Be there or be square! The NACA meeting is the place to be.
Everyone who is anyone is going to be at the National Advisory Council on Aging (NACA), including many of NIA’s senior and program staff. If you want the most up-to-date information on NIA’s budget and funding, scientific program activities, and research highlights, tune in and join us for the National Advisory Council on Aging meeting tomorrow morning.
NIA’s Council meets three times a year—in January, May, and September. This Council’s public session begins tomorrow morning at 8 o’clock, Eastern time. You can watch the live videocast here: http://videocast.nih.gov. The meeting agenda and other materials are available online.
NIA Director Dr. Richard Hodes begins the meeting with his Director’s Report, a short overview of the current and projected budgets, as well as the anticipated pay lines for the year ahead. He also will give an update on pending legislation affecting funding and other pertinent information.
One particular highlight of the September 17 meeting will be the presentation by NIH Deputy Director Dr. Lawrence Tabak about developing an NIH Strategic Plan. Congress asked the NIH to develop a unifying Strategic Plan, and the public has been engaged through recent webinars. Dr. Tabak is now visiting the Advisory Councils of most of the NIH Institutes to describe and—importantly—gain feedback on the developing Strategic Plan.
Comings and Goings
Three Council members will be concluding their 3-year terms this week. They are:
- Dr. Laura Carstensen, Stanford University
- Dr. Ana Maria Cuervo, Yeshiva University
- Dr. Jonathan Skinner, Dartmouth University
All have been actively involved with the Council’s work. Dr. Cuervo served on and chaired the Task Force on Minority Aging Research and took on the additional responsibility of representing NACA at the NIH Council of Councils. Drs. Carstensen and Skinner co-chaired a thorough Council review of the Division of Behavioral and Social Research. New members, whose nominations are now being processed, should take their places on the Council at the January 2016 meeting.
The Council will conclude with featured research highlights from each extramural NIA division:
- Dr. Kostas Lyketsos, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine – Advances in Treating Agitation in Alzheimer Dementia: Lessons from the CitAD Study (Division of Neuroscience)
- Dr. Vishwa Deep Dixit, Yale School of Medicine – Harnessing Immune-Metabolic Interactions to Enhance Healthspan (Division of Aging Biology)
- Dr. Evan Hadley, National Institute on Aging – CALERIE, a 2-Year Randomized Controlled Trial of Human Caloric Restriction’s Feasibility and Effects on Predictors of Health Span and Longevity (Division of Geriatrics and Clinical Gerontology)
- Dr. J. Michael McWilliams, Harvard Medical School – Improving Outcomes in the Medicare Program (Division of Behavioral and Social Research)
The scientific presentations are usually a quite popular part of the meeting, as distinguished researchers talk about some of the most exciting findings in the field today.
The thrice-yearly NACA meetings are a vital part of NIA’s decision making process. If you’ve never been to a meeting, I encourage you to attend if you’re in Bethesda. If not, tune in to the videocast to see the process in action.