Abstract:

Presented at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the American Geriatrics Society, Houston Tex, 21-23 Apr, 1976. The National Institute on Aging (NIA), established on 31 May, 1974 & the newest of the 11 National Institutes of Health, is dedicated to improving the quality of life of the aged in America through biomedical, social, & behavioral research. Aging is viewed as more than just decline & deterioration; it is also a process of continued development & accumulated knowledge. The NIA will encourage innovative research, both intramural (conducted within the NIA laboratories at Baltimore City Hospitals) & extramural, & training programs. However, it will not support the delivery of health services, as that is the domain of agencies. In areas of overlap, eg, diseases common to the old, the NIA will collaborate with other Institutes. A target area for collaboration is senile dementia. Other areas of interest to the NIA are: encouraging the incorporation of geriatric medicine as a subspecialty, developing retirement test patterns, & investigating drug-drug & drug-age interactions, personality & social processes, & immunocompetence.