impairment to inform all aspects of her work.

Jennifer Deal

Dr. Deal is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University, and Core Faculty and Associate Director for Academic Training with the Johns Hopkins Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health. Her research is focused on quantifying how hearing impairment and vascular factors impact the aging brain and cognitive function, and to provide insight into mechanistic pathways involved.

Frank Lin

Dr. Lin is a Professor of Otolaryngology, Medicine, Mental Health, and Epidemiology and Director of the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University. He is an international leader on understanding and addressing the impact of hearing loss on older adults through his leadership role in epidemiological studies involving hearing (including BLSA, ARIC, NHATS, etc.), ongoing NIH-sponsored randomized trials of hearing interventions (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03243422 and NCT03442296), and informing changes to U.S. public policy (federal passage of the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017; ongoing role with the National Academies

Jayant Pinto

Dr. Pinto is a Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Director of Research at The University of Chicago. He has performing pioneering studies of the risk factors for olfactory impairment and serves as an investigator in the NSHAP, a nationally representative, longitudinal study of older community dwelling adults who have been phenotyped for impairments of the five classical senses and a range of aging outcomes, including cognition. Dr. Pinto’s research has also focused on risk factors for sensory aging, developed the concept of multisensory impairment, and examined the role of olfactory and sensory function more broadly as precursors of key health outcomes, including function, dementia, cognitive impairment, and mortality. He has collaborated with other large population studies (ARIC, HealthABC, Memory and Aging Project, Religious Orders Study) on sensory aging topics, utilizing physiologic, epidemiologic, and genetic approaches. His work centers on a multidisciplinary approach to understanding how olfactory function relates to the broader picture of health and function of older adults