Dr. Dorothy Farrar-Edwards is a faculty member within the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology within the Department of Medicine and faculty member in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Farrar-Edwards is the Director of the ICTR Collaborative Center for Health Equity and a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor. Her multidisciplinary research addresses the effects of aging on functional independence and quality of life.
The central goal of Dr. Farrar-Edwards’s research is to contribute to the understanding of quality of life and well-being in older adults by examining the impact of cognitive and physical impairment on performance of complex activities of everyday life. Her research explores questions of functional performance, caregiver burden, and treatment outcomes in a variety of populations ranging from normal aging to neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. She is particularly interested in the aging process in African Americans. The ultimate aim of these studies is to support the development and implementation of more effective interventions for persons with cognitive loss and their families.