Carolina Center for Population Aging and Health

CANCELED: Rob Warren: CPC and the Future of Population Research
2022-02-21 15:30 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Carolina Square Room 2002, 123 W. Franklin St, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516, United States
On February 21, 2022, Rob Warren, Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota and the director of the Minnesota Population Center, will present “CPC and the Future of Population Research” as part of the Carolina Population Center’s 2021-2022 Interdisciplinary Research Seminar Series. nAbout Rob Warren: nnI am a sociologist, demographer, population health scholar, and education policy researcher with experience and expertise in the collection, production, and dissemination of large-scale data products for research on health, aging, education, and labor force outcomes through my NIH- and NSF-funded work on High School and Beyond (HSB), the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), the 1940 U.S. Census, and the IPUMS version of the Current Population Surveys (IPUMS-CPS). I am involved in the construction of the new 100% count historical Census data sets for IPUMS, and I have two ongoing NIH-funded projects to link early 20th century U.S. Census data to (1) several modern surveys of older Americans, including the HRS, PSID, and WLS and (2) recent mortality records from the Social Security Administration. nI am currently Co-Director, with Theresa Osypuk, of the NICHD-funded Training Program in Population Health Science (T32HD095134). nWith Chandra Muller, Eric Grodsky, and Jennifer Manly I am conducting follow-up surveys of the High School and Beyond cohort (with support from 1R01AG058719-01A1). These ~25,500 people were first interviewed in high school in 1980. HS&B data – including a 2021-2022 follow-up focused on the early-life predictors of cognitive impairment – provide leverage in understanding the roles of education, skills, and childhood social circumstances in shaping work, health, and cognitive well-being at midlife.

Julie Bynum: Accelerating population research and its impact to reduce Burden of Alzheimer’s disease
2021-11-05 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Carolina Square Room 2002, 123 W. Franklin St, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516, United States
On November 5, 2021, Julie Bynum, the Margaret Terpenning Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatric Medicine, Research Professor in the Institute of Gerontology, Geriatric Center Associate Director for Health Policy and Research, and a member of the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation at the University of Michigan, will present “Accelerating population research and its impact to reduce Burden of Alzheimer’s disease” as part of the Carolina Population Center’s 2021-2022 Interdisciplinary Research Seminar Series. nDr. Bynum is the Margaret Terpenning Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatric Medicine, Research Professor in the Institute of Gerontology, Geriatric Center Associate Director for Health Policy and Research, and a member of the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. She received her medical and public health degrees from Johns Hopkins, did her residency and chief residency at Dartmouth, and completed specialty training in Geriatric Medicine at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Bynum then joined the faculty at Dartmouth Medical School. She received prestigious awards from the Robert Wood Johnson Physician Faculty Scholar Program and the National Institute of Aging Beeson Scholar Program. She has been an Atlantic Philanthropies Health & Aging Policy Fellow, was a member of the National Academy of Medicine Committee that published “Vital Signs: Core Metrics for Health and Health Care Progress” and was recently a Deputy Editor of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. She is currently a member of the National Academy of Medicine Forum on Aging, Disability and Independence. nDr. Bynum joined the University of Michigan in 2018 and was recently chosen to succeed Dr. Dick Simon as Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs for the Department of Internal Medicine. She currently leads a robust portfolio of research, has taken on a diverse group of junior faculty mentees across the instructional, clinical and research tracks, and provides primary and consultative care to older adults. Dr. Bynum is well known for leading interdisciplinary research teams to study questions about the complex drivers of quality and costs for older adults and how to improve health care policy and performance using national administrative data. nTitle and abstract of lecture will be available soon. nWe record as many seminars as possible. You can see previous events here.

Cross-NIA Center Research: Early Results from Pilot Projects on the Health of Older Americans
2021-11-04 10:00 - 12:00 UTC | NC
Cross-NIA Center Research: Early Results from Pilot Projects on the Health of Older Americans
Sponsored by the Coordinating Center for the Centers of the Demography and Economics of Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Related Dementias
November 4, 2021, 10 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. (EST)
Join Zoom meeting hosted by PRB:
Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83782010290
Meeting ID: 837 8201 0290
Phone: 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
One tap mobile: +13017158592,83782010290# US (Washington DC)
Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kcO1RC7v2T
Agenda
10:00 Welcome
Amanda Sonnega, Director, Coordinating Center for the Centers of the Demography and Economics of Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Related Dementias
10:05 NIA Welcome TBA
10:10 Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) Remarks
Stephen Kritchevsky, Director, RCCN; Wake Forest School of Medicine, Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers
10:15 Maintaining Health Behavior Change in Older Adults
Jaime Hughes, Wake Forest School of Medicine, previously Duke University, Roybal Centers for Translational Research on Aging and Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers (OAIC) with Janet Bettger, Duke University, Roybal Centers for Translational Research on Aging; Minakshi Raj, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, previously University of Michigan, Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging; and Susan L. Hughes, University of Illinois, Chicago, Roybal Centers for Translational Research on Aging.
10:45 Discussion
11:00 Examining Sex Differences in Pleiotropic Effects for Depression and Cognition Using Gene Polygenic and Gene-Region Aggregation Techniques
Arianna Gard, University of Maryland, previously University of Michigan with Erin Ware, University of Michigan, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers and Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging; and Lauren Schmitz, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging.
11:30 Discussion
11:45 Conclusion
Background
The Demography and Economics of Aging Centers Program, now expanded to include Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Related Dementias (D&E Centers/D&E Centers on AD/ADRD), has contributed significantly to developing both innovative lines of research and the next generation of scholars in the field. New areas and new directions have emerged (such as population genetics and biomeasure collection within national population-based surveys), largely as a result of increasing cross-disciplinary collaborations encouraged by the Centers. This successful model represents multiple centers engaged in a range of research and infrastructure activities within thematic research areas. There is wide recognition within the NIA and in the field that the full promise of the center mechanism itself and, indeed, the pace of future scientific discovery in aging will depend on scholars continuing to bridge disciplinary divides.
The Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) was established “to catalyze cross-disciplinary research across the NIA Center Programs,” which include D&E Centers/D&E Centers on AD/ADRD, Edward R. Roybal Centers for Translational Research on Aging, the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research, the Claude D. Pepper Older American Independence Centers, the Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers. To promote cross-NIA Center research and support junior scholars, the RCCN funds pilot research awards. This meeting will feature two RCCN pilot projects that each include a research affiliate of one of the D&E Centers/D&E Centers on AD/ADRD in collaboration with researchers at other NIA Centers. Each team will present preliminary results of their pilot project and share insights on the opportunities and challenges of cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Will Dow: Female Sex Workers in the Time of COVID: A Longitudinal Study in Tanzania
2021-10-29 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Carolina Square Room 2002, 123 W. Franklin St, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516, United States
On October 29, 2021, Will Dow, the Director of the Center on the Economics and Demography of Aging and a Professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of California-Berkeley School of Public Health, will present “Female Sex Workers in the Time of COVID: A Longitudinal Study in Tanzania” as part of the Carolina Population Center’s 2021-2022 Interdisciplinary Research Seminar Series. nnDow, a celebrated scholar of the economic aspects of health insurance, health behaviors, and health and demographic outcomes, joined the Berkeley faculty in 2004. Since 2005, he has been the founding associate director of the Berkeley Population Center and, since 2013, the director of the Center on the Economics and Demography of Aging. He has also served at the School as division head of Health Policy and Management and as the associate dean for research, and in 2018-19 served as Interim Dean of the School of Public Health. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and previously served as Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. nDow’s research contributes to improvements in health policy and healthy aging among vulnerable populations locally and globally. He has led teams analyzing California’s pathbreaking health insurance reforms and paid leave policies, as well as teams designing innovative behavioral economic strategies for preventing HIV and promoting behavior change such as smoking cessation. His global work includes serving as principal investigator of the premier team studying determinants of Costa Rican’s exceptional longevity, as well as projects in Cuba, Mexico, Tanzania and Japan. nnTitle and abstract of lecture will be available soon. nWe record as many seminars as possible. You can see previous events here.

Mark Hayward: Understanding Recent Trends in Dementia Prevalence for Older Black and White Americans
2021-09-10 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Carolina Square Room 2002, 123 W. Franklin St, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516, United States
On September 10, 2021, Mark Hayward, Professor of Sociology and the director of the Population Health Initiative at the University of Texas at Austin, will present as part of the Carolina Population Center’s 2021-2022 Interdisciplinary Research Seminar Series. nDr. Hayward also serves as the Training Director of the Population Research Center. He recently served as the the president of the Southern Demographic Association, chair of the Aging and Life Course section of the American Sociological Association, and is the chair of the Sociology of Population section of the ASA. He has served on the boards of the Population Association of America and the Society of Biodemography and Social Biology, and he was a member and then chair of the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research council. Currently, he is a member of the Committee on Population, National Academy of Sciences, and the Board of Scientific Counselors at the National Center for Health Statistics. He recently served on the National Advisory Committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health and Society Scholars Program. Hayward received his Ph.D. in sociology from Indiana University in 1981. nHis primary research addresses how life course exposures and events influence the morbidity and mortality experiences of the adult population. Recent studies have clarified how early life conditions influence socioeconomic, race and gender disparities in adult morbidity and mortality; the demography of race/ethnic and gender disparities in healthy life expectancy; social inequality in the biomarkers of aging, and the health consequences of marriage, divorce, and widowhood. Most recently, he has been investigating the fundamental inequalities in adult mortality in the United States arising from educational experience, differences in these associations by race and gender, and trends in inequality in mortality. Currently, he is part of a national scientific team examining the role of federal and state policies shaping the growing inequality in life chances in the US adult population. His research on these topics has been by the National Institute on Aging and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute on Child Health and Human Development. His recently published work has appeared in the American Journal of Public Health, Demography, the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and Social Science and Medicine. nAbstract nObjectives: Today’s talk is motivated by recent evidence that dementia prevalence has been declining in the United States. Less clear, however, is whether important sociodemographic groups diverged or perhaps contributed in different ways to the overall national trend. For example, is the downward trend in dementia prevalence evident across the age range (young old compared to the oldest old)? Do Blacks and Whites both experience downward trends in dementia prevalence? Have changes in educational attainment, as well as other changes in modifiable risk factors for dementia (such as changes in poor childhood circumstances, health behaviors, and health conditions), had widespread consequences across major race–age groups nMethods: The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is used to assess dementia prevalence changes for non-Hispanic Blacks and Whites between 2000-2014 for community dwelling and nursing home residents aged 65 years and older. Cognitive status has been validated using clinical diagnoses and survey scores of a subsample of HRS respondents. The analysis of the dementia prevalence trends is based on logistic regression models predicting the log odds of having dementia as a function of a time-trend variable and a set of relevant covariates. nResults: Consistent with other studies, we found significant declines in dementia for Blacks and Whites across the 2000-2014 period. Nonetheless, these declines were not uniform across age and race groups. Blacks aged 65–74 years had the steepest decline in this period. We also found that improved educational attainment in the population was fundamentally important in understanding declining dementia prevalence in the United States. nDiscussion: This study shows the importance of improvement in educational attainment in the early part of the twentieth century to understand the downward trend in dementia prevalence in the United States from 2000 to 2014. The downward trend was unrelated to dementia risk nfactors such as controlled hypertension, changes in health behaviors, or changes in early life conditions. This finding has implications not only for understanding current trends in the United States, but also the potential role of the growth in cognitive ability and functioning in other countries that underwent similar rapid expansions in schooling. nWe record as many seminars as possible. You can see previous events here.

J. Richard Udry Distinguished Lecture: Teresa Seeman: Aging Trajectories Through Biopsychosocial Lens
2021-04-30 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | NC
The J. Richard Udry Distinguished Lecture will be held on April 30, 2020. nTeresa Seeman, PhD, will present “Aging Trajectories Through Biopsychosocial Lens.” Seeman is Professor of Epidemiology at the Fielding School of Public Health and of Medicine in the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Trained as an epidemiologist, with post-doctoral training in neuroendocrinology, her research interests are inter-disciplinary, focusing on role of social and psychological factors in health and aging, with particular interest in elucidating the biological pathways through which such factors impact on health. nWorking in both community- and laboratory-based contexts, her work has documented the widespread health effects of protective social factors (e.g., social relationships) and psychological characteristics (e.g., control beliefs, perceptions of self-efficacy), including effects on risks for physical and cognitive decline as well as overall longevity. Her research has also contributed to our understanding of how these social and psychological influences are mediated through multiple major biological regulatory systems. She has been a leader in empirical research on a multi-systems view of biological risk – allostatic load. nHer work has shown that levels of allostatic load predict subsequent health outcomes, and that differences in allostatic load are related to social factors, including levels of social integration and support as well as more traditional measures of socio-economic status [SES]: higher allostatic load seen among those reporting less social integration and/or support and lower SES. Her current research is focused on developing more integrated models that incorporate consideration of life-course experiences with stressful and protective conditions and the cumulative impacts of these experiences on major biological regulatory systems that determine trajectories of health and longevity. nAbstract: nThe presentation will examine evidence linking socio-economic and socio-emotional life-histories to trajectories of aging with explicit attention to the multiple biological pathways involved in these relationships. Taking a life-course perspective, illustrative examples of the patterning of these relationships across the life-course will be reviewed. Evidence of later-life plasticity of psychosocial and biological influences will be highlighted, illustrating the potential for health promotion via psychosocial interventions even at later ages. nAbout the annual J. Richard Udry Distinguished Lecture Series: Dick Udry’s research was highly innovative and interdisciplinary—features that he embedded in the Carolina Population Center’s practices and culture as its Director. In recognition of his enduring contributions, CPC named its distinguished lecture series in his honor. Previous presenters have included Dr. Lisa Berkman, the Director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, the Director of Harvard’s PhD program in Population Health Sciences, and the Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy, Epidemiology, and Global Health and Population (2019); Dr. Douglas Massey, Professor of Sociology at Princeton University (2018) and Dr. John Bongaarts, Vice President and Distinguished Scholar of the Population Council (2017). nThis event will be held on Zoom. You can register here. We will post a recording after the talk. You can see previous events here.

Nancy Krieger: COVID-19, structural racism, embodied histories, and the two-edged sword of data: structural problems require structural solutions
2021-04-23 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | NC
On April 23, 2021, Nancy Krieger, Professor of Social Epidemiology, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Director of the HSPH Interdisciplinary Concentration on Women, Gender, and Health., Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, will present “COVID-19, structural racism, embodied histories, and the two-edged sword of data: structural problems require structural solutions” as part of the Carolina Population Center’s 2020-2021 Interdisciplinary Research Seminar Series. nSuggested readings from Dr. Krieger nAbstract: nCOVID-19 has pulled the thread, starkly revealing both profound connections – and profound divisions – both within the US and within and between countries worldwide, with risk of infection, illness, and death profoundly and inequitably socially structured. Analyzing and acting to alter the myriad ways in which structural racism systemically generates health inequities, including for COVID-19, requires engaging with the two-edged sword of data. This sword cuts deeply with respect to the profound challenges of conceptualizing, operationalizing, and analyzing the very data deployed – i.e., racialized categories – to document racialized health inequities. In my presentation, I use the example of COVID-19 to dissect the sword’s two edges: (1) the non-use (Edge #1) and (2) problematic use (Edge #2) of data on racialized groups – but the point is data for health justice. Because structural problems require structural solutions, for both data and action for health justice, I conclude with recommendations for a new feasible enforceable institutional mandate for the reporting and analysis of publicly-funded work involving racialized groups and health data. A core requirement is that racialized health data must always be conceptually justified and analyzed in relation to relevant data about racialized societal inequities. A new opportunity arises as US government agencies re-engage with their work, with a stated commitment to racial and economic justice, to move forward with structural measures to sharpen and strengthen the work for health equity. nBio: nNancy Krieger is Professor of Social Epidemiology and American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor, in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) and Director of the HSPH Interdisciplinary Concentration on Women, Gender, and Health. She received her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989. Dr. Krieger is an internationally recognized social epidemiologist, with a background in biochemistry, philosophy of science, and the history of public health, combined with over 35 years of activism linking issues involving social justice, science, and health. In 2004, she became an ISI highly cited scientist (reaffirmed: 2015 ISI update), a group comprising “less than one-half of one percent of all publishing researchers,” and in 2019 she was ranked as being “in the top 0.01% of scientists based on your impact” for both total career and in 2017 by a new international standardized citations metrics author database, including as #1 among the 90 top scientists listed for 2017 with a primary field of public health and secondary field of epidemiology (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000384). In 2013 she received the Wade Hampton Frost Award from the Epidemiology Section of the American Public Health Association, and in 2015, she was awarded the American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship, which was renewed in 2020; also in 2020, she was awarded the American College of Epidemiology’s “Outstanding Contributions to Epidemiology” award. nInformed by an analysis of the history and politics of epidemiology and public health, Dr. Krieger’s work addresses three topics: (1) conceptual frameworks to understand, analyze, and improve the people’s health, including her ecosocial theory of disease distribution, focused on embodiment and equity; (2) etiologic research on societal determinants of population health and health inequities, including structural racism and other types of adverse discrimination; and (3) methodologic research to improve monitoring of health inequities. She is author of Epidemiology and The People’s Health: Theory and Context (Oxford University Press (OUP), 2011) and editor for the OUP series “Small Books Big Ideas in Population Health” (starting with Political Epidemiology & The People’s Health, by Jason Beckfield, OUP, 2018; Climate Change & The People’s Health, by Sharon Friel, OUP, 2019; and Critical Epidemiology & The People’s Health by Jaime Brielh, OUP, 2021). She also is editor of Embodying Inequality: Epidemiologic Perspectives (Baywood Press, 2004) and co-editor, with Glen Margo, of AIDS: The Politics of Survival (Baywood Publishers, 1994), and, with Elizabeth Fee, of Women’s Health, Politics, and Power: Essays on Sex/Gender, Medicine, and Public Health (Baywood Publishers, 1994). In 1994 she co-founded, and still chairs, the Spirit of 1848 Caucus of the American Public Health Association, which focuses on links between social justice and public health. n nWe record as many videos as possible. You can see previous events here. nThis event will be held on Zoom. You can register here. We will post a recording after the talk. You can see previous events here. n

Margaret Sheridan: Deprivation and threat, testing conceptual model of adversity exposure and developmental outcomes
2021-04-09 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | NC
On April 9, 2021, Margaret Sheridan, an Assistant Professor in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will present “Deprivation and threat, testing conceptual model of adversity exposure and developmental outcomes” as part of the Carolina Population Center’s 2020-21 Interdisciplinary Research Seminar Series. This year, the CPC Interdisciplinary Research Seminars will be open to both CPC members and Social Epidemiology program members. nAbstract: nExposure to childhood adversity is common and associated with a host of negative developmental outcomes as well as differences in neural structure and function. It is commonly posited that these social experiences “get under the skin” in early childhood, increasing long-term risk through disruptions to biology. In this talk I propose a novel approach to studying the link between adversity, brain development, and risk for psychopathology, the dimensional model of adversity and psychopathology (DMAP). In this model we propose that adversity exposure can be defined according to different dimensions which we expect to impact health and well-being through different neural substrates. Whereas we expect deprivation to primarily disrupt function and structure of lateral association cortex (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and superior parietal cortex) and thus complex cognitive processing such as executive functioning. In contrast, we expect threat to alter structure and function of subcortical structures such as the hippocampus and amygdala and midline regions associated with emotion regulation such as the ventral medial prefrontal cortex and thus, associated emotion reactivity and automatic regulation processes. In a series of studies I test the basic tenants of the DMAP concluding that initial evidence, using both a priori hypothesis testing and data-driven approaches is consistent with the proposed model. I conclude by describing future work addressing multiple dimensions of adversity and potential adjustments to the model. nBio: nMargaret Sheridan is an Assistant Professor in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the director of the Child Imaging Research on Cognition and Life Experiences Lab (CIRCLE Lab). Margaret’s research examines typical and atypical neurodevelopment of the prefrontal cortex and related systems supporting development of executive function across age. In particular within the CIRCLE lab we examine how early life experiences ranging from maltreatment to poverty or institutionalization impact neural development leading to risk for externalizing psychopathology. Our work has demonstrated that exposure to a variety of early life adversities are related to deficits in function of the prefrontal cortex and that different exposures may impact neural development in specific ways. In particular exposures to threat or violence may impact neural development and thus risk for externalizing psychopathology differently than exposures characterized by a lack of social interaction, cognitive enrichment, and complex linguistic experience. The CIRCLE lab uses multiple neuroimaging methods (e.g., EEG/ERP, fMRI, structural MRI) and multiple behavioral methods (e.g., cognitive testing, structured clinical interview, in home observation) to achieve these goals. nThis event will be held on Zoom. You can register here. We will post a recording after the talk. You can see previous events here.

Cassandra Davis: Moving from research to practice: A reflection on hurricanes, schools, and stakeholders
2021-03-19 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | NC
On March 19, 2021, Cassandra Davis, Research Assistant Professor of Public Policy at UNC, will present “Moving from research to practice: A reflection on hurricanes, schools, and stakeholders” as part of the Carolina Population Center’s 2020-21 Interdisciplinary Research Seminar Series. This year, the CPC Interdisciplinary Research Seminars will be open to both CPC members and Social Epidemiology program members. nAbstract: nIn 2020 alone, FEMA declared ten major disaster declarations due to a hurricane or tropical storm across eight states and one U.S. territory. Research suggest that our current decade will see more hydrological hazards will greater intensity as compared to years prior. With this detrimental shift in our communities, how will schools fare in supporting the academic and emotional needs of their students and educators. In this presentation, Dr. Davis will share findings from her study that investigated the impact of hurricanes on educators and students in Texas and North Carolina. She will conclude with her process on engaging stakeholders at the regional, state, and federal levels. nBio: nCassandra R. Davis, Ph.D., is a research professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on the environmental disruptions to schooling, specifically the impact of natural disasters on low-income, communities of color. Dr. Davis’ goal is to support educators, community leaders, and policymakers to improve responses, preparedness, and recovery in areas with the highest need. Her most recent project focus on the impact of COVID-19 on schooling communities and First-generation college students. From 2017-2020, Dr. Davis received funding from the National Science Foundation to explore the impacts of Hurricanes Florence (2018), Harvey (2017), and Matthew (2016), on schools, educators, and students. Dr. Davis has also collaborated with school districts to assist them with understanding and applying best practice strategies on topics related to recovering from natural hazards, improving graduation rates of underrepresented groups, supporting students with learning differences, identifying opportunity and achievement gaps amongst students, assessing the quality of professional development training for school personnel, and investigating ways to improving school-parent engagement. nThis event will be held on Zoom. You can register here. We will post a recording after the talk. You can see previous events here.

Michal Engelman: Deaths, Disparities, and Cumulative (Dis)Advantage: How Social Inequities shape an Impairment Paradox in Later Life
2021-03-05 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | NC
On March 5 2021, Michal Engelman, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will present “Deaths, Disparities, and Cumulative (Dis)Advantage: How Social Inequities shape an Impairment Paradox in Later Life” as part of the Carolina Population Center’s 2020-21 Interdisciplinary Research Seminar Series. This year, the CPC Interdisciplinary Research Seminars will be open to both CPC members and Social Epidemiology program members. nAbstract nResearch on health across the life course consistently documents widening racial and socioeconomic disparities from childhood through adulthood, followed by stabilization, convergence,or cross-overs in later life. This pattern appears to contradict expectations informed by cumulative(dis)advantage theory, but may be a function of differential mortality risks earlier in the life course. Using the Health and Retirement Study, we characterize the functional impairment histories of a nationally-representative sample of 8,464 older adults between 1992-2016. Employing non-parametric analyses and discrete outcome multinomial logistic regressions, we examine how midlife health and social position influence subsequent health change, mortality and attrition at older ages. Exposures to disadvantages earlier in the life course are strongly associated with poorer functional health in midlife and with mortality. However, a higher number of functional limitations in midlife is negatively associated with the accumulation of subsequent limitations for white men and women and for Black women, but not Black men. The impact of social exposures such as educational attainment and marriage on later life health also differs across race and gender groups. The apparent convergence in later-life functional impairment across groups defined by race, gender, and socioeconomic status emerges from the impact of social and health inequities on earlier mortality. Higher exposure to disadvantages and a lower protective impact of advantageous exposures lead to higher mortality among Black Americans, a pattern which in turn masks persistent health inequities later in life. nBio nEngelman is a demographer and gerontologist studying the dynamics of population aging and the determinants of longevity and well-being at older ages. Her work examines trajectories of health throughout the life course and their connection with changing aggregate patterns of mortality and morbidity over time. She is currently analyzing the implications of historical population change for contemporary health inequalities and developing a conceptual framework linking demographic and clinical notions of frailty and resilience with the sociological concept of cumulative disadvantage. n nThis event will be held on Zoom. You can register here. We will post a recording after the talk. You can see previous events here.

John Batsis: The Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts? The Importance of Fat and Muscle in the Aging Process.
2021-02-26 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | NC
On February 26, 2021, John Batsis, an Associate Professor, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gillings School of Global Public Health, will present “The Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts? The Importance of Fat and Muscle in the Aging Process” as part of the Carolina Population Center’s 2020-21 Interdisciplinary Research Seminar Series. This year, the CPC Interdisciplinary Research Seminars will be open to both CPC members and Social Epidemiology program members. nAbstract: nWith the population of adults aged 65 years and older increasing, so is the prevalence of obesity and the risk of developing age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, termed sarcopenia. These two disease entities independently increase a person’s risk for impaired physical function, disability, and death. Yet, a subset is classified as having sarcopenic obesity which is thought to be at higher risk for synergistic complications from both sarcopenia and obesity. This presentation will initially describe the importance and consequences of obesity, sarcopenia, and the consequences of the two in older adults. The emerging literature on health promotion will be presented along with the critical gaps and existing barriers that need to be overcome to advance the field and translate findings into clinical practice. nBiography: nDr. Batsis is a geriatrician and health services researcher that recently joined the faculty at UNC Chapel Hill in September 2020. Previously, he was on faculty at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth since 2008. He has considerable experience in large datasets analyses where he has evaluated important relationships between the changes observed in fat and muscle with aging (obesity and sarcopenia) on important outcomes relevant to older adults, including mortality and physical function. His specific interests are in the synergistic impact of obesity and low muscle mass and strength, sarcopenic obesity, and has published extensively in this field. Dr. Batsis recently is a participating member on an International Consensus Definition workgroup for this syndrome. nHis recent work has focused on translating large-dataset epidemiology-based work to clinical trials in older adults. He is focusing on obesity and the use of technology to improve one’s health. Dr. Batsis has a keen interest in health promotion through the lifecourse and has focused his interests in body composition changes during weight loss efforts. He has written explicitly on the importance of close monitoring in this population. Importantly, he leverages his ongoing experience in providing clinical care in the outpatient and nursing home settings to older adults with multimorbidity and frailty which inform his research work. nDr. Batsis is currently funded by the National Institute on Aging and has published over 140 papers. He has received several clinical and research accolades having received the New Investigator Award from the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) and was selected to the prestigious TidesWell Emerging Leaders in Aging Program for mid-career faculty in geriatrics. He is heavily involved at the national level as a long-standing member of the research committee of AGS and the Gerontological Society of America, and was a member of The Obesity Society’s Clinical Committee. He recently was appointed to the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and the Journal of Gerontological Medical Sciences. nThis event will be held on Zoom. You can register here. We will post a recording after the talk. You can see previous events here.

Margaret Hicken: Landscapes of racial dispossession and control: Cultural and structural racism and population health inequities
2020-11-13 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | NC
On November 13, 2020, Margaret Hicken, a Research Associate Professor at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research Survey Research Center, will present “Landscapes of racial dispossession and control: Cultural and structural racism and population health inequities” as part of the Carolina Population Center’s 2020-21 Interdisciplinary Research Seminar Series. This year, the CPC Interdisciplinary Research Seminars will be open to both CPC members and Social Epidemiology program members. nAbstract: nThe health inequalities between Black and White Americans have been well-documented for decades, with much of the population and public health literature still focused on individual-level behaviors and health care. A small but growing literature has called for an emphasis on structural racism as the root driver of these inequalities, but often focus solely on single institutional aspects of US structure, on contemporary forms of racism, and/or on the psychosocial impact of racism. In the Landscapes of Racial Dispossession and Control project, historical and contemporary forms of racial violence are linked through notions of cultural racism to result in sustained racial health inequalities. Cultural racism is composed of our shared values, ideologies, and beliefs of what it means to be American. These value systems then shape the ways our interconnected and symbiotic institutions operate to create our social structure. In other words, cultural racism shapes the structural answers to “Whose life counts?”. With a framework linking cultural and structural racism through history, the fundamental drivers — and potential intervention points — of contemporary population health inequalities becomes clearer. nBio: nMaggie Hicken is an interdisciplinary population health scientist with training in both demography and epidemiology as well as molecular and cellular biology and population genetics. She examines notions of cultural and structural racism and their relation to health inequities through biological mechanisms. Much of her research to date has focused on cultural racism and the toxic burden of vigilance on the part of Black Americans as they navigate everyday White space as well as on modifying impact of biosocial stress on the association between environmental hazards and health. With her K01 award, she gained training in population genetics and has examined the role of the social environment in the link between genes and chronic conditions. Further, with her current R01-funded research, she is examining the both historical and contemporary forms of residential segregation, the interactive impact of social stressors and environmental hazards, and DNA methylation patterns that might be associated with racial inequalities in aging. Through each thread of her research, Dr. Hicken weaves together theory from the humanities, legal studies, and social science to clarify the root causes of racial health inequalities. nThis event will be held on Zoom and is closed to the public. We will post a recording after the talk. You can see previous events here.
