May 16, 2007

Baby Boomers have found Saint Louis University a willing partner to help them pursue their generational quest to remain young, vital and functional as long as possible.

"Society’s growing older. We’re at the stage that the baby boomers are moving rapidly into the beginning of the ‘young’ old and are eager to slow down the aging process and prevent health problems that rob them of their vitality,” says John Morley, MD, director of geriatric medicine at Saint Louis University and co-principal investigator of the new Center for Aging Successfully.

The center, Morely says, will act as a springboard to put SLU on the leading edge of developing knowledge and health care for the nation’s largest demographic.

“We’re going to need better care – new and innovative approaches. This center gives SLU the opportunity to take the lead during the next century in developing the knowledge to provide the best possible care for the aged,” Morley says.

“Having a center allows us to move forward to produce even better outcomes than we’ve had over the last 30 years,” Morley adds.

Nina Tumosa, Ph.D., professor of geriatrics and center co-principal investigator, says the center will make it easier for faculty who work on aging issues to collaborate.

“We work as a team because we all bring critical components to the program. Whatever we do with research and education, we want to translate to better patient care.”

Faculty could explore topics such as exercise and falls; Alzheimer’s disease; illness in certain population groups; hormones, nutrition; social problems; and emergency preparedness.

“I envision a center that would have clinical, education and research components that would draw people anywhere in the Midwest who care about aging,” Morley says.

U.S. News & World Report has ranked the school’s geriatrics programs as one of the best in the country for the last decade.

For more information about this program visit www.slu.edu.

Source: Newswise.com