UCLA, Cedars-Sinai and the University of Southern California have been awarded $6.5 million from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging to establish a Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center in Los Angeles. The center will be part of a national consortium of 15 research institutions conducting clinical trials on aging, with the overall goal of improving quality of life for older adults.
For the next five years, Dr. Sarah Espinoza of Cedars-Sinai, will lead the Los Angeles Pepper Center in collaboration with colleagues at USC and UCLA who say the combined expertise and resources of the three prominent institutions is a strong advantage
Investigators at the Los Angeles Pepper Center will focus on extending older adults’ healthspan—which means aging with reduced burden of chronic diseases and conditions that lead to loss of independence—by studying interventions that target the biological processes of aging. Investigators then will translate those findings into clinical care.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects that nearly one-quarter of the U.S. population will be 65 or older by 2060. Researchers say this creates a critical need to address the onset of multiple chronic diseases linked to aging. By intervening in the aging process at the biological level, scientists aim to prevent, delay and treat multiple medical conditions simultaneously.
“This designation strengthens our commitment to addressing the health challenges of aging—not only for today’s older adults, but for future generations as well,” said Dr. Jonathan Wanagat, a geriatrician at UCLA and co-director of the Pepper Center.
This initiative was originally reported by Cedars-Sinai. Read more here.
