Chukwuma Okoye

My name is Chukwuma Okoye, I am a Consultant in Geriatric Medicine and  2-year-PhD Student in Clinical Physiopathology. My fields of research are determinants of the frailty syndrome in acute care, cardiogeriatrics and general ultrasound. I am the co-founder of the Young Epidemiologists of the Italian Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics (SIGG) and a member of the Italian Thoracic Ultrasound Research Group (GRETA). Recently, I became an affiliate of the Coordinator Board of an International observational study regarding the impact of COVID-19 pandemics on older patients (GeroCovid) and of the GeroVax Study, a multicenter observational prospective study promoted by AIFA (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco) and Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) involving the efficacy and safety of anti-COVID-19 vaccines in the elderly population living in nursing homes throughout the Italian Regions.  

My PhD project aims at evaluating the prognostic significance of the peripheral thyroxin deiodination in older patients with heart failure and its relationship with frailty syndrome. Study participants will be enrolled both in ambulatory visit and during hospital stay; the comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) together with a cardiac ultrasound and physical perfomance evaluation will be necessary to determine the population characteristics and to evaluate the study main endpoints.