Category: Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging

Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging Blog Posts

The halfway point of an exciting summer

A student participating in the Summer Research Program – Aging & Neurological Diseases Track discusses her work with the Stark Lab at WashU.

An afternoon as an older adult

See through the eyes of an older adult with macular degeneration in this blog post by a participant in the Summer Research Program-Aging & Neurological Diseases Track.

Getting started in the Summer Research Program

Find out what’s happening with students in the Summer Research Program-Aging & Neurological Diseases Track in this blog post from a participating student.

Celebrating aging!

Read more about resources and tips for helping older adults celebrate Older Americans Month!

A Geroscientist’s perspective on Careers in Aging

Careers in Aging Week, April 17-23 is designed to bring awareness to the wide-ranging career opportunities in the field of aging. Read one geroscientist’s point of view here.

April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day

In this blog post, Faculty Scholar and contributor to the Friedman Center for Aging, Brian Carpenter, asks some important questions about health care as we age.

Your Next Move: Transitioning to the New Retirement comes to UCollege this spring

Written by Chris Frey, LCSW, Your Next Move course instructor As an educator and counselor, my interest in how we navigate transitions of all shapes and sizes has grown significantly through the years. As I have aged, my journey to understand both the familiar and unique aspects of life changes that call on us to […]

“Kids these days”: Why youth-directed ageism is an issue for everyone

Written by Morgan Van Vleck, MSW candidate (’22) and Masters Research Fellow in Aging at the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging As we become an increasingly aged society, it is important to understand how stereotypes and bias against both younger and older age groups functions and leads to fractures in intergenerational relationships. Ageism against […]

Ageism – the unnoticed -ism

Written by Michele Dinman, project coordinator for the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging at the Institute for Public Health “She looks so good for her age”…“I was having a senior moment”…“50 is the new 30”…“Old people go there”….“You don’t look 70”… “Millennials have an inflated sense of entitlement” …“She is too young to be […]

Return to normal

Mateo Blair, a Summer Research Program- Aging and Neurological Diseases Track participant, discusses her experiences in Dr. Susan Stark’s lab.

Remembering the people behind the disease

In this blogpost written by Sophia Tu, a Summer Research Program student in the Aging & Neurological Diseases Track, studies concerning dementia and Alzheimers are discussed.

Summer Research Program Experience 2.0

This blogpost written by Summer Research Program, Aging & Neurological Diseases Track student, Danielle Friz discusses various presentations on chronic diseases in aging adults.

Purpose for life over a lifespan

This blog post by Summer Research Program student Aja Jones assesses the connection between healthy aging and a continuous development of an individual’s purpose for life.

An exciting experience

In this blogpost written by Summer Research Program student, Josie Wright, the COMPASS program and home modifications for stroke patients are discussed.

COVID-19: Age & Race Lead to Compounding Risk

Issues affecting older adults during the time of COVID-19 are the topic of this blogpost by guest author, Morgan Van Vleck, masters research fellow in aging.

Why older people are among the first to get the vaccine

By Nancy Morrow-Howell, MSW, PhD, the Bettie Bofinger Brown Distinguished Professor of Social Policy, Brown School of Social Work and director of the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging On December 8, 2020, the first Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine went into the arm of a 90-year-old woman, Margaret Keenan, with the second delivered to an 81-year-old […]

New Retirement Includes Purpose as Well as Leisure

Friedman Center for Aging “Your Next Move” Seminar Summary Written by Kim Furlow, Institute for Public Health Being in my early 50’s and thinking about “many years from now” when I’ll retire, (not really; it’s probably coming sooner than we all expect!) I decided to attend the Friedman Center for Aging “Your Next Move” Seminar […]

COVID-19 and Compounding Losses

by Barbara L. Finch, MLA, Alumna, Washington University in St. Louis The older adults I know are scared. In the independent living retirement community where I live, eight months of isolation because of Covid-19 is beginning to take its toll.  While we are no longer “locked down” like we were during the first few months of […]

Aging: Something we all experience and should not be afraid of

Written by Mason Basler, BS candidate in biochemistry, Rockhurst University; participant in the  Summer Research Program,- Aging and Neurological Diseases Track During the online summer internship in aging and neurological conditions, I attended an online presentation given by Brian Carpenter, PhD, who is a professor and researcher of psychological and brain sciences. During this presentation, […]

Music to my ears: Learning on Zoom

Written by Sophia Tu, BS candidate at Saint Louis University; participant in the Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program- Aging and Neurological Diseases Track I was sitting in front of my computer screen with the volume turned up, listening intently as the words coming through the speakers gave me goosebumps. Some nights I would catch […]

Bridging the gap: How purpose-driven research impacts everyday lives

Written by Lindsey Debosik, B.S. candidate in Public Health and Health Management at Saint Louis University and participant in the 2020 Institute of Public Health Summer Research Program For the longest time, I did not understand the value of research to society or to oppressed individuals within that society. As a public health student, I […]

Exploring a human-centric field in our remote society

By Kyla Kikkawa, B.A. Candidate, Washington University in St. Louis Participant, Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program, Aging and Neurological Diseases Track As we concluded our virtual program, each of us were shown versions of our “older selves” created by a digital application, which would have been printed on our name placards had we […]

Neurological diseases: The more I know, the more I want to know

Written by Josie Wright, BA candidate in psychology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; participant in the Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program- Aging and Neurological Diseases Track The virtual Summer Research Program in Aging and Neurological Diseases was an amazing experience. I loved learning about everything we discussed throughout the program. I was especially […]

How a transformative summer research opportunity in brain aging changed my outlook on life

Written by Paresa Chowdhury, BS candidate in psychology at Loyola University Chicago; participant in the Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program– Aging and Neurological Diseases Track When the COVID-19 crisis struck our country, everything felt uncertain. I could only hope that things would take a turn for the best, whichever way they go. Luckily, […]

Zooming and aging: Empirical research in the time of COVID

Written by Nahom Zewde, BA candidate at Earlham College, Indiana; participant in the Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program– Aging and Neurological Diseases Track I am currently a pre-medical student at Earlham College, studying Biochemistry and Mathematics. Alongside my academics, I am involved in many volunteering activities, at a skilled nursing facility and a […]

Best of a bad situation: Discovering new interests and learning new skills

Written by Mateo Blair, B.A. candidate in Biochemistry at Washington University in St. Louis & participant in the 2020 Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program The Covid-19 pandemic has made the past couple of months hectic. before I got news that it would be entirely virtual this summer, the Summer Research Program – Aging […]

Reflection: COVID-19 exacerbates ageism in our society

by Danielle Friz, BSN Candidate, ’21, University of Missouri – St. Louis; participant Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program- Aging and Neurological Diseases Track In a seminar led by Dr. Nancy Morrow-Howell, director of the Harvey A. Friedman Center for­­ Aging, I was very interested to learn about how ageism has played such a […]

Interpreting Alzheimer’s Disease through both a personal and educational lens

Written by Aja Jones, B.A. candidate in Psychological & Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis & participant in the 2020 Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program In an online seminar for the summer program’s Aging and Neurological Diseases Track with Matthew Wynn, a graduate student focusing on Geropsychology, I was able to […]

Emergency departments, older adults & coronavirus part two: What older adults need to know about their treatment in emergency departments

Written by Tanner Meyer, Masters Research Fellow in Aging, Class of ‘21, Friedman Center for Aging Embed from Getty Images Recap: At the start of our conversation with Barnes-Jewish Emergency Department Physician, Dr. Chris Carpenter, we asked how emergency departments are working to modify their methods of care to treat older adults. Dr. Carpenter, alongside […]

Warning: Don’t define us by our age!

Depending upon where you are in life’s journey, birthdays have a different meanings.  For children and teenagers, they are exciting milestones: ready for school (6), obtain a driver’s license (16), able to vote (18), legally buy a beer (21). Between 21 and 50 there don’t seem to be many age-related occasions to celebrate (although when […]

Perspective: Warning-don’t define us by our age!

Written by Barbara L. Finch, MLA Depending upon where you are in life’s journey, birthdays have a different meanings.  For children and teenagers, they are exciting milestones: ready for school (6), obtain a driver’s license (16), able to vote (18), legally buy a beer (21). Between 21 and 50 there don’t seem to be many […]

COVID-19 double jeopardy: The intersection of race and age

Written by Emma Swinford, Natalie Galucia and Nancy Morrow-Howell Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging at the Institute for Public Health, Washington University in St. Louis The American Society on Aging recently released a statement, which begins, “Age offers no immunity to racism and violence.” In fact, age often magnifies the impact of structural inequalities like racism. […]

Perspective: Broadening the scope as the country re-imagines policing

Written by Ron Long, head of Wells Fargo Aging Client Services In the wake of the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, there has been a call to reimagine policing. As an African American male who has been stopped over 20 times in my life thus far, I fully support having those conversations. Some […]

Aging: Enlarging the Frame

Written by Ellen C. Boone, PhD, Chair, Potpourri 2020 Committee Yes, as Galucia, Morrow-Howell, and Swinford have written, the coverage of COVID-19 does distort perceptions of the older adult population, especially the 95 percent who do not reside in nursing homes. To counter this distortion, I composed the following lines, with the intention of enlarging […]

COVID-19: Viewing the Virus from Senior Living and Senior Living

Written by Barbara L. Finch, MLA and alumna, Washington University in St. Louis Shortly before my husband and I moved into an independent living retirement community three years ago, a friend asked: “Will this be like living in a college dorm?” In some ways it is. There are a number of people (in our case, […]