KPBS-FM quoted USC gerontology professor Donna Benton on loneliness in older adults. She said it’s not uncommon for someone to wake up one day and realize their peer group has dwindled rather suddenly. “We may have actually lost them completely to death. So if that happens, your network is smaller and it’s that much more difficult to develop new networks.”
Salon quoted Anna Rahman of the USC Leonard Davis School on the push for alternatives to nursing homes during COVID-19. “I think at the end of the day, you might not really be able to [move away from institutional settings],” Rahman said. “There are some people who are very, very sick, and their families cannot take care of them.”
The Atlantic quoted T. Em Arpawong of the USC Leonard Davis School on post-traumatic growth, which is when people thrive after a negative, life-changing event.
KFI 640 AM featured research by Pinchas Cohen, dean of the USC Leonard Davis School, into why higher levels of humanin in the body have been connected to longer lifespans and better health. “Humanin has long been known to help prevent many age-related diseases, and this is the first time that it has been shown that it can also increase lifespan,” he said.
The Washington Post (via The Conversation) featured commentary by Paul Nash of the USC Leonard Davis School and colleagues on how ageism harms older adults, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. “The COVID-19 emergency gives us the opportunity to examine health inequalities in the U.S. It gives us a chance to look again at the way Americans view and treat older people. And it lets us look at how pitting generations against one another only leads to disaster,” they wrote.
The Conversation featured a column co-authored by Paul Nash on how COVID-19 has underscored the harmful health effects of ageism. “The COVID-19 emergency gives us the opportunity to examine health inequalities in the U.S. It gives us a chance to look again at the way Americans view and treat older people. And it lets us look at how pitting generations against one another only leads to disaster.”
The Atlantic quoted Paul Irving on the impact of COVID-19 on retirement and older adults. “In past economic downturns, when employers do layoffs and reductions in force, older adults tend to be sidelined,” Irving says. “They are often the first to be fired and the last to be rehired.”
U.S. News and World Report featured a column co-authored by Distinguished Scholar in Residence Paul Irving on the need to increase resilience and reduce chronic illness as a way to defeat COVID-19 as vaccines and therapies are still in the works. The authors call for a national campaign to address the “other epidemic” of chronic disease.
AARP quoted Distinguished Scholar in Residence Paul Irving in an article about how teleworking opportunities benefit older workers: “The world will look much older in the decades to come, and employers must adapt to this demographic shift.”
Los Angeles Times quoted Reginald Tucker-Seeley of the USC Leonard Davis School on how the COVID-19 pandemic is not affecting everyone equally.
- Assistant Professor Michelle Keller: Deprescribing and medication management for older adults
- Study: regulators of “jumping genes” could be new targets for aging research and treatment
- Molecules Derived from Sea Sponge Show Promising Effects in Mitochondrial Function and Cancer
- Mentorship, hard work fuels transformation from “shy and terrified” lab newcomer to award-winning scientist
- Master of Science in Gerontology Readies Student for Career in Global Public Health and Research
