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1991 – In a major report “Extending Life, Enhancing Life, a National Research Agenda on Aging”, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) calls for the establishment of at least 10 Centers of Excellence to undertake the multi-disciplinary study of aging.

February 2006 - The Buck Institute launches the public phase of its first capital campaign to raise funds for a lab expansion project. Dr. Jan Vijg, internationally-renowned aging/cancer researcher joins the Institute as a faculty member.

September 2007 - The Institute is awarded a $25 million "Roadmap" award from  the NIH to establish a new field of research called "Geroscience", which will focus on the intersection of aging and chronic disease. It is one of only nine "Roadmap" awards granted in the country and is designed to address critical health issues that have not responded to traditional research

2007 Task Force Report on Aging Research Funding

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The 2007 Task Force on Aging Research Funding--more than 85 non-partisan disease groups, patient advocates, and foundations--urges Congress and the President to chart a better course for medical research on behalf of America's aging population. This year's report of the Task Force calls for a 6.7% increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health in FY 2008. It also presents data on the burden of 27 diseases and conditions that predominately affect older Americans, highlights some of the exciting work the NIH is doing to decrease these burdens, and serves as a resource for policymakers working to establish the funding levels necessary to advance healthy aging.

A Capitol Hill Symposium & Luncheon September 12, 2006 Hart Senate Office Building, #902 At this international gathering organized by the Alliance for Aging Research, prominent scientists called for governments and health care organizations worldwide to invest in the extension of healthy human life in order to produce a "Longevity Dividend" for nations with aging populations.

Read the statement released by the group of more than 90 scientists.

III. International Perspectives Alex Kalache, Director, Ageing and Health Program, World Health Organization (WHO) - SLIDES James Goodwin, PhD, Head of Research, Help the Aged, London, England - SLIDES

You Can! Steps to Healthier Aging You Can! is the aging component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Servicse' Steps to a HealthierUS initiative, which encourages Americans of every age to make healthier choices for physical activity and exercise.

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FDA is a scientific bureaucracy with police powers. Patients and physicians are free to choose only those drugs and medical devices that it has approved. When FDA approves a therapy that later turns out to be unexpectedly risky, the agency is the subject of front-page headlines and congressional hearings. On the other hand, when FDA delays a badly needed new therapy, patients will suffer but hardly anyone will blame FDA.

Consider, for example, FDA's 10-year delay, in 1967-76, in approving beta-blockers to prevent death following heart attacks, because of the agency's fear that the drugs might be carcinogenic. During those years, the drugs saved lives in Europe and elsewhere, while an estimated 10,000 heart attack victims unnecessarily died in this country each year. When beta blockers were finally approved in the US, to wide acclaim, hardly anyone raised the lethal effects of FDA's slowness.

As it turns out, however, that extra agency caution doesn't actually improve drug safety. Studies conducted by FDA itself show that the rate of drug withdrawals has remained essentially unchanged over the last 25 years, despite rising and falling approval times during that period.

The central focus of our research is understanding age-related changes in physiology and the ability to adapt to environmental stress. This understanding is then applied to developing insight about the pathophysiology of age-related diseases. The program seeks to understand the changes associated with healthy aging and to define the criteria for evaluating when a change becomes pathologic.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), located in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIA leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life. In 1974, Congress granted authority to form NIA to provide leadership in aging research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs relevant to aging and older people. Subsequent amendments to this legislation designated the NIA as the primary Federal agency on Alzheimer's disease research.

National Institute on AgingNIAUndertakes research on the biomedical, social, and behavioral aspects of the aging process, prevention of age-related diseases and disabilities, promotion of better quality of life for all older Americans.1974

These are programs that might not otherwise be supported by the NIH ICs because of their scope or because they are inherently risky. Roadmap Programs are expected to have exceptionally high potential to transform the manner in which biomedical research is conducted. They are also expected to be short term, 5–10 year programs. This “incubator space” time frame is intended to allow the major roadblocks that were defined for each program to be overcome, thereby stimulating further research conducted through the ICs.

Division of Aging Biology (DAB)Supports research and training to enhance and extend the human health span through a better understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying the aging process.  

Division of Geriatrics and Clinical Gerontology (DGCG)Supports research on health and disease in the aged and research on aging over the human lifespan, including its relationships to health outcomes.

In 1994, $32.9 billion went into biomedical research, with federal and state government providing $14.6 billion -- $10.3 billion from NIH alone -- and $17.1 billion from private sector funds, including pharmaceutical companies and charities. Another $500 million is provided by private foundations, with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute offering $258 million.