Q: How long have you been a GSA member?
A: Since 2008.
Q: How specifically has membership in GSA benefitted you?
A: I consider GSA to be my academic home. GSA has been a place for me to learn from the greatest scientists, be mentored by the best, and in turn, it has strengthened my research, teaching, and mentorship to others. Colleagues have become lifelong friends. Each annual conference holds another memorable event filled with intellectual insight along with laughter and cheer.
Q: How did you get interested in the field of aging?
A: I was raised in a traditional Mexican family with many generations living under the same roof. Space was tight. Love and adventure were abundant. It was in this context that I was able to hear and see how social policies relating to work and retirement evolved from my grandfather's experience (who received a defined benefit pension plus retiree health insurance) to some of my uncle's not even having a retirement/savings plan. I also observed clear gender differences with the challenges my mother experienced in obtaining a good paying job with good benefits.
Later, as a sociology student, "demography is destiny" became a mantra. There was one semester that I heard the same message in four different sociology classes: "Do you want a job? Then take a look at these demographic projections". It was at Hunter College that I applied theory with practice in a social work internship class (I was so excited to unite practice with theory that I'd rollerblade in Central Park for hours just reflecting on the internship experience).
My master's program at Columbia University then gave me the academic tools to examine aging, public administration, and social policy. My experience at Washington University in St. Louis sealed the deal with critical theories and rigorous methods to answer pressing research questions with clear implications for policy. Workshops at Michigan, RAND, Columbia and other places continued to ignite intellectual curiosity.
Q: What projects are you working on in your current position?
A: I focus on productive aging and how social policies and practices can optimize choices and opportunities for older adults to live healthy and meaningful lives. I also focus on win-win solutions for younger generations, families, and society. At the moment, we are:
a. reviewing theories and interventions that have been successful at dismantling ageism and other forms of bias
b. identifying risk and protective factors to cognitive health, including productive aging activities, leisure, and genetic factors
c. revising "Social Gerontology: A Multidisciplinary Perspective" published by Pearson and co-written with Drs. Nancy Hooyman and Daniel Kaplan, and d) I lead a specialization in Healthy Aging for students in social work, public health, and nursing at NYU.
Q: What do you love most about your line of work?
A: This line of research and practice holds the possibility of not just living a long life, but a healthy and meaningful life with strong social bonds in a peaceful society. How great is that?!
Q: What was the best piece of advice you got early on in your career you’d like to pass on to emerging gerontologists?
A: Bend and be flexible with a research agenda while staying true to your values.