The University of Iowa College of Nursing has been awarded a five-year, $1.9 million grant by the National Institute of Nursing Research at the National Institutes of Health in order to establish the UI Center for Advancing Multimorbidity Science (CAMS).

CAMS will be one of three centers across the nation tasked with tackling the research challenges of scientific investigators who study adult patients with multiple chronic conditions. Multimorbidity science entails a shift in clinical practice from a single disease focus to one that addresses multiple symptoms and chronic conditions within social and biological contexts.

“This center will help...clinicians care for patients in a more targeted and customized manner," says Barbara Rakel, professor of nursing, who will co-direct CAMS with Sue E. Gardner, also a professor of nursing. "This, in turn, should reduce health care costs and improve patient outcomes.”