Winter 2023 Research In-Focus

CDHA affiliates are producing cutting-edge research within demography of health and aging. To learn more about research at CDHA, check out current projects here

Jooyoung Kong awarded NIH KO1 Award for her project “The life course approach to caregiving for aging parents: Role of Adverse Childhood Experiences”
This grant will provide Kong with 5 years of support, with significant course releases, to pursue her research and additional training in this area, with the goal of developing interventions to support caregivers with complicated care situations. Ultimately, this research will inform novel programs and policies to improve the health and well-being of
family caregivers. This project received earlier CDHA pilot project funding.

Natascha Merten awarded NIH KO1 Award for her project “The Beaver Dam Offspring Study Neurocognitive Aging Study (BOSS-NCAS)-A Study on the Role of Accelerated Aging and Midlife Sensory Decline for Early Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia in Later Life”
The proposed study will contribute to developing useful methods to identify people at high long-term risk of ADRD early in their midlife and to understanding the shared etiologies of sensory and cognitive changes. This project’s results will inform about potential pathways for prevention of ADRD to promote healthy brain aging.

Eric Grodsky awarded NIA Subaward for Research on Role of Education and Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease
This grant brings together a team from eight universities, including co-PI Eric Grodsky, Department Chair and Professor of Sociology. Over the next five years, the $50.3 million grant will support re-contacting surviving members of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 and gather extensive physical, biographical, and neurological data. This project received earlier CDHA pilot project funding. 

Yang Wang awarded R03 Award for her project “The Effects of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion on Informal Care”
This grant provides nearly $300,000 in funding to this project which examines the effects of the most recent Medicaid expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA-ME) on informal care provided to older adults. This project will be important for policymakers interested in designing more effective policies to sustain or even increase the supply of informal care to meet the escalating demand and for those interested in a more comprehensive evaluation of the ACA-ME. This project received earlier CDHA pilot project funding.

Carol Ryff announced six years of new funding for Midlife in the US (MIDUS) administered by the UW-Madison Institute on Aging
Director of the UW-Madison Institute on Aging, CDHA affiliate, and CDHA Steering Committee member Carol Ryff announced $62 million in funding for MIDUS from the National Institute on Aging. MIDUS data is publicly available, multi-disciplinary in scope (including social factors, psychology, behaviors, life challenges, biomarkers, genomics, neuroscience, demographics, and morbidity and mortality), and samples include lifespan data on over 11,000 adults. More information on MIDUS can be found here.