CITRA’s mission is to better understand and support older persons’ full engagement within their communities, improve the capacity of community agencies and care providers to serve older clients, strengthen formal and informal support networks, and to take advantage of unique resources for applied research at Cornell University.

CITRA’s objectives are to:

• Promote community-based, translational research on the problems affecting older people
• Develop innovative methods to bridge the gap between research and practice
• Encourage community–researcher partnerships in the field
• Create a network of investigators committed to translational research on aging
• Improve the translation of research findings into programs and policies that benefit older persons
• Strengthen evidence-based practice in the field of aging

CITRA works in collaboration with the Cornell’s Translational Research Institute for Pain in Later Life (TRIPLL), which seeks to improve the prevention and management of pain in later life, thereby increasing the health and well-being of older adults. Both CITRA and TRIPLL are part of Cornell’s Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research (BCTR). The BCTR’s mission is to expand, strengthen, and speed the connections between cutting-edge research and the design, evaluation, and implementation of policies and practices that enhance human development, health, and well-being.

CITRA was founded in 1993 through funding by the National Institute on Aging. It was created as one of four Edward R. Roybal Centers for Translational Research on Aging across the country. Roybal Centers, named after House Select Committee on Aging Chair Edward R. Roybal, were authorized by Congress in 1993 to help translate promising social and behavioral research findings into programs and practices to improve the lives of older adults. As a Roybal Center, CITRA supported partnerships between Cornell researchers and community partners to help translate basic research to community populations, and it provided funding, mentoring, and methodological and technical assistance to researchers to support their engagement in translational research on aging.

CITRA remained a Roybal Center until September 2009 when Cornell’s Translational Research Institute for Pain in Later Life (TRIPLL) was created. TRIPLL built on the work of CITRA with a new focus on chronic pain in older adults, and it is now one of 14 Roybal Centers nationwide.

In 2011, both CITRA and TRIPLL became part of Cornell’s Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research (BCTR) when it was established in honor of Cornell’s renowned developmental psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005). Urie pioneered an interdisciplinary and translational approach to human development, and helped create the federal Head Start program. Within the BCTR, CITRA continues to collaborate with TRIPLL and other affiliates to support translational research on aging, including the development, implementation, and dissemination of innovative intervention programs based on best practices in aging.