Dear Friends,
Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. Professor in Public Policy, Professor of Psychology & Founding Director of the Stanford Center on Longevity
The Stanford Center on Longevity’s ninth year included an active conference and workshop agenda, the publication of a number of papers, and the launch of the Center’s “SIGHTLINES” project. We continue to organize our work within three research divisions – Mind, Mobility and Financial Security because we believe that to the degree to which people reach old age mentally sharp, physically fit and financially secure, aging societies will thrive. We work closely with collaborators across the country and at Stanford, with the goal of making sure that research findings do not stay locked away in academia but instead reach the people who can most benefit from them. We continue to be sought after for expert input, and are regularly featured in leading media outlets.
Our conferences and workshops over the course of the year covered a broad range of topics: family decision-making related to life-threatening illness; financial wellness programs in the workplace; the taxonomy of fraud; and fitness across the life span. We completed a a brain health consensus report in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany. Our second annual Design Challenge, “Enabling Physical Mobility Across the Life Span” was very successful, and featured three events over the course of the year – an ideation workshop and kick-off event in the fall and a finals event in the spring. Our distinguished lecturer was Professor Atul Gawande, Harvard University, who shared observations and insights related to his best-selling book, Being Mortal.
We began the SIGHTLINES project, which is a benchmark analysis of an unfolding 21st century miracle – Americans living well, to the age of 100 and beyond. The Center, dedicated to redesigning long life, developed the SIGHTLINES to illuminate the status of the population and give insights into manageable opportunities to improve quality of long life. We aim to stir national debate, stimulate public commitment, and guide personal behaviors that will improve our individual and collective odds of century lives of our own choosing. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch is the lead corporate sponsor for this project. We also received generous gifts from Russell Hill, Jim Johnson, Prudential Insurance Company, the Society of Actuaries, and Transamerica. The inaugural SIGHTLINES report will be covered in a special issue of TIME Magazine in February 2016 and will be released in conjunction with a public opinion survey conducted by Hart Research Associates.
The Corporate Affiliates program has continued to grow, and we are grateful for our corporate collaborators. SCL benefits enormously from an engaged Advisory Council, chaired by Jim Johnson. It is a privilege for all of us at the Center to work together with the Stanford faculty, students and postdoctoral fellows who shape our research agenda and make our work possible.
Sincerely,
