CEO Blog

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Geroscience Interest Group and the National Institute on Aging are currently welcoming registrants for their Fourth Geroscience Summit, with the theme “Geroscience for the Next Generation.”

This will be a hybrid event April 24 to 26. The in-person activities will take place on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. GSA served as a partner on the first geroscience summit in 2013, and it’s great to see it thrive a decade later. As the organizers say, “geroscience is a rapidly growing field of research through which scientists aim to develop interventions that may slow down or stop the functional decline and reduce the burden of disease that often take place with aging.”

As aging-related topics become more prominent in the public discourse, gerontologists are increasingly sought out to provide expert commentary. And GSA members are stepping into the role to great effect.

In January, past GSA President Jack Rowe joined The New Yorker Radio Hour for a program to discuss age and the fitness for office of presidential candidates. This subject is likely to be talked about increasingly as we approach the next election, and gerontologists need to be prepared to confront the ageism that underlies the public discourse.

Recognizing excellence in any given field is a key role for professional societies, and this is one that GSA is proud to play. Through April 2, we are accepting nominations for nearly two dozen prestigious awards for gerontological achievements.

The latest issue of Public Policy & Aging Report — “COVID-19 Recovery: Lessons Learned and Policy Action for the Future” illustrates the challenge of developing and implementing policies to address something as complex as a pandemic. This issue is organized by GSA’s Health Sciences (HS) Section. The final result is a collection of articles that showcase the importance of policy issues and proposed solutions coming from the perspective of what matters to older adults, their families, and care partners.

The topic of caregiving has a way of continually rising to the top of our national conversation, including from some unexpected places.