The USC/UCLA Center on Biodemography and Population Health (CBPH) represents a unique and highly successful collaboration between the Davis School of Gerontology of the University of Southern California (USC) and the Multi-campus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology in the Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), each of which focuses on research and teaching on aging. Since its inception in 1999, the CBPH has leveraged the unique combination of demographic and epidemiological expertise of the CBPH directors, along with the range of interdisciplinary expertise of CBPH faculty affiliates, to become a leader in the development of the field of biodemography. The CBPH has been at the forefront of efforts to promote theory-based integration of biological measurement into population-based studies and on-going development and validation of biological measurement protocols. The CBPH has effectively and efficiently developed infrastructure and pilot projects to improve understanding and use of biodemographic indicators, increase indicators available to population studies, support more reliable and valid collection of data across a large number of national and international surveys, help introduce genetics to demographic and economic researchers, and made advances in measurement and validation in the field of genetics/genomics that allow population surveys to keep pace with the scientific advances in this area. This application proposes a set of activities designed to (i) expand and enhance theoretical development of the field of biodemography, (ii) continue efforts to attract new and promising researchers to the field, and (iii) enhance our Center's unique role in supporting development, validation, implementation and dissemination of new and better biodemographic measurement protocols.
The specific aims of the CBPH will be to: (1) support and foster biodemographic research to understand the multiple and interacting factors that affect population health (with a particular focus on expanding and deepening our understanding of the biological pathways through which experiences and exposures over the life-course impact trajectories of health and how such influences may vary across subgroups and settings)
The research supported by our Center attempts to clarify the biological pathways through which social, economic, and psychological and experiences impact health and how such influences may vary across subgroups and settings. This knowledge will increase our ability to improve health and reduce health disparities.
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