On November 11, the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute and the Columbia Aging Center joined forces to present the first Columbia Aging Workshop “The Aging of Mind, Brain and Behavior in Context”. More than 50 Columbia researchers – as well as President Bollinger and other University administrators – attended the workshop that highlighted the University’s commitment to advancing interdisciplinary research on aging.
Ursula Staudinger, founding director of the Columbia Aging Center, has made the interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of aging one of her primary goals since her start in July 2013. “Our aim is to excel at basic research on the systemic nature of aging, and to use findings to inform effective policy. With this first Columbia Aging Workshop we have succeeded in setting off a dialog among leading biological, behavioral and contextual investigators.”
“The historic demographic change we are witnessing holds profound consequences for global society,” said Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger. “Columbia is committed to improving our understanding of the great variability in how different individuals age. By working across disciplines and examining these issues in new ways, our faculty is in the process of developing precision medicine and other emerging approaches that may be able to modify the aging process.”