The Center for Demography of Health & Aging aims to prioritize Diversity Supplements for the CDHA Center Core Grant and CDHA affiliate research grants. NIA’s Diversity Supplement program supports the development of eligible trainee-candidates who seek independent and productive careers in research on aging and enhance diversity in the biomedical workforce. Browse present awardees affiliated with CDHA below!
Present Awardees
Mosi Adesina Ifatunji (3P30AG017266-24S3)
Project Title: Disparities in the Health and Mortality of Native- and Foreign-born Blacks in the United States: Examining the Role of Racial Context
Project Period: 07/01/2023-06/30/2025
Performance Site: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Abstract: The goal of my research project will be to describe the relationship between the racial context of origin and recent residence in the relative health and mortality of native- and foreign-born Blacks in the United States (net: health behaviors, socioeconomic status, migrant selectivity). This project will contribute to three Center themes: aging and the life course, determinants of sociodemographic disparities of aging disparities, and place-based impacts on health and aging. At the CDHA, I will have access to mentorship from several expert investigators conducting research on early life context, migration, later life context and population health. The proposed Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (RSPD) will provide the protected time and mentorship to advance my research and training aims. Local CDHA faculty affiliates who will be particularly important are: Jason Fletcher, Michal Engelman, Katherine Curtis, Jenna Nobles, Marcy Carlson, Eric Grodsky, and Felix Elwert. I will also attend the weekly CDHA workshop on Health, Aging and Place.
Alexander Natanson (3P30AG017266-23S2)
Project Title: Connecting Health to Productivity and the Role of Local Immigration Policies
Project Period: 09/01/2022-08/31/2024
Performance Site: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Abstract: The goal of the trainee research project will be to determine the health labor market and health effects of local immigration policies across the States at both the individual and geographic levels, thereby contributing to the major themes (3), (4), and (5) of the CDHA. At the CDHA, Alexander will have access and support for the NIA-funded datasets and mentorship from several qualified researchers who study the link between spatial differentiation in migration and health. This proposed Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (RSPD) will provide Alexander with the resources, protected time, and mentorship necessary to achieve the stated research and training aims.
Kelsey Carlston (3P30AG017266-23S1)
Project Title: Connecting Health to Concurrent Individual Socio-Economic Mobility and Community Opportunity
Project Period: 08/01/2022-07/31/2024
Performance Site: Gonzaga University
Abstract: The goal of the trainee research project will be to determine the health effects of intergenerational economic mobility at both the individual and geographic level, thereby contributing to the major themes (1), (3), and (5) of the CDHA. At the CDHA, Kelsey Carlston will have access and support for the NIA-funded datasets, in addition to mentorship from several qualified researchers who study the link between intergenerational mobility and health. This proposed Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (RSPD) will provide Kelsey with the resources, protected time, and mentorship necessary to achieve the stated research and training aims.
Joseph Clark (3R01AG061080-05S1)
Project Title: Researching Institutional and Psychosocial Sources of Resiliency to Accelerated Biological Aging
Project Period: 09/01/2019-08/31/2023
Performance Site: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Abstract: The central aim of the Researching Epigenetics, Weathering, Aging, and Residential Disadvantage (REWARD) study (R01AG061080) is to investigate how cumulative and contextual disadvantage act to accelerate biological aging processes. Persistent exposure to these disadvantages is known to produce health disparities through biological mechanisms in a process known as weathering. The health effects of weathering have been well documented [1,2]. However, previously proposed mechanisms of weathering, such as allostatic load, shortened telomere length, and altered stress and immune responses have proven limited in explaining persistent health disparities [3]. Recent discoveries in human epigenetics suggest that differential rates of biological aging may play an important role in explaining these disparities [4,5]. R01AG061080 advances our understanding of weathering by probing the mechanisms through which individual and spatial disadvantage “get under the skin” to throttle biological aging processes. Termed “epigenetic clocks,” several specific DNA methylation patterns have been identified as metrics of biological aging [6-8]. The REWARD study collected DNA methylation data from 1400 participants in the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW). The resulting dataset combines rich biomarker and demographic data and the residential addresses of participants with cutting-edge biological aging metrics, allowing for our group to investigate social and contextual causes of disparities in biological aging.