For easy-to-understand information on the latest aging research, visit Infoaging, another AFAR Web site designed for the general public.


To learn more about how to effectively navigate research information on health and aging, visit AFAR's consumer web site HealthCompass.


For information on successful approaches to academic geriatrics career development from the John A. Hartford Foundation Centers of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine and Training.

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Your Support Matters
With the support of foundations, corporations and individuals, AFAR runs six high quality grant programs that create a broad variety of opportunities for promising new scientists. AFAR grantees probe a wide range of illnesses and issues from Alzheimer's disease to osteoporosis, from heart disease to glaucoma, from the processes of cell death to cancer. All of this work is critical to developing the knowledge necessary to prevent and treat disease and helping us stay healthier as we age.

Preparing for the "Age Boom"
Thanks to dramatic health advances in this century, we can expect to live approximately 30 years longer than our great grandparents. During the next few decades, as the Baby Boom generation reaches into old age, America will witness a so-called "age boom,"—an explosion with broad social and cultural reverberations. The number of people over 65 will double by the year 2030. The existence of an estimated 500,000 people over the age of 100 will force us to re-examine long-held notions of old age.

Scientific Research: Our Best Hope
Aging, however, is not a disease, and decline and disability need not accompany the natural process of getting older. Many people remain vigorous, creative, and productive in their later years.

The most powerful strategy for keeping ourselves healthy and vital as we age—and for cutting the costs associated with disease and disability-is biomedical research. The National Institute on Aging's National Research Agenda on Aging states unequivocally: "Science offers the best hope to improve the older person's quality of life. Research that is directed and supported properly can provide the means to reduce disability and dependence in old age and can decrease the burdens on a health-care system strained to its limits."

Already, aging research is providing hope. While there is not yet a cure for Alzheimer's, drugs under development suggest that there may soon be interventions that slow its progression. Statins, Beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, and cholesterol lowering drugs, along with new knowledge about diet and lifestyle, have already reduced the incidence of and mortality associated with heart disease. Drug and other therapies are reducing the rate of osteoporosis in older women. Research has uncovered the first genetic marker for adult-onset diabetes, holding out the possibility for genetic tests and a cure for the disease, which is a leading cause of stroke, blindness, nerve and kidney damage.

Scientific breakthroughs like these can dramatically reshape how we age — and more importantly how much it costs to care for us as we grow older. For example, if science could delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease for five years, America would save an estimated $50 billion annually. If the development of cataracts could be delayed by 10 years, $2.5 billion could be saved annually. Almost 10% of all health care spending for older adults is spent on diabetes—the sixth leading cause of death by disease in the U.S. New therapies leading to even a modest reduction in the cost of this one disease would produce significant health care savings.

AFAR: Building the Aging Research Field
To support the research that would make these advances possible, AFAR grant programs encourage more young scientists to choose gerontology and geriatrics as a career. Out of 650,000 of our nation's physicians, just 9,000 specialize in geriatrics. Grants to medical and PhD students, fellows and junior faculty help talented researchers gather the data they need to compete for larger foundation and federal grants. This creates a 'ladder of opportunity' approach that helps to launch long-term careers in aging research. It has been overwhelmingly successful.

AFAR recently surveyed researchers supported through the AFAR Research Grant mechanism and found that nearly 95% of those who responded have stayed in the field, and many have taken leadership positions at their research institutions and are now themselves mentoring younger researchers.

Communicating the Importance of Healthy Aging
In addition to its grant programs, AFAR takes an active role spreading the word about the latest information in aging research. AFAR produces Lifelong, a newsletter designed to inform older patients about the latest treatments, interventions, and guidelines for better health. It also maintains two consumer information Web sites, Infoaging (www.infoaging.org) and Health Compass (www.healthcompass.org). In addition, AFAR conducts media briefings moderated by prominent journalists that feature some of the nation's leading scientists.

Please join in the advancement of age-related research by making a contribution to AFAR today.