The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) -- the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging -- has named the following individuals as 2016 recipients of the Richard Kalish Innovative Publication Award: Becca Levy, PhD, of Yale University; Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD, of the National Institute on Aging; Alan B. Zonderman, PhD, of the National Institute on Aging; Martin D. Slade, MPH, of Yale University; Juan Troncoso, MD, of Johns Hopkins University; and Susan Resnick, PhD, of the National Institute on Aging.
This distinguished honor recognizes insightful and innovative publications on aging and life course development in the behavioral and social sciences. The award is underwritten by the Baywood Publishing Company and named after social psychologist Richard Kalish, PhD. Any empirical or conceptual publication that represents state-of-the-art thinking in aging and life course development is eligible for the awards, provided it is in English and was published in the last three years.
The award presentation will take place at GSA's 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting, which will be held from November 16 to 20 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This conference is organized to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers, educators, and practitioners who specialize in the study of the aging process. Visit http://www.geron.org/2016 for further details.
Levy, Ferrucci, Zonderman, Slade, Troncoso, and Resnick earned the Kalish Award for their article "A Culture?Brain Link: Negative Age Stereotypes Predict Alzheimer's Disease Biomarkers," which appeared in the journal Psychology and Aging.
The article reports results of the first study to demonstrate that a culture?based risk factor -- namely, stress?inducing negative age stereotypes that are assimilated -- can predict pathological brain?structure changes that are biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. Specifically, it showed that among older persons holding more?negative age stereotypes, compared to those holding more?positive age stereotypes, there was significantly steeper hippocampal?volume decline as well as a significantly greater accumulation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. This study was conducted with participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, who were dementia free at baseline and developed the Alzheimer's disease biomarkers decades later.
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The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is the nation's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society — and its 5,500+ members — is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA's structure also includes a policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society, and an educational branch, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.