CEO Blog

GSA turns 78 on May 18! We refer to this date as our annual Founders Day in honor of the pioneers who signed our Society’s certificate of incorporation in 1945. And in recognition of this milestone, GSA has set up a way for all members to support the next generation of researchers — by contributing to one or more of the section designated Emerging Scholar funds dedicated solely to student, post doc, trainee and emerging scholar travel grants to participate in the GSA Annual Scientific Meeting. We ask for your help in contributing to these funds.

Congratulations are in order for Dr. Sharon Inouye, the long-time GSA member and fellow who was recently named editor-in-chief of the prestigious journal JAMA Internal Medicine! The position will be effective July 1.

It’s great to see a member of the GSA family earn a distinction like this. The journal has an impressive impact factor of 44.4, and it’s widely regarded as an international peer-reviewed title providing innovative and clinically relevant research for practitioners in general internal medicine and internal medicine subspecialties.

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.