The Program Development Core of CDEHA focuses on development ofthe pilot (seed) grant program. Core B has the following specific aims: 1) developing and nurturing promising new small-scale seed and supplement projects relevant to the Center's theme areas; 2) providing junior investigators with advice,and assistance, mentorship from a senior faculty member, and supporting the preparation and submission of applications for peer reviewed research or career development awards; 3) augmenting trainding and encouraging the pursuit of careers in the study of issues in demography and economics of health and aging; 4) serving as a focal point for innovative multidisciplinary research on important questions in the demography and economics of health and aging. The pilot projects are at the core of CDEHA's past and planned activities. These projects are highly leveraged investments into aging research at Stanford, and they meet additional goals of the University and of the research community more generally. They boost the careers of junior investigators, they stimulate interest in aging research, and they encourage interdisciplinary collaboration. A central feature of the seed project program is the matching of a junior (advanced trainee or junior faculty) investigator with a senior faculty mentor, an arrangement that advances both substantive research and faculty development. Mentors are available from the Center for Health Policy/Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research, economics, business, law, medicine, health research and policy, biological sciences, psychology, sociology, the Morrison Institute for Population Research Studies, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute (PAMFRI), and the VA Health Economics Research Center. We propose to support two new pilot/seed projects each year. In this proposal we have described three sample seed projects. The first will examine the effect of total fertility on the well-being of elderly parents in China will be studied. The second study (a two year project), will examine the extent to which US counties and UK registration areas differ in their distribution of age and death and investigate explanations for disparities, and the third study will examine the extent to which differences in longevity are heritable using the evolutionary theory of senescence. Seed research conducted by eariier grantees has led to insights in such areas as racial and ethnic disparities in medical technology utilization in aged populations; socioeconomic and psychological factors affecting health care decisions among the elderiy; alternative methods to increase physical activity; and trends in and determinants of health care utilization; and functional status outcomes among the elderly.
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