Advancing the Health of an Aging Population: Groundbreaking Research Supported by the NIA

Please join the Friends of the National Institute on Aging to hear about the groundbreaking aging research that is being supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA). The NIA, one of 27 Institutes comprising the National Institutes of Health (NIH), leads the national scientific effort to promote the health and well-being of older adults. It will be held on Thursday, June 30, 2016, 2:00-3:00 p.m. at the Capitol Visitorʼs Center, SVC 201, U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C. To RSVP for the event, please go here.  To download details, please click here.

Below is an agenda of the event:

Welcome & Introductions
Kathryn Jedrziewski, Ph.D.
Chair, Friends of the NIA
Deputy Director, Pennʼs Institute on Aging

Advances at the NIA: From Bench to Bedside to Real-World Practice
Richard Hodes, M.D.
Director, National Institute on Aging

Marie A. Bernard, M.D.
Deputy Director, National Institute on Aging

Precision Medicine Approaches for Treatment of Alzheimerʼs & Parkinsonʼs
Corey McMillan, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania

Training the Next Generation
Peter M. Abadir, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine,
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology

Q&A

FoNIA June 22 Capitol Hill Briefing

The Friends of the NIA (FoNIA) held a Capitol Hill briefing on June 22 on “Turning Discovery into Health: Learn about the Latest at the National Institute on Aging.”

The briefing started out with updates from NIA Director Dr. Richard Hodes and Deputy Director Dr. Marie A. Bernard on the latest groundbreaking research activities and outreach efforts within the organization. Dr. Neil Buckholtz, director of the NIA’s Division of Neuroscience, also shared the results from the 2015 Alzheimer’s Disease Research Summit.

Dr. Kathryn Jedrziewski, FoNIA co-chair and deputy director, Institute on Aging, University of Pennsylvania, gave insights on the role the NIA plays in advancing research at her institute.

Susan Peschin, MHS, FoNIA chair and president & CEO of the Alliance, concluded the briefing with a recap on recent FoNIA activities as well as an update on the policy front. She shared some encouraging news about NIA FY 2016 funding (and National Institutes of Health funding in general).

“This past week, we had an exciting surprise from the House Appropriations Labor, HHS Subcommittee,” said Peschin. “Their bill provides $31.2 billion for the NIH, $1.1 billion above the fiscal year 2015 enacted level. The bill also includes a more than 25 percent increase for the National Institute on Aging to $1.5 billion and a call for $300 million of that increase to be used for Alzheimer’s disease research.”

This research funding is a wise investment, noted Peschin, but she also cautioned more support will be needed to address the coming impact of an aging population and the expected rise in chronic diseases it will bring.

“We understand that things are tight, but we also know that this funding is the minimum essential to sustain research needed to make progress in attacking the chronic diseases that are driving significant increases in our national health care costs,” she said.

 

 

Presentations from the June 6 Capitol Hill Briefings

Below are links to the presentations from the June 6 briefings we held on Capitol Hill about the NIA and its research efforts:

Presentation of Richard J. Hodes, M.D., NIA director

Presentation of Andrew B. Singleton, Ph.D., senior investigator and chief, NIA Laboratory of Neurogenetics

Presentation of Susan Peschin, M.H.S., chair, Friends of the NIA, and president & CEO, Alliance for Aging Research

Presentation of Kathryn Jedrziewski, Ph.D., co-chair, Friends of the NIA, and deputy director, Institute on Aging, University of Pennsylvania

Documents from the June 6 Capitol Hill Briefings Now Available

In follow up to our briefings we held June 6 on Capitol Hill about the NIA and its research efforts, we are pleased to make available transcripts from the presentations.  Below are links to them:

Presentation of Richard J. Hodes, M.D., NIA director

Presentation of Andrew B. Singleton, Ph.D., senior investigator and chief, NIA Laboratory of Neurogenetics

Presentation of Susan Peschin, M.H.S., chair, Friends of the NIA, and president & CEO, Alliance for Aging Research

Presentation of Kathryn Jedrziewski, Ph.D., co-chair, Friends of the NIA, and deputy director, Institute on Aging, University of Pennsylvania