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Center on Longevity |
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Transforming the culture of human aging using science and technology. In less than one century, life expectancy increased by an average of 30 years in developed regions of the world. Combined with a reduction in fertility rates across the same period, the changes in age distribution now under way in the population - both nationally and internationally - are dramatic and unprecedented. Added years can be a gift or a burden to humanity depending upon how they are used. The aim of the Center is to use increased life expectancy to bring about profound advances in the quality of life from early childhood to old age. |
Adele Hayutin, PhD
Adele Hayutin, PhD is Senior Research Scholar and Director of SCL's Global Aging Project, which initiates collaborative research and public discourse on the challenges of population aging. During her twenty-year career as a business economist, Hayutin has focused on issues and trends affecting business investment strategy. Her recent focus has turned to the economic and policy implications of global demographic change. She is a frequent public speaker and has developed a comparative international perspective highlighting surprising demographic differences across countries and illustrating the unexpected speed of critical demographic trends.
Recent publications: Demographic Shifts Create Challenges and Opportunities- PREA Quarterly
Speaking engagements: Gerontological Society of America, Annual conference
How Population Aging Differs Across Countries:
A Briefing on Global Demographics
Adele M. Hayutin, Ph.D.
The Graying of the Global Population
Adele M. Hayutin, Ph.D.
Links to other sites of interest
Stanford University
February 29 – Global Aging
(The New York Times)
China to Reconsider One-Child Limit
For more than 30 years, China, the world’s most populated nation, has restricted most urban couples to a single child unless they pay hefty fines. The country is now considering softening its restrictions, spurred by scandals over forced abortions and demographic crises resulting from such a policy. China’s fertility rate is now extremely low, and the population is rapidly aging, especially in urban areas. Experts have warned that the country will soon have too many old people in need of expensive services and too few young workers paying taxes to meet those bills. read more
February 28 – Global Aging
(Prime-TASS News Russia)
With Russia's population declining from a high of 148.4 million people in 1992 to 142 million people as of January 2008, Dmitry Medvedev, the newly elected president of the country, has called for stabilizing and increasing Russia's population. Proposed measures include improving healthcare services, and providing social welfare payments to reduce the mortality rate, including that of babies and pregnant women.
February 28 – Health Care
(San Angelo Standard-Times)
According to a new U.S. report, over the next ten years government spending on health care will far outpace inflation and the rate of national growth, and will be economically unsustainable. Such spending will nearly double to more than $2 trillion in 2017, and total national spending on health care will also nearly double, to $4.3 trillion. Medicare outlays will swell, too, from $427 billion in 2007 to $844 billion in 2017. These increases will be spurred by an aging population and advances in medical technology. read more
February 27 – Global Aging
(AFX Asia)
Hong Kong's aging population will soon put immense pressure on public finances, warn government officials. With more people retiring, the tax base will decline –– while public spending on health care for the aging will increase. The country’s finance secretary is calling for improved productivity, expenditure control, and investment in other “mitigating measures” to avert the crisis. read more
Investigators at the SCL are focusing on advances in biomedical research to
maintain the mobility and independence of the elderly. The studies include
basic stem cell biology to improve musculoskeletal function, exercise
physiology to sustain cardiovascular fitness and strength, and
bioengineering solutions to prevent or treat degenerative changes in
bones and joints. read more
The SCL has funded three postdoctoral fellows this year for three years of full-time research in interdisciplinary studies related to aging and longevity. For more information, click the following link. SCL Fellowships
The New York Times (Sunday, March 9) recently ran an article titled So a Senior Citizen Walks Into a Bar... in which Dr. Laura Carstensen, Director of the Center, is quoted as saying " It’s astounding to me that people continue to regularly make incredibly ageist statements. There is no reason to depict people in their 70’s as feeble and frail and doddering." read more
In the city of Jaipur India, a foundation called BVMSS has been providing free prostheses to leg amputees for years. Their 'Jaipur foot' is renowned for its function, durability and natural appearance and is inexpensive to make. BVMSS has provided about a million foot prosthetics to needy Indian patients so far. For patients that have amputations above the knee, however, the available knee joints are seriously lacking.
So a team of students in bio-mechanical engineering at Stanford has embarked on a project to design a better, but ultra-affordable, knee. Sponsored by the Stanford Program in Biodesign (directed by SCL affiliate Paul Yock), this team, part of a graduate level class taught by SCL affiliate Dr. Thomas Andriacchi, is also advised by SCL Director of Private Sector Initiatives Steve Goldband. He visited the clinic in India to gain a fuller understanding of the problem and potential solutions, and to establish a working partnership. Goldband's insights into the workings of the clinic, needs of the patients in India, and available materials and manufacturing capability are instrumental to the success of the project. read more
Getting older and getting better: An interview with SCL Director Laura Carstensen recently appeared in CNN/ Money Magazine. read more read more
What will it mean to live twice as long as your ancestors? Stanford Center on Longevity Director Laura Carstensen and Deputy Director Tom Rando are currently co-teaching a course titled "Longevity" (PSYCH 102/ NENS 32). In this course students learn about implications of longer lives for themselves and for societies. Myths and misconceptions surround the aging process and societal implications are often blurred by political grandstanding. The objective of the course is to provide students with an informed grasp of the conceptual issues, empirical findings, and current controversies surrounding longevity. By adopting a multidisciplinary approach, Professor Rando- a neurologist and biogerontologist- and Professor Carstensen- a psychologist and life-span developmentalist- will help students understand new challenges to health care, financial markets, families, work, and politics. read more
In the Winter and Spring Quarters of 2008, Anne Friedlander (Director of the SCL's Major Project on Mobility) and her colleagues, Carol Winograd, Terry Winograd and Paul Yock (SCL faculty affiliates) will team teach a class entitled "Agile Aging" designed to develop new strategies and products to enhance mobility in seniors. The projects will find novel ways to integrate computer and device technologies with behavioral and social interventions. read more