ANDREW GARDNER, PhD
Member, Modus Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Gardner received his doctoral degree in Exercise Science from Arizona State University in 1990. Currently, Dr. Gardner is a Professor within the College of Medicine/Department of Geriatrics and the Donald W. Reynolds Chair of Aging Research. As an exercise physiologist with expertise in exercise rehabilitation and physiology related peripheral artery disease (PAD) and aging, Dr. Gardner has published high-impact studies that have focused on: (1) validating a treadmill exercise protocol to assess primary outcome measures used in many clinical trials world-wide, (2) randomized controlled clinical trials demonstrating the efficacy of supervised exercise programs to improve ambulatory function in patients with PAD and intermittent claudication, and (3) a recent randomized controlled clinical trial demonstrating the efficacy of a home-based exercise program to treat intermittent claudication. In addition to his interest in PAD, Dr. Gardner studies the effects of co-morbid conditions and cardiovascular risk factors, such as metabolic syndrome, age and smoking on vascular function, physical activity and function and metabolic function in older adults. This work has led to more than 135 peer-reviewed clinical research publications.
Dr. Gardner’s role at the Reynolds Oklahoma Center on Aging (ROCA) is to bridge the basic science research efforts of other faculty members in ROCA with clinical studies and the clinical research activities within the Department of Geriatric Medicine. Dr. Gardner has established a collaborative network of vascular medicine specialists, cardiologists, and physicians at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences campus and at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center to provide a referral base of patients with PAD and other vascular diseases. His research team is experienced in successfully recruiting patients, administering clinical research tests, conducting interventions, and retaining patients in randomized controlled trials. Additional collaborations include clinical and translational studies in patients with vascular-mediated dementia and cognitive impairment. Finally, the roles of vascular function, oxidative stress and inflammation with muscle function, gait, balance, and falls in older adults are a developing clinical and translational research approach that merges clinical faculty in the Department of Geriatric Medicine with basic scientists within the department.