Fourth Summit: Geroscience for the Next Generation
On April 24-26, 2023, the NIH Geroscience Interest Group (GSIG) will host the fourth Geroscience Summit with in-person and virtual options. This landmark event will bring together researchers and clinicians interested in geroscience and aging to explore the state of the science.
About the Fourth Summit: Geroscience for the Next Generation
The growing field of geroscience is focused on the discovery and translation of methods and interventions to prevent, minimize or reverse age-related deficits that diminish the quality of life for older individuals. For the purposes of advancing geroscience, aging can be described as the progressive decline in biological resilience mechanisms that lead to functional deficit accumulation and, eventually, a reduced ability to maintain health and independence in the face of environmental and social challenges. The presence of functional deficits may result from underlying biology and physiological vulnerability that manifests clinically as increased risk of chronic diseases. Greater susceptibility to environmental stresses, such as infections, pollutants and sudden or persistent extreme weather conditions, natural disasters, or psychological stresses including the loss of loved ones, also increase morbidities associated with aging.
Another important goal for biology of aging researchers is to elucidate the molecular origins of functional deficit accumulation. This knowledge is a necessary foundation on which to develop and test interventions that could act in advance of deficit accumulation (geroprotective) and those that could reverse deficit accumulation (gerotherapeutic). Geroscience is a field of research whose outcomes are important for geriatrics, the medical discipline specializing in the treatment of existing diseases, geriatric syndromes and disabilities in older adults. In this respect, research on biomarkers is particularly important to geroscience. Biomarkers of aging can be used as readouts in pre-clinical experiments and then used to create and validate parallel investigations and clinical trials in humans. What distinguishes geroscience from other fields of medicine and biology is its core hypothesis, “Any intervention that slows the rate of aging will impact multiple deficits and therefore delay multiple chronic diseases, reduce multimorbidity and improve function and resilience in older people.” The fundamental challenge for geroscience is to effectively advance discoveries in biology of aging into candidate interventions, and then advance translation of those interventions to clinical trials. With these challenges and opportunities in mind, the NIH will host a fourth summit on geroscience to provide a venue for critical discussions about the direction of the field.
The fourth Geroscience Summit will be an opportunity to further develop and implement geroscience in an equitable manner, while considering the breadth and heterogeneity of physiology among individuals across all populations. Researchers and clinicians will have an opportunity to discuss new approaches to understanding and addressing multimorbidity and geriatric syndromes, two clinical conditions that place a significant burden on older populations.
Agenda and Sessions
The agenda and sessions for the summit are outlined below. View the detailed agenda for the summit.
April 24, 2023 | 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
SESSION I: Biological Determinants of Health and Disparities in Aging
SESSION II: Populations for Geroscience: High and Low Burdens of Functional Deficits and Morbidities
SESSION III: Multimorbidities and Geriatric Syndromes
April 25, 2023 | 9:00 a.m. - 5:15 p.m.
SESSION IV: Methods for Measuring Health
SESSION V: Mathematical Modeling of Aging and Health for Geroscience
SESSION VI: Biomarkers for Geroscience
April 26, 2023 | 9:00 a.m. - 4:15 p.m.
SESSION VII: Geroscience as Medicine in the Clinic and Community
SESSION VIII: Geroscience Clinical Trials
SESSION IX: Looking Forward: Where Do We Go from Here?
Registration
Contact Us
For more information about the upcoming Summit please contact Ronald Kohanski or Siobhan Addie.