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Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Dr. Susan Kirkland - Beyond the Fountain of Youth: Healthy Aging in the 21st Century

Society's fixation on staying young may not be synonymous with healthy aging. The sequencing of the human genome has expanded the potential to identify genetic traits associated with disease and longevity and to explore the complex interplay between genes and the environment. The dynamic and multifaceted process of aging over the lifecourse is best examined through longitudinal studies that capture the changing individual within a changing social context, and this lecture will consider aging at multiple levels of inquiry: the cell, the individual, and society.

Dr. Kirkland is an Associate Professor and Clinical Research Scholar in the Departments of Community Health and Epidemiology and Medicine at Dalhousie University. As an epidemiologist, her research lies in the areas of chronic diseases, aging, and women's health. Dr. Kirkland is interested in the epidemiologic investigation of prevalent health outcomes, most notably cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis, and the exploration of underlying determinants of health, including lifestyle behaviours and the interplay between gender and the genetic, social, cultural, and economic determinants of health. She is currently one of three Principal Investigators responsible for the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, a 20-year study of 50,000 Canadian men and women over the age of 40, to examine the ways in which social and physical environments, genetic, biological, and clinical factors, lifestyle and behavioral factors, social and societal factors, economic prosperity, and the health care system are interrelated to influence disease, health, and well-being.