LeadingAge and the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston are partnering to create the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston, LeadingAge announced Tuesday.

It is the first center in the country to combine the expertise of applied and academic researchers with the perspectives of providers and consumers of long-term services and supports, they said.

The center will be co-directed by Robyn Stone, DrPH, senior vice president of research at LeadingAge, and Marc Cohen, Ph.D., leader of LTSS research at the Gerontology Institute, part of the McCormack Graduate School at UMass Boston.

Researchers at the center will conduct research aimed at transforming the way LTSS are financed, delivered and experienced by older adults and their families. The center will have offices in Washington, DC, and Boston.

“Together, we have committed ourselves to improving the quality, affordability and accessibility of long-term services and supports through data and evidence of what really works,” said Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge.

The new LTSS research center also will collaborate with the Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation at Community Catalyst, which will provide its policy expertise focused on consumer needs.