The Center on Aging and Population Sciences (CAPS) at The University of Texas at Austin has received a competitive six-year renewal of its P30 Center Grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health. This renewal solidifies CAPS’ role as a national leader in aging and population health research.
CAPS is one of only 15 NIA-funded Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging in the United States, a distinction that underscores the center’s scientific impact and national reputation. CAPS has distinguished itself through high-impact studies — from longitudinal work on child loss and dementia risk, to innovative daily-experience studies of the social lives of older adults, landmark work showing how genes and environments jointly shape cognitive aging and dementia risk, and clinical research on depression and suicide risk in late life — all directly informing efforts to improve health and well-being in aging populations. The renewed support will strengthen CAPS’ research infrastructure, expand training and collaboration opportunities, and accelerate cutting-edge studies on how social, economic, and biological factors shape health and well-being as people age.
“Americans are living longer than ever before, but not everyone has the same chance to age in good health,” said Debra Umberson, director of CAPS and UT Austin sociology professor. “This renewal allows us to deepen our work on the factors that create inequalities in aging and to produce evidence that can guide policy, practice, and daily life for older adults and their families.”
CAPS extends its impact through partnerships across Texas, including scientific collaboration with the Dementia Prevention Research Institute of Texas. With more than 400,000 Texans living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, the combined research efforts aim to identify prevention strategies and improve care for the state’s rapidly aging population.
CAPS unites an interdisciplinary network of scholars from UT Austin and partner institutions to explore topics such as cognitive aging and dementia, family and social relationships, caregiving, economic security, and population trends in health and longevity. By combining innovative data, methods, and theories, the Center seeks to enhance understanding and improve the health of aging populations in Texas, the U.S. and worldwide.
This story originally appeared on the College of Liberal Arts website.
