By Vincent Lim
Dilip Jeste, an expert in the field of aging, discussed his ongoing research on the criteria and determinants of successful aging Jan. 27 as part of the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics Seminar Series.
Jeste, director of the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego, is at the forefront of research efforts to develop a definition, as well as criteria for, successful aging.
He noted there was a time not long ago when successful aging was not taken seriously as an area of scientific research. “Some people have said ‘successful aging’ is an oxymoron,” Jeste said.
These perceptions began to change in the 1980s when John Rowe and Robert Kahn started investigating aging in studies funded by the MacArthur Foundation, which dispelled widely held myths and assumptions about the aging process. Their work spawned the groundbreaking book Successful Aging and jump-started research into what it means to age successfully.