Center for Healthy Aging
The Center for Healthy Aging was established to explore the multiple factors contributing to healthy aging to enhance the quality of life for older adults.
While it complements the extensive research that Banner Sun Health Research Institute has done on diseases that impact seniors, the center also conducts applied science research and provides education and resources related to the promotion of healthy aging.
Walter J. Nieri, MD, the center’s director, said the center's primary goal is to provide seniors the information, education and access to health care they need to age gracefully and in a healthy manner. This is accomplished by translating what we are learning in our research to education and programs to our seniors in the community to those caring for our seniors, and the policymakers that make eldercare decisions.
The Banner Sun Health Research Institute’s Center for Healthy Aging and their Institutional Review Board approved research studies are in collaboration with Arizona State University. The principal investigators are Nieri, program director for a geriatrics training program and David Coon, PhD, professor of Psychology at Arizona State University.
The Longevity Study: Learning from our Elders
The center’s major research study is the Longevity Study: Learning from our Elders, the first longevity research program in Arizona aimed at understanding the psychosocial, cognitive, medical and physical factors contributing to healthy aging.
Our focus in the project is the oldest old, 85+ year olds, but we are also interviewing 50-85 year olds and following them over time.
Our special niche is that 75 percent of our participants live in retirement communities, the majority of which live in the Sun Cities, comprising approximately 100,000 seniors over the age of 55 years old. There is also a large number of oldest old (85 and older and fastest growing age group) aging in place in these communities.
To date there are more than 1100 participants in the Longevity Study: Learning from our Elders, 650 over the age of 80 years of age. Nearly 600 initial interviews have been completed along with many first, second and third annuals. This allows us to analyze data longitudinally over a four-year period related to the various aspects of healthy aging. Community education and interventions are being piloted as well, utilizing lessons learned from our data and focus groups.
This project could not be possible without the volunteers who work in the office along with the volunteer interviewers who are able to capture the wisdom of our elders during the interviews. For more information, please contact, Kathy O’Connor, the study's coordinator.
In addition, the center provides education in the field of geriatrics by teaming up with a Graduate Medical Education program, the Banner Family Medicine -Geriatrics Fellowship Program Under the direction of Nieri, physicians trained in internal medicine and family practice can pursue specialized training in geriatrics. Contact us at the Banner Family Medicine Geriatric Fellowship Program or contact Nieri.
