Center for Health and Behavior Lecture explores the question of human longevity in the 21st century

Center for Health and Behavior Lecture explores the question of human longevity in the 21st centuryMarch 23, 2006Carol K. Masiclatclkim@syr.edu

The 4th annual Center for Health and Behavior Lecture will be held Thursday, April 6, at 7 p.m. in Room 007 of the Whitman School of Management building on the Syracuse University campus. Internationally recognized scholar and human longevity expert S. Jay Olshansky will deliver a lecture titled “Will Human Life Expectancy Decline in the 21st Century?” The lecture is sponsored by the Center for Health and Behavior, a unit of The College of Arts and Sciences.

Olshansky’s research focuses on the health and public policy implications associated with individual and population aging, and global implications of the re-emergence of infectious and parasitic diseases. Over the past decade, he has been collaborating with colleagues in the biological sciences to develop the modern “biodemographic paradigm” of mortality — an effort to understand the biological nature of the dying out process of living organisms. Olshansky’s work on biodemography has been funded by a Special Emphasis Research Career Award and Independent Scientist Award from the National Institute on Aging.

“There is an intense debate raging with regard to human longevity,” says Michael Carey, professor of psychology and director of the Center for Health and Behavior. “Some scientists suggest that it will be possible for humans to live past 100 years of age. Others believe that such forecasts are optimistic and that we may even witness decreases in longevity as a result of drug-resistant infectious illnesses, as well as health-damaging behavior and environments. Professor Olshansky is no stranger to controversy, and he will dive into this important and fascinating debate.”

A professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Olshansky is a research associate at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He has served as president of the Society for the Study of Social Biology and associate editor of the Journal of Gerontology. He has been an invited speaker at the President’s Council on Bioethics, Fortune Magazine’s 2004 Brainstorming Meeting, the Nobel Conference devoted to the science of aging and the Institute of Medicine 2004. Olshansky has also testified before the trustees of the Social Security Administration, where his research has influenced forecasts of the nation’s entitlement programs. Olshansky has been invited to lecture on aging throughout the world and has participated in numerous international debates on the future of human health and longevity. He is the author of “The Quest for Immortality: Science at the Frontiers of Aging” (Norton, 2001).

This event is free and open to the public. Parking is available at the University Avenue Garage and the Sheraton University Hotel & Conference Center. For more information on the lecture or the Center for Health and Behavior, contact Carey at mpcarey@syr.edu or (315) 443-2755.