Laura L. Carstensen
Founding Director

The Stanford Center on Longevity has completed our sixth year, and we have created and nurtured a vibrant community of longevity scholars on campus. Research is our most potent tool in the quest to help our culture adapt to the phenomenon of more people living longer than ever before. We are determined to make sure that research findings do not stay locked away in academia but reach the people who can most benefit from them. We work closely with policymakers and business leaders to disseminate and apply research findings.

Over the last year, with the generous help of Marsh & McLennan Companies, we initiated a new Center on Financial Security. With former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros, we edited a book about aging in place, entitled Independent for Life: Homes and Communities for an Aging America (University of Texas Press). We developed a new video about the Center’s work (see left) and had a busy winter as we hosted three visiting scholars; Professor Dana Goldman from USC, Science Editor Barbara Strauch from the New York Times, and Professor Jack Rowe from Columbia University. Professor Robert Lustig from UCSF Medical School was this year’s distinguished lecturer.

We are grateful and appreciative of the support of Stanford University and our donors, collaborators and friends. Particular thanks go to Jack Rowe, Founding Chair of our External Advisory Council, who this year turned leadership of the Council over to Jim Johnson, Vice Chairman of Perseus. We could not do the work that we do without leaders like Jack and Jim.

Sincerely,

Laura L. Carstensen, PhD – Founding Director