A Big ‘Thank You’ to USF for Hosting My Recent Visit

By CEO James Appleby, BSPharm, MPH

I recently had the privilege of visiting the University of South Florida (USF) campus in Tampa, Florida, which is the home institution of GSA President Dr. Kathy Hyer. It was a rewarding day that provided rich opportunities to discuss key GSA initiatives and to learn about the exciting work underway at USF.

The faculty was intrigued to learn more about GSA’s work to advance the Reframing Aging Initiative and how this work intersects with the development of new scholarship. Following recent updates to the AMA and APA style guides, faculty who submit papers to journals following these formats will see new language recommendations (aligning with the Reframing Aging Initiative) for referring to older adults.

Separately, I had the opportunity to discuss work that GSA’s Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) is advancing making the case for age-diverse universities. AGHE has been a champion of the Age-Friendly University movement, which was started by Dublin City University in Ireland.

In addition, I had the chance to learn about the fascinating research being done at the Auditory & Speech Sciences Laboratory at USF. Given the incidence of hearing loss in the 65+ population, the importance of this research will only increase.

My favorite part of the visit was meeting with 10 graduate students who are pursuing research in a variety of topic areas across the continuum of the gerontological sciences. Their passion for research and enthusiasm about the questions they are seeking to answer was palpable. Interacting with this group of emerging scholars filled me with confidence about the future of the field.