MIRECC / CoE

Biography

Biography: Dr. Vair is a clinical research psychologist with the VISN 2 Center for Integrated Healthcare (CIH) at the VA Western New York Healthcare System in Buffalo, NY. Prior to her role as an investigator, Dr. Vair completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship with the VA Advanced Fellowship Progam in Mental Illness Research and Treatment (MIRECC). She also completed an American Psychological Association accredited pre-doctoral psychology internship at the VA Western New York Healthcare System. Dr. Vair earned both her MA and PhD in clinical psychology with curricular emphasis in Aging from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

Research Interests: Believing passionately in a person-centered, holistic approach to care, Dr. Vair’s research interests are in exploring mental health concerns of the aging population within the primary care (PC) medical setting. She has collaborated on several projects within PC, including examining the effectiveness of a novel case-finding approach for aiding dementia detection and developing a measure of PC behavioral health provider fidelity. She is also currently acting as project director on a grant-funded focus group study designed to identify gaps and ways to improve care for veterans with dementia in PC. She currently has a number of other research collaborations underway, among which are investigations into the course of clinical care for Veterans with dementia referred for driving evaluation and developing a chart review tool to explore assessment of dementia in primary care.

Publications

Recent Publications:

King, P. R., Vair, C. L., Wade, M., Gass, J. C., Kusche, A., Wray, L. O., Saludades, C., & Chang, J. (in press). Outpatient health care utilization in a sample of cognitively-impaired Veterans receiving care in VA Geriatric Evaluation and Management clinics. Psychological Services.

Kearney, L. K., Wray, L. O., Dollar, K. M., King, P. R. & Vair, C. L, (2014). Primary care-mental health integration psychological assessment of veterans. In Bush, S. S. (Ed.), Psychological Assessment of Veterans. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Wray, L. O, Wade, M., Beehler, G. P., Hershey, L., & Vair, C. L. (2014). A program to improve identification of undiagnosed dementia in primary care and its association with health care utilization. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 22, 1282-1291.

Beehler, G. P., Funderburk, J. S., Possemato, K., & Vair, C. L. (2013). Developing a measure of provider adherence to improve the implementation of behavioral health services in primary care: A Delphi study. Implementation Science, 8,19.

Qualls, S. Q., & Vair, C. L. (2012). Caregiver family therapy with dementia. In P. Peluso (Ed.) Changing aging, changing family. New York, NY: Routledge.

Feliciano, L., Segal, D. L., & Vair, C. L. (2011). Major depressive disorder. In S.A. Lauderdale and K.H. Sorocco (Eds.) Implementing CBT for older adults: Innovations across care settings. New York, NY: Springer.

Presentations

Recent Presentations:

Vair, C. L., Gass, J. C., King, P., R., Wade, M., & Wray, L. O. (2014, November). Dementia and mental health concerns in VHA specialty geriatrics: Observations and clinical implications. Poster session presented at the meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, Washington, DC.

Vair, C. L., & Beehler, G. P. (2014, October). Where have they been and where are they going? Advanced psychology trainees reports on preparation for practice in integrated care. Paper presented at the meeting of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, Washington, DC.

Wray, L. O., & Vair, C. L. (2014, October). What can behavioral health providers do? Improving primary care of dementia through integration. Paper presented at the meeting of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, Washington, DC.

King, P. R., Vair, C. L., Wray, L.O., Wade, M., Kusche, A., Gass, J., Saludades, C., & Chang, J. (2013, November). Clinical course and driving recommendations for veterans seen in VA geriatric evaluation and management (GEM) and memory clinics. Poster session presented at the meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, New Orleans, LA.

Vair, C. L., King, P. R., Neumaier, E. R., Baughn, D., & Campbell, K. (2013, October). Development of a national peer network for integrated mental health trainees in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Poster session presented at the meeting of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, Broomfield, CO.

Wray, L. O., Vair, C. L., Pikoff, E., Hutchison, D., King, P. R., & Beehler, G. P. (2012, November). Acceptability of screening for memory problems in primary care Veterans. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, San Diego, CA.

Vair, C. L., & Wray, L. O. (2012, November). Relationship between cognitive function and positive health behaviors in a sample of community-dwelling Veterans. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, San Diego, CA.

O’Malley, K., Qualls, S., Vair, C. L., Doffing, M. A., & Williams, M. (2012, November). The importance of perceived family cohesion and contact on psychological well-being of assisted living facility residents. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, San Diego, CA.

Grants

Co-Investigator. Identifying Measurement-Based Care Practices in Co-located, Collaborative Care. (PIs: G. Beehler, P. King). VA Mental Health QUERI Locally Initiated Project. $4,924. (2014).

Project Director. Gaps in primary care of dementia. (PI: L. O. Wray) VA Mental Health QUERI Rapid Response Proposal. $94,325. (2012-2013).

Principal Investigator. Piloting an evidence-based self-assessment of behavioral health provider adherence with psychology trainees in integrated primary care. (Project Mentor: G. P. Beehler).Collaborative Family Healthcare Association Early Career Research Fellowship. $1,000 (2013-2014).