From left to right: William Peck, Harvey Friedman, Dorismae Friedman, John C. Morris, Leonard Berg, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton

     In 1998, the Center for Aging at Washington University was established under the direction of Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton, with assistance from Deans William Peck and Shanti Khinduka of the Medical School and George Warren Brown School of Social Work. Dr. Leonard Berg provided the initial leadership for these efforts.

     Dr. Berg convened a meeting of scholars from the University with identifiable interests in aging or age-related topics, and later coordinated a series of focus groups organized around the themes of research, internal education, external education, and community involvement. These discussions revealed strong desire to proceed with the institution of such a center, and yielded thinking that was incorporated into a draft mission statement and set of goals and objectives.

     The consensus vision called for a "center without walls" that would not only build upon existing strengths at the University, but which would also catalyze new innovations in education, research, practice, and community outreach. It was agreed that the Center should support cross-disciplinary collaboration toward the completion of this work, and build relationships with community institutions interested in aging. The current working draft of the Center Mission states:

     "The University-wide Center for Aging will provide academic and administrative leadership to foster research, education, service, and community development that address issues related to productive aging. The goal of the Center is to promote individual and societal conditionals that enhance productive aging, defined as the ability of older adults to remain healthy,  empowered, active, contributing, and independent for as long as possible." -April 17, 2000

     Dr. John Morris, Professor of Neurology and Director of the University's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, has assumed leadership of the Center. Key faculty from across the University and leaders from throughout the St. Louis community have formed an executive committee for the Center.

      The Center for Aging continues to grow at a momentous pace. In the year 2002, the Center hosted it's second annual Friedman Lecture. The guest lecturer was John W. Rowe, President and CEO of Aetna and co-author of the book, Successful Aging. Over 150 individuals including faculty members, university officials, students and community leaders attended the event. At the event, the Center announced the first winner of its $50,000 research pilot project, Dr. Shin-ichiro Imai, MD, PhD. Dr. Imai will be studying the function of mammalian Sir2 in the aging-preventive effects of calorie restriction. The Center also gave five proposal development awards to up-and-coming researchers to help them in the proposal development process. It is hoped that these awards will lead to Center grants.