Shaping the future of behavioral and social research at NIA

For the past four years, I’ve had the privilege of leading the Division of Behavioral and Social Research (BSR). Every day, I work with a talented and dedicated team united by our passion for improving healthspan as we age through social, psychological, economic, and behavioral research at both the individual and population levels. As we mark NIA’s 50th anniversary, I’m reflecting on the progress made while looking forward to exciting opportunities ahead for our institute and scientists in the behavioral and social sciences.

Looking back

For decades, NIA has examined aging from an interdisciplinary perspective and expanded research infrastructure and evidence-based tools to support this work. Highlights include:

  • Cultivating robust population-level, longitudinal studies: NIA has funded generations of population-level data from longitudinal studies . A leading example is the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which tracks the health of Americans ages 50+ and includes robust data on physical, cognitive, and psychological health. HRS and international partner studies, such as the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol , are crucial resources for scientists around the world. NIA also funds several additional studies to examine how education and other social factors impact health disparities and health outcomes, including dementia, over the life course.
  • Building the infrastructure for transdisciplinary social and behavioral science: NIA’s robust centers and networks are expanding resources for conducting transdisciplinary research while training the next generation of scientists. Networks in social genomics, stress, animal models of social behavior, decision neuroscience, and biosocial surveys support research innovation at the intersection of behavioral, social, and biological science. A new centers program, the Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratories , was launched recently to work with industry, investors, and health care systems to address the unique needs of older adults.
  • Increasing data access and development: NIA has long championed expanded access to data from public programs, including Medicare and Social Security, while respecting and protecting confidentiality and public trust, to support research. In recent years, there’s been a dramatic increase in demand for connecting these data to NIA studies; our LINKAGE program was designed to meet this need. Today, NIA also leads the way in development of data for longitudinal aging surveys and — building on growing transdisciplinary interest in understanding the causal role of social determinants of health and other aspects of the exposome — we are developing novel resources for incorporating these data into our institution’s funded studies.
  • Understanding dementia caregiving: Since the National Alzheimer’s Project Act was signed into law in 2011, NIA has become a leader in dementia care and caregiving research, including clinical research. For example, the Roybal Translational Centers conduct crucial pilot studies of dementia care behavioral interventions, and the NIA Impact Collaboratory is expanding pragmatic dementia care trials embedded within health care systems. In parallel, we lead NIH’s Science of Behavior Change program and are bolstering the foundation for implementation science through the NIH Stage Model , a standard for real-world dementia care intervention development and implementation. In addition, through multiple funding opportunities, NIA is stimulating research on dementia costs, quality of care, and the workforce.

Going forward

At the heart of our past progress, several core themes emerged that will continue to be a guiding light in the years ahead, including:

  • Continuing to explore the drivers of health disparities, including social and structural determinants of health inequities, and developing strategies to reduce or prevent them.
  • Embracing a life course approach to understand aging processes and the developmental origins of health and disease, including approaches to midlife prevention of aging-related diseases.
  • Innovating and supporting large-scale observational studies, mechanistic investigations, and translational research to better understand how social and behavioral factors shape biological aging, well-being, and health.

We hope you will stay informed about NIA’s BSR-focused research and join us on that journey by signing up for the BSR newsletter . Please share your thoughts on the past and future of behavioral and social research below!

50th Anniversary Strategic Directions 2024-04-10T00:00:00Z