Spring 2009
e-Newsletter
Volume 3, Issue 2
The Science of Healthier Aging
1. Thoughts from AFAR - A Note from the Executive
Director ____________________________________________ Thoughts from AFAR - A Note from the Executive Director
While the business of AFAR continues at a brisk
pace, we must take a moment to acknowledge a loyal friend and strong supporter of AFAR: Dr. Mark
Beers, our esteemed past president and long time board member, who passed away on February 28, 2009.
Mark was a tireless advocate for the support of aging research and junior investigators entering
the field. He was instrumental in the creation of the Merck/AFAR Geriatric Pharmacology program,
which provided two year fellowships for those with an interest in geriatric medicine and the role
of clinical pharmacology as it related to the care of the aged.
Mark served as a dedicated member of the AFAR board of directors since 1997, providing leadership
as a member of the executive committee from 1998-2006 and as president from 2005 - 2006. Most recently
he served as chair of the AFAR Florida Affiliate chapter, established in Miami, Florida in 2008,
where his leadership role was invaluable to AFAR Florida's success.
His hard work and unselfish devotion of time and energy helped establish the credibility
of the study of aging and the work of AFAR and is a tribute to him and to his career in the
field of geriatrics research, training, and clinical practice.
We will miss him.
____________________________________________ Events
Save the Dates - October 5 and 6, 2009
Please join AFAR on October 5, 2009, as we celebrate advances in the field of aging
research and honor those that have made significant contributions. Honorees include:
Robert N. Butler, MD, president and CEO of the International Longevity Center
and Pulitzer Prize winning author; John C. Erickson, chairman and founder,
Erickson Retirement Communities; Fredric B. Garonzik, AFAR emeritus director,
and former partner at Goldman Sachs & Co. (posthumous recognition); Husseini Manji, MD
, global head, neuroscience, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development; and John
C. Whitehead, WW II hero, former partner at Goldman Sachs & Co., and former deputy
secretary of state.
Also recognized will be this year's recipients of the Irving S. Wright Award: Woodring
E. Wright, MD, PhD (no relation), of the UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Vincent
Cristofalo Rising Star in Aging Research Award: Brian K. Kennedy, PhD, of the
University of Washington.
To reserve a space, please visit www.afar.org/09dinner.html.
For more information, please contact Nancy O'Leary at 212-703-9977 or Nancy@afar.org.
For more information, please contact Stacey Harris at 212-703-9977 or Stacey@afar.org.
Both events will be held at the Union Club located at 101 East 69th Street, NYC.
AFAR grantees David Sinclair, PhD, professor of pathology and director of the Paul F. Glenn
Laboratories for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging at Harvard Medical School, and Dellara Terry, MD,
formerly associate director of the New England Centenarian Study and associate professor at the
Boston University School of Medicine, as well as Christoph Westphal, CEO of Sirtris, a GSK company,
(of which David Sinclair is a co-founder), were the featured speakers at this March 19 event held at
the Yacht Club. They discussed the latest research on the genetic, environmental, and lifestyle
factors that may extend healthy life. A record number of media attended including reporters from The
New York Times, Forbes, Newsweek, and CBS News. The briefing was supported in part by an anonymous
donor and Sirtris.
Dr. David Sinclair discusses the
future of aging research and his early career funding from AFAR.
Dr. Dellara Terry discusses
healthspan and AFAR's support.
On May 31 through June 5, 2009, AFAR in partnership with the International Longevity Center and with
support from the MetLife Foundation, the New York Times Company Foundation, and the Glenn Foundation for
Medical Research, hosted the Age Boom Academy, a week-long fellowship program designed to educate
journalists about key longevity and aging topics. The event featured presentations by leading experts
on aging and longevity research who spoke about demographic changes, economic, political and policy
trends, drug discovery and finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease as well as financial security for
Boomers and the crisis in caregiving, among others.
Journalists from The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Forbes, as well as representatives from
other newspapers, magazines and digital media were selected for these competitive fellowships.
Speakers included Nobel laureate and economist Robert Fogel, PhD, of the University of Chicago,
Alzheimer's expert and AFAR scientific director George M. Martin, MD, of the University of Washington,
Nir Barzilai, MD of Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Institute for Aging Research, Linda Fried, MD,
dean of Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, former Aetna and Mount Sinai CEO John W. Rowe, MD,
David Sinclair, PhD, of Harvard's Paul F. Glenn Laboratories, Jack Rosenthal of the New York Times
Company Foundation, and Steven Austad, PhD, of the University of Texas and AFAR board member, among
others.
_____________________________________________ Looking to the Future: Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Program:
Developing Tomorrow's Leaders Today
Since 1994, the MSTAR Program has offered medical students from around the nation an in-depth preview
of the exciting and rewarding possibilities of a career in geriatric medicine and research. Each year,
with mentoring from top experts in the field, some 120 of these future physicians enjoy a dynamic
research and academic immersion working with leaders at some of the nation's leading medical schools.
Following is the experience of one such student:
Shivi Agrawal - Her Road to Geriatrics
Shivi Agrawal says her love for geriatrics is a result of growing up in a joint household in India
with her extended family. She says this experience fostered her need to take care of her elders. After
moving back to the U.S. at age eight, Ms. Agrawal volunteered at a nursing home throughout high school
and received a Girl Scouts Gold Award in Geriatrics. She became an MSTAR scholar after her first year
of medical school, during the summer of 2006. "I rediscovered my love for geriatrics through the MSTAR
program!" she says.
Shivi completed her MSTAR project at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, with Dr. Crystal Simpson,
assistant professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology and assistant dean for medical students, and
Dr. Linda Fried, formerly a professor of medicine, epidemiology, health policy and nursing and director
of the Center on Aging and Health at Johns Hopkins University and now the dean of the Mailman School
of Public Health at Columbia University. She worked with her mentors to explore the relationship between
visual acuity and domains of disability using the Women's Health and Aging Study. "It was a tremendous
honor and privilege to learn from the top geriatrics researchers in the country," Ms. Agrawal recalls.
"Through the clinical rotations of this amazing program, I learned that geriatrics affects almost
every aspect of medicine and should therefore be a focus in every medical student's curriculum. It
also helped me realize that I wanted to go into academia and maybe even teach some day."
_____________________________________________ Grants Program Overview
Meetings
_____________________________________________ In 2008, AFAR celebrated the official launch of its new Florida Affiliate, established to bring
regional support for aging research through grants to Florida scientists and educational
opportunities for the general public. This year marked the creation of a board of directors
comprised of key leaders in research and the lay community and the first named grant, AvMed Health
Plans AFAR Research Grant. As part of the ongoing project to cultivate an environment of
exchange, AFAR Florida has hosted a lecture series for Florida residents, in Miami, Tampa, and Ft.
Lauderdale featuring AFAR grantees as speakers on various topics related to aging and health.
Speakers included: David Wilson, PhD, Bruce Troen, MD, and Deborah Mash, PhD, all from the
University of Miami; David Morgan, PhD, and Chad Dickey, PhD, both from the University of South
Florida. Major supporters of AFAR Florida include AvMed Health Plans, the Greenburg-May
Foundation, Inc., and an in-kind donation from the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged.
For more information about AFAR Florida's grant opportunities and events, please visit the new
website at www.afarFL.org.
_____________________________________________ On April 29, 2009, Scott Small, MD, a recipient of the Paul Beeson Career Development Award in
Aging Research, and Herbert Irving Associate Professor in Neurology at Columbia University, spoke
about the latest research on Alzheimer's disease and the hope for the future. Joan Murtagh Frankel,
JD, partner in the law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, and an AFAR board member, organized this
program for colleagues and other friends of AFAR.
Click here
to watch his presentation.
_____________________________________________ Support our Scientists
American Federation for Aging Research
The American Federation for Aging Research is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support
biomedical research on aging. It is devoted to creating the knowledge that all of us need to live healthy,
productive, and independent lives. Since 1981, AFAR has awarded approximately $120 million to more than 2,600
talented scientists as part of its broad-based series of grant programs. Its work has led to significant
advances in our understanding of aging processes, age-related diseases, and healthy aging practices. AFAR
communicates news of these innovations through its organizational web site
www.afar.org and educational web sites Infoaging (www.infoaging.org)
and Health Compass (www.healthcompass.org).
Please
Note
2. Events
3. Looking to the Future: Developing Tomorrow's Leaders Today
4. Grants Update
5. AFAR Florida
6. Other News
Scientific Conference- The Aging Heart: A Roadmap to Cardiac Independence 
On October 6, 2009, AFAR will host its annual scientific conference on the aging heart. The conference will explore
fundamental aspects of aging and cardiovascular diseases as well as therapies currently being developed for the
aging heart. Leading investigators will address the physiologic, cell and molecular biology and genetic changes
that increase the impact of cardiovascular diseases in the older population. Topics will include the role of
gender, cardiac myocyte energy utilization and vascular dysfunction as well as environmental influences on the
aging heart. The conference will also include a session with experts in translational medicine describing
clinical strategies currently being developed to address the specific needs of the aging heart, including
biological therapies such as stem cell technologies. To register and view the program, please visit
www.afar.org/agingheartconf.html.
Media Briefing: Time on Our Side: Is Living to 100 Within Our Grasp?
AFAR Joins Forces with the International Longevity Center to Host the 10th Annual Age Boom Academy
(l-r) 2006 MSTAR scholar Shivi Agrawal with AFAR Board Member Richard Besdine, MD, and Jeremy Berger, American Medical Student Association's Geriatrics Coordinator
To learn how you can help, visit us at our
website or contact Nancy O'Leary at 212-703-9977 or nancy@afar.org.
55 West 39th Street, 16th Floor
New York, NY 10018
(212) 703-9977
info@afar.org
grants@afar.org
www.afar.org
www.infoaging.org
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