American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), Inc.

AFAR is a leader in identifying and supporting research on the aging process.
AFAR's primary goal is to extend healthspan, which will not only improve the quality of life as we age, it will reap significant economic and social benefits. Every day, an estimated 10,000 people in the U.S. turn 65. By 2020, 55 million Americans will be 65 and over. By 2050, that number will rise to 82 million, making the social and economic consequences of our aging population enormous. It is estimated that Medicare's current cost of $649 billion a year will double to $1.2 trillion by 2024. If our population continues to age at its current rate, but could experience two more years of health, the American economy would gain $1 trillion. Although the analyses on global health impact has not been measured, one recent economic analysis concluded that slowing or modifying the diseases of aging by 20% would save more than $7 trillion over the next 50 years in the United States alone.

The Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) program aims to expose medical students with an enriching experience in aging-related research and geriatrics, with mentorship of top experts in the field. This program aims to introduce students to research and academic experiences early in their training that they might not otherwise get during medical school. Positive experiences in the program have led many physicians-in-training to pursue careers in aging, ranging from basic science to clinical research to health services research. They have joined the growing cadre of physicians and scientists whose specialized knowledge and skills are in great demand as our population ages.

Paul B. Beeson Career Development Awards in Aging aims to increase the number of physicians with a combined clinical, academic, and scientific expertise to care for a growing older population. . To date, 217 scholars have been awarded grants to conduct research that advanced the field of geriatric medicine and aging research.

AFAR Research Grants provide $100,000 to early-career investigators at a critical juncture in their career. Without this type of support, it is difficult to nurture and sustain talented scientists and to recruit additional researchers into the field. Candidates are selected from a national pool of applicants through a three-tiered review process and selected by a Scientific Committee consisting of top international aging researchers.

AFAR also encourages scientific exchange and networking among its grantees. Grant recipients participate in an annual Grantee Conference which provides valuable opportunities for new investigators to learn from each other's work and to engage in informative and enriching discussions with senior investigators. The Conference has also stimulated many multi-site collaborative studies. Our grantees become part of a community, and we support their continued participation in aging research. Through its grant portfolio, AFAR has created a “ladder of opportunity" which provides funding mechanisms for subsequent career stages. Many AFAR grantees have become reviewers for AFAR programs and are inspiring and training the next generation of researchers in the field.

The Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) program introduces students to research and academic experiences early in their training, which they might not otherwise have during medical school. Students participate in an eight- to twelve-week structured research, clinical, and didactic program in geriatrics. Students work in geriatrics clinics or attending rounds in a hospital, nursing home, or palliative care facility or even making house calls.

The Paul B. Beeson Career Development Awards in Aging has granted more than $172 million to more than 4,000 talented researchers and medical students to help them begin and further careers in aging research and geriatric medicine.

AFAR has a nationally respected and scientifically rigorous grant review process. AFAR solicits Letters of Intent (LOI), and a select group of AFAR Scientific board members and ad hoc members review the LOIs for program relevance and eligibility. Currently there are some 300 members on the NSAC with aging-related expertise. Each member of the Research Committee reviews and ranks applications which allows for a rigorous comparative analysis of a diverse range of applications. AFAR's grant review process for all of its programs is highly efficient and addresses the needs of the applicants and reviewers in an evolving scientific environment.

AFAR employs a staff of nine, led by Executive Director Stephanie Lederman. Stephanie has served in leadership positions in the not-for-profit sector for over 30 years and has been the Executive Director of AFAR since 1992. AFAR's Board of Directors currently consists of 30 individuals from the scientific and business communities. The Scientific Advisory Committee, whose members are experts in aging research and related areas advise on grant review processes and programs. The Chair of this committee and AFAR's Scientific Director is Steven Austad, PhD Professor and Chair, Dept. of Biology, University of Alabama, Birmingham.

AFAR has an active Board of Directors. The Board's President, Mark S. Lachs, M.D., is the Irene and Roy Psaty Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College, and Co-Chief of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, and the Director of Geriatrics for The New York Presbyterian Health Care System. Dr. Lachs' major area of interest is the disenfranchised elderly. He has published widely in the areas of elder abuse and neglect, adult protective services, the measurement of functional status, ethics and the financing of health care.

AFAR is considered the pioneer in aging research. Over more than three decades, AFAR has given more than $178 million in grants to more than 4,400 investigators. Much of the research that AFAR has funded, and will continue to fund, contributes to the already large body of scientific knowledge that promises to improve healthspan.

AFAR is now embarking on clinical studies, first for the field. Targeting Aging with Metformin (TAME) is a 6-year, double blind placebo-controlled trial of Metformin, an FDA approved drug widely-used for the treatment for type 2 diabetes. TAME will study 3,000 older adults without diabetes to determine if Metformin prevents the accumulation of multiple age-related diseases rather than any individual disease. TAME is designed to be a prototype for future trials. If the study demonstrates that Metformin delays the onset of age-related diseases and conditions, the impact of TAME will demonstrate proof-of-concept that by targeting aging itself, healthy lifespan can be increased, paving the way for a new indication for drugs to prevent age-related diseases, and 3) stimulation of drug discovery, with industry incentivized to develop new and better compounds to extend healthy lifespan.

We expect this innovative study will be widely disseminated and serve as a template for the development of even more powerful drugs that may intervene in the underlying biology of aging. The study is designed to be a prototype for a new generation of clinical trials for promising interventions based on geroscience. Use of metformin, a generic, inexpensive, widely used, and safe drug, with preliminary evidence that it prevents or delays important age-related diseases, provides the framework for this novel study. Our hope for TAME is to fundamentally change the approach to aging and its diseases and to reduce health care costs which will affect health-care delivery and costs by trillions of dollars.