The goal of the Pilot Project Awards is to attract junior faculty just beginning their careers and more established investigators in other fields to the study of aging.

The award is in support of research intended to lead to a future application for external funding.

Each award carries a project stipend of $30,000.

Winners were:

Dennis Villareal, M.D., assistant professor of geriatrics and nutritional science, for "Effect of Weight Loss and Exercise in Frail, Obese, Elderly Subjects";

Donna Kalauokalani, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of anesthesiology, for "Early Vertebroplasty vs. Conservative Management for Symptomatic Osteoporotic Vertebral Comp-ression Fractures — A Pilot Study";

And Kevin J. Black, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry, neurology and radiology, for "Levodopa Challenge PET Study of Depression in Parkinson's Disease."