GERONTOLOGY NEWS FROM UMASS BOSTON
August 2022
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announces increase in Medicaid funding at July 2022 press conference.
“It’s pretty exciting to see this outcome,” Elizabeth Simpson says on the news that Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and the legislature approved nearly $300 million in additional funding for nursing homes. A UMass Boston gerontology doctoral student, Simpson co-authored a LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston report on why Pennsylvania's nursing homes are struggling financially. Her co-authors are fellow doctoral student Molly Wylie; Marc Cohen, gerontology professor and co-director of the LTSS Center; and UMass Boston gerontology professor Edward Miller. “It’s great to know that all of our research didn’t just go into the ether," Simpson says, "that it can actually make a difference.”
PAC panel examines racial wealth gap and financial security in retirement
Quantifying the racial wealth gap in retirement financial security, why it exists, and possible solutions were the topics of a panel presentation, “Race, Retirement and Financial Security,” presented in late June by the Pension Action Center and cosponsored by the UMass Boston Black Faculty, Staff, and Students Association. Tyler Compton, a staff attorney for the Pension Action Center (PAC), moderated the presentation. 

“There’s an ongoing crisis of retirement financial security in this country which is disproportionately affecting people of color,” Anna-Marie Tabor, PAC's director, said in welcoming attendees to the online event. 
Meet a researcher: Jan Mutchler
A sociologist and demographer by training, Jan Mutchler brings those lenses to her gerontology work, which focuses on inequalities—gender, income, race, and more. Since joining the UMass Boston faculty in 1999, Mutchler has created the Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging, under which she produces the Elder Index, a widely cited tool that measures the income older adults need to meet their basic needs, county by county across the U.S. In September 2021, Mutchler was named director of the Gerontology Institute.
LTSS Center partners with NCOA to create Equity in Aging Research Fellowship
The LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston and the National Council on Aging have partnered to create a one-year graduate research position, the Equity in Aging Research Fellowship, to support both organizations’ priorities in advancing research around financial and health security and equity in the aging population. Gerontology doctoral student Molly Wylie (left) will serve as the inaugural fellow for the 2022-2023 school year, working closely with LTSS Center co-director Marc Cohen and Jane Tavares, associate lecturer and research fellow.
Interdisciplinary UMass Boston team leads research on age-friendly universities
"The Age-Friendly University concept is a movement.
With more institutions of higher education joining the network,
momentum is growing along with impact."
—Nina Silverstein, PhD, professor of gerontology
How well do universities meet the needs of an age-diverse population—as learners, employees, and individuals in the community? That question is at the heart of Age-Friendly University research being led by a UMass Boston team. In 2017, UMass Boston became the third American university to join the AFU Global Network. In 2019, the five-campus University of Massachusetts system became the first university system to join the network.
Checking out OLLI: The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UMass Boston brought members and prospective members to campus twice in July, for a campus construction update and Boston Harbor cruise and for a hybrid in-person/online open house that drew 90 attendees. Above, three friends peruse an OLLI course catalogue.
Woman shops in grocery store. Getty Photos image from recent Kaiser Health News story on the Elder Index
UMASS BOSTON GERONTOLOGY IN THE NEWS
"'True cost of aging' index shows many seniors can't afford basic necessities," Jan Mutchler talks with Kaiser Health News about the Elder Index, July 25, 2022 (widely reprinted in many publications).

"Super financially secure or destitute, which is it?" Jan Mutchler writes in Generations Today, from the American Society on Aging, July 21, 2022.

"Your Money Map with Jean Chatzky and Marc Cohen," Cohen talks about health care costs in retirement with Chatzky, an Alliance for Lifetime Income Education Fellow, July 12, 2022.

"Could person-centered care be the secret to achieving the triple aim?" Marc Cohen, Jane Tavares, and two more co-authors write in Health Affairs about their recent study, July 13, 2022

"Nursing assistants: the heart and soul of nursing care," former Institute Director Len Fishman talks with The Shape of Care podcast, July 12, 2022.

"The town-level prevalence of chronic lung conditions and death from COVID-19 among older adults in Connecticut and Rhode Island," UMB gerontology researchers publish in CDC's Preventing Chronic Disease journal, June 30, 2022.

"The Equity in Aging Collaborative," National Council on Aging announces new initiative in partnership with the Institute's Elder Index, June 7, 2022.

"Person-centered care: A look at equity and scaling," The SCAN Foundation features report co-authored by researchers at LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston, June 2, 2022.