A book reading and signing by Dr. Robert Butler, Director ,International Center on Longevity

Pulitzer-prize winning author Dr. Robert Butler coined the term “ageism” and made “Alzheimer’s” a familiar word. Now he brings his formidable knowledge and experience in aging issues to a recent and unprecedented achievement: the extension of human life expectancy by thirty years. As Butler shows, our society had not yet adapted to this change.

The U.S. has not made a research investment in aging. Only eleven medical schools out of 145 have geriatrics departments compared to England where geriatrics is the number two specialty. We have not solidified private pension plans or strengthened Social Security to ensure that people do not outlive their resources. In this urgent and ultimately optimistic book, Dr. Butler shows why and how we must re-examine our personal and societal approach to aging right now, so that the boomers and the generations that follow may have a financially secure, vigorous, and healthy final chapter life.

Date and Time: Wednesday, July 16, 2008. 4:00- 5:00 PM.

Location: Stanford Bookstore, Main Floor, Foreign Language Section (located behind the Medical Department)

Contact: (650) 329-1217 x323
m.carson @ bookstore.stanford.org

Admission: Free. Open to the public.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Physician, gerontologist, psychiatrist, public servant and Pulitzer Prizewinning author of “Why Survive”, Robert N. Butler, M.D. is president and CEO of the International Longevity Center. In 1975, he became founding director of the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health, and in 1982 he founded the first department of geriatrics in a U.S. medical school at The Mount Sinai Medical Center.