GERONTOLOGY NEWS FROM UMASS BOSTON
September 2022
BACK TO SCHOOL ISSUE
Jaqueline Contrera Avila joins gerontology faculty
The Department of Gerontology welcomes Jaqueline Contrera Avila, PhD, to campus this fall as our newest faculty member. Avila is a population health researcher with experience in U.S. and Latin America population-based data. Her research interests include the social determinants of older adult’s health, tobacco-related disparities among older adults, and cross-national comparisons of aging and health.
Stokes takes on leadership of undergraduate program
Jeff Stokes, PhD, assistant professor of gerontology, has been named undergraduate program director for the newly named undergraduate major, Aging Studies. Stokes is taking over the position from gerontology colleague Elizabeth Dugan, PhD, who has directed the undergraduate program since 2017.
Meet newest gerontology doctoral students
They hail from as close as Boston and New England and as far away as Nigeria, China, and Taiwan. The 10 first-year doctoral students joining our gerontology program this year bring passion, energy, and dreams of improving the aging experience locally and globally.

CENTER FOR SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH ON AGING
Undergraduates working as research assistants at the Gerontology Institute's Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging: Daniel Caron, Himani Pachchigar, Sabrin Zahid, Bendu David, and Roisin O’Keeffe.Text Link
CSDRA interns gain research, social policy experience as undergraduate students
They are in their early 20s and entering their junior years at UMass Boston, with their whole careers waiting ahead of them. Yet in their work at UMass Boston’s Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging, five undergraduate research assistants find themselves considering the lives of people on the other end of the adulthood spectrum.
Coyle named CSDRA director
Caitlin Coyle, PhD ’14, has been appointed director of the Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging at UMass Boston’s Gerontology Institute. Coyle has served as a CSDRA research fellow since 2016. She succeeds Jan Mutchler, PhD, the center’s founding director. Mutchler was named director of the Gerontology Institute in September 2021.

CSDRA conducts applied research to assist communities as their populations grow older. The center’s signature projects include producing the Elder Index, a county by county measure of the income older adults need to meet basic living costs; and community assessments to assist Massachusetts municipalities with aging services.
Fueled by scholarship, MAS student embraces her return to higher education
Connelly, right, accepts a scholarship award from Megan Stedjan of LeadingAge Pennsylvania.
When Doreen Connelly learned that LeadingAge Pennsylvania was offering $1,200 scholarships for staff at its member communities, she decided to apply to help offset tuition costs for UMass Boston's Management of Aging Services' graduate certificate program. But enrolling in an online post-graduate program along with applying for the scholarship proved challenging, as anyone returning to higher education after a long time away can attest.

Connelly believed her 11th-hour application woes likely dashed her chances, making the surprise presentation of her scholarship all the more fun for colleagues and family.
Journal of Aging & Social Policy sees
steep jump in its impact ranking
The global research publisher Taylor & Francis reports that the impact factor for the Journal of Aging & Social Policy, published six times annually and based at UMass Boston since its inception in 1989, rose to a notable 7.1 in 2021, up from 2.3 in 2020. The impact factor is a measure of how often the journal’s contents are cited in other works. According to Journal Citation Reports, JASP now ranks 4th of 37 journals in the gerontology category. 
GERONTOLOGY ALUMNI NEWS
Bei Wu, MS '97, PhD '00, has been named an American Academy of Nursing honorary fellow for "extraordinary and sustained contributions to health care." Wu serves as Dean’s Professor of Global Health and Vice Dean for Research at New York University's Rory Meyers College of Nursing. 

"As an eminent international leader in aging and health, she has increased the knowledge base of the lived experience of frail older adults and their quality of life," the Academy writes. "She is widely known as the first social scientist to show the links between poor oral health and cognitive loss among older adults. Her research on the chronicity of illness, social determinants of health, and aging—particularly among older Asian Americans—has informed numerous health care professionals and researchers. Dr. Wu has embraced a cross-disciplinary partnership with nurses to inform our nursing knowledge and grow the profession’s ability to have policy impact."

Wu will be honored officially in October at the Academy's Health Policy Conference along with Paul Farmer, founder of Partners In Health (in memoriam); Carolyn Jones, founder of 100 People Foundation; and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson.
Eilon Caspi, PhD '10, won a silver National Mature Media Award for his book, Understanding and Preventing Harmful Interactions Between Residents with Dementia, published by Health Professions Press. Caspi is an assistant research professor at the University of Connecticut's Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy and founder and director of Dementia Behavior Consulting.
UMASS BOSTON GERONTOLOGY IN THE NEWS
"'It's Becoming Too Expensive to Live': Anxious Older Adults Try to Cope With Limited Budgets," Judith Graham writes follow-up for Kaiser Health News to her July 2022 story, citing Elder Index, September 7, 2022.

"The Racial Roots of Retirement Inequality," Kim Blanton of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College covers the recent panel talk held by the Pension Action Center, August 18, 2022.

"Florida housing costs squeeze older adults on a fixed income," WUSF uses Elder Index to illustrate how far Social Security benefits go in covering the cost of living in Florida's Counties, August 11, 2022.

"'True Cost of Aging' index shows many seniors can't afford basic necessities," Fortune runs story with Jan Mutchler and the NCOA Equity in Aging Collaborative about the Elder Index, July 25, 2022.