Cedars-Sinai, UCLA and USC Join Forces to Extend Human Healthspan

Cedars-Sinai, UCLA and the University of Southern California have been awarded $6.5 million from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging to establish a Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center in Los Angeles. The center will be part of a national consortium of 15 research institutions conducting clinical trials on aging, with the overall goal of improving quality of life for older adults.

Investigators at the Los Angeles Pepper Center will focus on extending older adults' healthspan-which means aging with reduced burden of chronic diseases and conditions that lead to loss of independence-by studying interventions that target the biological processes of aging. Investigators then will translate those findings into clinical care.

"This prestigious grant provides Cedars-Sinai the opportunity to expand its geroscience research within our institution, across Los Angeles, and beyond, with the long-term goal of offering evidence-based healthy aging guidance for older adults," said Sara Espinoza, MD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Center for Translational Geroscience.

For the next five years, Espinoza will lead the Los Angeles Pepper Center in collaboration with colleagues at USC and UCLA who say the combined expertise and resources of the three prominent institutions is a strong advantage.

"This partnership allows us to accelerate breakthroughs that can directly improve quality of life for older adults," said Pinchas Cohen, MD, dean of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and co-director of the new center.

The Centers for Disease Control and Preventionprojects that nearly one-quarter of the U.S. population will be 65 or older by 2060. Researchers say this creates a critical need to address the onset of multiple chronic diseases linked to aging. By intervening in the aging process at the biological level, scientists aim to prevent, delay and treat multiple medical conditions simultaneously.

"This designation strengthens our commitment to addressing the health challenges of aging-not only for today's older adults, but for future generations as well," said Jonathan Wanagat, MD, PHD, a geriatrician at UCLA and co-director of the Pepper Center.

The Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center in Los Angeles has four aims: to further develop gerotherapeutics-drugs that target the underlying cellular aging processes-and increase the number of researchers, expand clinical trials, and share the latest findings in translational geroscience.

"The robust resources, network and infrastructure made possible by the NIH solidifies Los Angeles' leading position in aging research and geriatric clinical care," Espinoza said.

Read more in Cedars-Sinai Discoveries Magazine: The Future of Aging Research