Nov. Advances: CSDRA turns 10, meet Jane Tavares, photos from GSA

GERONTOLOGY NEWS FROM UMASS BOSTON

November 2022

UMB Gerontology represents at GSA 2022

A large contingent of UMass Boston gerontology students, faculty, and staff presented more than 50 talks and posters and collected awards at the 2022 annual scientific meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, held in early November in Indianapolis. For most attendees, it was the first large, in-person gathering they had attended since the pandemic shutdown in 2020.

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Marshfield residents check out the new Seaflower Cafe, one of the amenities introduced when the town opened its newly expanded senior center in May 2022. Photo: Marshfield Council on Aging/Robin Chan

CSDRA at 10: Helping MA communities understand needs, serve older residents

The Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging celebrates its tenth anniversary in a period of growth, with the number of its municipal contracts doubling in the last few years.

“We’ve built a reputation of being the people who local communities turn to when they have questions about their aging population,” says CSDRA Director Caitlin Coyle. “With our needs assessments, we’re empowering senior centers and aging services providers with information so they can be their own advocates.”

Meet a researcher: Jane Tavares

Senior research fellow and associate lecturer Jane Tavares, PhD ‘18, always saw herself working with older people. As a child, she lived with her Portuguese grandparents and watched her family members care for them. She thought she would end up in psychology, but Tavares learned about gerontology and realized the field's interdisciplinary nature meant her research could take any number of directions. Her primary research explores the social determinants of health and risk factors for financial vulnerability for older adults.

Beth Dugan (bottom right, on screen) reacts to her citation being presented by Governor Charlie Baker during the final meeting of the Governor's Council to Address Aging in Massachusetts earlier this fall.

Dugan honored for service on Governor's Council to Address Aging in Massachusetts

Governor Charlie Baker recently honored Beth Dugan, PhD, associate professor of gerontology at UMass Boston, for her five years of service on the Governor’s Council to Address Aging in Massachusetts. Dugan joined 23 other stakeholders on the council, which Baker created in 2017 with the aim of promoting healthy aging across Massachusetts. The group concluded its service in September as Baker prepares to step down from his post at the end of the year.

Miller to run Boston Marathon to support

a cause both personal and professional

Next April, Edward Alan Miller (shown at right running the October 2022 Loco Marathon in New Hampshire) plans to line up at the starting line to run the Boston Marathon in April 2023. Miller, chair of gerontology at UMass Boston, is running to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association in honor of his mother, Diane “Dinny” Miller Asche, 95, who passed away in August 2021. Miller watched the social isolation forced by the pandemic exacerbate his mother’s dementia.

His mother’s experience intersects with Miller’s work as a gerontology professor and editor of the Journal of Aging & Social Policy. He has focused his research on long-term services and supports, including better support for older adults with Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia as well as for their families.

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UMB researchers, including students and recent alums, publish 4 Gerontologist articles

Congratulations to the UMass Boston gerontology researchers who published a whopping four articles in the latest issue of The Gerontologist journal. Three of those articles feature students and recent alumni as first authors: Kingsley Chima Mbam, Changmin Peng (with second author Sae Hwang Han PhD '19), and Krystal Kittle PhD '22. Their topics range from sociodemographics and measurement to childhood perception and aging in Nigeria.

Frank Porell, professor emeritus and Gerontology Institute fellow, wrote the fourth article along with faculty members Beth Dugan and Nina Silverstein and Institute fellow Chae Man Lee, PhD '17, on their findings from health aging data.

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UMASS BOSTON GERONTOLOGY IN THE NEWS

Lisa Haney illustration from New York Times story on Social Security's cost-of-living increase

"An Uptick in Elder Poverty: A Blip, or a Sign of Things to Come?" the New York Times quotes Jan Mutchler and highlights Elder Index, October 17, 2022.

"Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment Not Enough to Cover True Cost of Aging," NCOA advocates for use of Elder Index as more accurate measure of home much older adults need to meet basic needs, NCOA blog, October 13, 2022.

"Social Security's Cost-of-Living Increase: Everything You Need to Know," the New York Times quotes Jan Mutchler and highlights Elder Index, October 9, 2022.