The Coordinating Center for the Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Related Dementias (based at the UM Institute for Social Research) is holding a meeting to highlight research on aging that crosses disciplinary divides. Researchers who have received pilot funding from the Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) will present early results from their Cross-NIA Center collaborative research and talk about the process of building cross-disciplinary collaborations. We hope you’ll join us. Please see the flyer for full program details (also below).

Cross-NIA Center Research: Early Results from Pilot Projects on the Health of Older Americans

Sponsored by the Coordinating Center for the Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Related Dementias

November 4, 2021, 10 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. (EST)

Agenda:
10:00 Welcome
Amanda Sonnega, Director, Coordinating Center for the Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Related Dementias

10:05 NIA Welcome TBA

10:10 Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) Remarks
Stephen Kritchevsky, Director, RCCN; Wake Forest School of Medicine, Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers

10:15 Maintaining Health Behavior Change in Older Adults
Jaime Hughes, Wake Forest School of Medicine, previously Duke University, Roybal Centers for Translational Research on Aging and Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers (OAIC)
Janet Prvu Bettger, Duke University, Roybal Centers for Translational Research on Aging
Minakshi Raj, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, previously University of Michigan, Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging
Susan L. Hughes, University of Illinois, Chicago, Roybal Centers for Translational Research on Aging.

10:45 Discussion

11:00 Examining Sex Differences in Pleiotropic Effects for Depression and Cognition Using Gene Polygenic and Gene-Region Aggregation Techniques
Arianna Gard, University of Maryland, previously University of Michigan
Erin Ware, University of Michigan, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers, Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging, Michigan Center on the Demography of Aging (MiCDA)
Lauren Schmitz, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Demography of Health and Aging (CDHA)

11:30 Discussion

11:45 Conclusion

Background
The Demography and Economics of Aging Centers Program, now expanded to include Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Related Dementias (D&E Centers/D&E Centers on AD/ADRD), has contributed significantly to developing both innovative lines of research and the next generation of scholars in the field. New areas and new directions have emerged (such as population genetics and biomeasure collection within national population-based surveys), largely as a result of increasing cross-disciplinary collaborations encouraged by the Centers. This successful model represents multiple centers engaged in a range of research and infrastructure activities within thematic research areas. There is wide recognition within the NIA and in the field that the full promise of the center mechanism itself and, indeed, the pace of future scientific discovery in aging will depend on scholars continuing to bridge disciplinary divides.

The Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) was established “to catalyze cross-disciplinary research across the NIA Center Programs,” which include D&E Centers/D&E Centers on AD/ADRD, Edward R. Roybal Centers for Translational Research on Aging, the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research, the Claude D. Pepper Older American Independence Centers, the Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers. To promote cross-NIA Center research and support junior scholars, the RCCN funds pilot research awards. This meeting will feature two RCCN pilot projects that each include a research affiliate of one of the D&E Centers/D&E Centers on AD/ADRD in collaboration with researchers at other NIA Centers. Each team will present preliminary results of their pilot project and share insights on the opportunities and challenges of cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Sponsored by the Coordinating Center for the Centers on the Demography & Economics of Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Related Dementias.