Welcome

The Program on Global Aging, Health, and Policy at the Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR), led by Jinkook Lee, conducts and supports research on aging, health and well-being of older people around the world.  The mission of the Program on Global Aging, Health, and Policy is to enhance the understanding of older adults’ health and well-being and to contribute to evidence-based policy formulation. In close collaboration with the family of Health and Retirement Studies (HRS) and leading researchers around the world, the Program collects data and releases user-friendly population data files and tools to facilitate longitudinal and cross-country analyses on aging. The Programs seeks to contribute to the advancement of science and the improvement of elderly lives by conducting and supporting research on aging, with recent emphasis on various interactions between cognitive impairment and dementia, pension and long-term care systems, air pollution, historical life events, and the experience at the end-of-life.

Gateway to Global Aging Data

The Gateway to Global Aging Data is a data and information platform developed to facilitate longitudinal and cross-country analyses on aging, especially those using the family of Health and Retirement Studies (HRS) around the world. The Gateway indexes and extensively documents study designs and survey questionnaires. So far, the Gateway has catalogued surveys from 18 studies in 45 countries from 1992 to 2020. Additionally, for many of these surveys, the Gateway also creates and releases Harmonized datafiles which are comprised of variables representing a subset of the original survey data and have been defined to be as comparable as possible across different studies. The Gateway is funded by the National Institute on Aging and all data and documentation are available to researchers without cost.

LASI

The Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) is a nationally representative survey of older persons in India, with emphasis on their health, social situations, and economic circumstances. It will provide a foundation for innovative, rigorous, and multidisciplinary studies of aging in India that will inform policy and advance scientific knowledge. Its goal is to provide data harmonized with the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and its sister studies around the world. We have successfully completed LASI pilot studies (R21AG032572, R21AG034443, and R03AG043052), using computer-assisted face-to-face interviews of 1,683 individuals, including cognitive and physical performance tests, and dried blood spot (DBS) specimens. We have successfully released these anonymized data to the research community.

LASI-DAD

An in-depth study of cognitive aging and dementia for
a sub-sample of the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI).

We aim to estimate the prevalence of dementia and mild cognitive impairment and to contribute to a better understanding of the determinants of late-life cognition, cognitive aging, and dementia. We also aim to study the impact of dementia and cognitive impairment on families and the society.

Team

See our entire team here.

For questions about The Program on Global Aging, Health, and Policy, contact us.