Together at the fourth annual Penn Population Aging Research Center (PARC) Retreat are Norma Coe, PhD, LDI Senior Fellow, Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine, and Co-Director of PARC; S. Jay Olshansky, PhD, Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, keynote speaker; Joseph Baur, PhD, Professor in the Department of Physiology and the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism at the Perelman School, keynote speaker; and Hans-Peter Kohler, PhD, LDI Senior Fellow, Professor of Demography at Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences (SAS), and Co-Director of PARC. (Photos: Hoag Levins) [Click images for larger]
The University of Pennsylvania Population Aging Research Center’s (PARC) 2025 Retreat on May 5 brought together an interdisciplinary group of academics whose work exemplifies the organization’s reputation as an international leader in research on the structure, organization, health, and well-being of aging human populations. The event’s theme was the “Limits of Chronological Aging” and its 20 podium presentations and session posters covered a gamut of health issues ranging from the latest data on the outer limits of the human lifespan, to studies from South America and Asia exploring how schooling helps improve mental health later in life, to how different types of jobs can affect brain function later in life, to how different human organs age in different ways. There were also new insights on the impact of national emergencies on staffing in nursing homes, whether dementia hospice care teams recognize caregivers as an integral part of the care unit, and how many veterans may not be getting sufficient rehabilitation after strokes, and more. Here’s a look at some of what happened during the meeting at the Penn School of Arts and Sciences’ McNeil Building:
Olshansky is renowned for his research on the biological limits of human longevity. His work suggests that, despite medical advancements, human life expectancy is approaching a natural ceiling, with most individuals unlikely to live beyond 85 years. Olshansky emphasizes the importance of focusing on extending health span—the period of life spent in good health—rather than pursuing radical life extension, which he considers implausible without significant breakthroughs in aging biology.
The University of Pennsylvania Population Aging Research Center (PARC) is a 26-year-old hub of academic research focused on the nature and impact of aging trends on health and health care throughout the U.S. and the world beyond. Its center members include 69 Research Associates who are faculty members across virtually all areas of health care; 30 Research Fellows who are PhD candidates and postdoctoral students; and 10 Research Affiliates from universities in Europe and Asia.
In a 2001 article in Science, Olshansky and colleagues drew national attention with a forecast predicting limits to human lifespan increases, which sparked debate from optimists in the biotech sector who believe aging is “curable.” He has maintained that extreme claims about longevity are often rooted more in hype than in science. On the screen behind him is the cover of the 2003 Scientific American edition that published another of his early seminal papers.
LDI Senior Fellow Iliana Kohler, PhD, Associate Practice Professor in the Department of Sociology at Penn SAS and lead on the Mature Adults Cohort of the Penn Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health (MLSFH) Research project, spoke on the latest aging data from that African country.
Nadia Dehghani, PhD, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Penn Medicine Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) Center, discussed how the shorter protective tips on brain cell DNA are linked to a harmful protein in the memory part of the brain, and how this connection seems to be influenced by how genes are switched on or off.
Rory Boyle, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher at the FTD Center at the Perelman School, presented on how Black adults tend to age faster at the cellular level, and that this is linked to a protein in their blood that’s associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Bingxin Zhao, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Statistics and Data Science at the Wharton School discussed his study on how human organs age, not just by how old someone is, but by examining biological changes inside the body—both at the molecular level (like proteins in the blood) and the structural level (like the shape and function of organs seen in MRI scans).
The afternoon keynote talk by Joseph Baur, PhD, Professor of Physiology at the Perelman School detailed how some people live much longer than others, but scientists don’t fully understand why—or how to make everyone live that long. He discussed several ways researchers are analyzing aging in efforts to better understand its biomechanical dynamics better.
Cornelia Walther, PhD, Senior Fellow at the Penn School of Dental Medicine’s Center for Integrative Global Oral Health, discussed her new book, “Human Leadership for Humane Technology: The New AI: Agency Ignited.” She stressed the need for prosocial design and use of artificial intelligence (AI) to help people stay mentally sharp and socially connected as they age—and do so in ways that are ethical, inclusive, and beneficial for both individuals and society.
Sharing a laugh with Jere Behrman, PhD, of Penn SAS (right), Vikesh Amin, PhD, (left) Professor of Economics at Central Michigan University presented his study on how school helps improve mental health later in life in four developing countries: Brazil, China, India, and Mexico. Each extra year could lower the chances of being depressed later in life by anywhere from 0 to around 6 percent.
Namrata Ray, PhD, a Post Doctoral Researcher at PARC, presented her study on how people’s thinking and memory skills change as they get older in a poor, rural part of Malawi. Most studies on aging and brain health are from wealthy countries. This one focused on a low-income country where life is much harder and less well resourced.
Lindsay White, PhD, MPH, a Senior Research Investigator at the Perelman School’s Policy and Economics of Disability, Aging, and Long-Term Care (PEDAL) Lab, presented on the effect of the Paycheck Protection Program on nursing home staffing and resident outcomes during the pandemic. There were small improvements in facilities in wealthier neighborhoods but none in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
LDI Senior Fellow Kimberly Waddell, PhD, MSCI, an Assistant Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Perelman School and Research Health Scientist at the VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP) details her study that found many older veterans aren’t getting much rehabilitation after a stroke–especially outpatient therapy.
Via Zoom, Qixin Cai a PhD candidate at Renmin University of China and a visiting scholar at PARC, presented a study of how much financial help older adults in India get from their children, and how that affects their chances of living in poverty in a county that has no government health care safety net.
Penn undergraduate and research assistant Raquel Russek explained a study of the operations of a special Pennsylvania Hospital medical consult team focused on older, sicker adults. It suggested that getting patients involved with the team earlier might help reduce hospital stays and improve care.
The fourth annual PARC Retreat was held in the SAS McNeil Building on the Penn campus. Its large atrium was used for meals, networking, and poster displays.
LDI Associate Fellow Helene Purcell, PhD, a Postdoctoral Fellow at PARC, presents a study poster about a decade of longitudinal blood press measurements among people older than 45 years in a rural Malawi community.
LDI Associate Fellow Magdalena Delaporte, a PhD student at PARC was a podium presenter on a study that looked at how the type of jobs people had during their working lives may be connected to how their brains work in later years. She also presented a poster about cognitive aging in Ghana.
Jethro Banda, MSc, a Malawian PARC PhD student who has a master’s degree in Demography and Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, explains his poster of a study about HIV and Aging among older adults in rural Malawi that found HIV prevalence among older adults increased over time to levels higher than the national estimate.
LDI Associate Fellow Adriana Scanteianu, MSc, is a joint doctoral student in Demography at Penn and the International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health, and Data Science. Her poster was about a study of the reproductive history and cognition among aging adults in rural Malawi. It found that experiencing child mortality was significantly associated with cognitive impairment in women, but not in men.
LDI Associate Fellow Oonjee Oh, MSN, RN, a PhD student at Penn Nursing, explains her poster about a study that found that hospice teams can recognize caregivers as part of the unit of care and address the diverse needs and concerns of those dementia caregivers.
The fourth annual retreat of the University of Pennsylvania’s PARC ended with gifts and thanks for the keynote speakers.
