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Preserving Brain Health: Advances in Aging Research and Biotech

    Tuesday, July 21 | 11am-12pm ET
    Overview

    July 22 is World Brain Day, a time to celebrate the significant scientific advancements that have been made in better understanding the brain. Research on cognitive aging is deepening our understanding of when and how the brain becomes vulnerable and offering clearer targets to protect cognitive health across the lifespan. At the same time, technological advances are helping identify, diagnose, and forecast brain activity and biological factors that impact cognitive changes. To explore the progress in brain health science, join the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) and the McKnight Brain Research Foundation (MBRF) for a free webinar pairing recipients of the McKnight Brain Research Foundation Innovator Awards in Cognitive Aging and Memory Loss with neurotech leaders for a conversation grounded in promising research and science-backed tools.


    Moderated By

    Alice Luo Clayton, PhD

    Chief Executive Officer, McKnight Brain Research Foundation


    Sergey Young

    AFAR Board Member

    BOLD Longevity Growth Fund

    Author, The Science and Technology of Growing Young


    Guest Speakers

    Leah Acker, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Neurobiology,


    Duke University Denise Cai, PhD

    Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai


    More speakers to be announced!





    Annual Donald and Barbara Zucker Healthy Aging Lecture: Postoperative Delirium and the Acceleration of Brain Aging: Can We Stop the Snowball?

      July 9, 2026 | 5pm ET (Virtual)

      Dr. Paul García, MD, PhD is a Professor of Anesthesiology at Columbia University.


      Dr. García’s research has been funded by the NIH, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and private foundations. His work focuses on perioperative neuroscience and the development of clinically actionable approaches to brain monitoring. He has led clinical investigations examining electroencephalographic (EEG) biomarkers of anesthetic state, nociception, emergence from anesthesia, postoperative delirium, and cognitive recovery after surgery. His research seeks to identify neurophysiologic signatures that can guide individualized anesthetic care and improve perioperative outcomes. Dr. García’s interests center on multidisciplinary clinical research that informs evidence-based practice and advances perioperative brain health across diverse surgical populations.



      This annual series, hosted by the Northwell Roybal Center for Personalized Trials, features leading researchers at the intersection of aging-related topics including Alzheimer Disease and related dementias and physical activity.

      Effective and Rigorous Recruitment of Older Adults Living Alone with Cognitive Impairment

        Monday, June 22, 2026 | 11am-12pm MST

        Dr. Elena Portacolone is a Professor of Sociology in the Institute for Health & Aging and a Pepper Center Scholar at the Division of Geriatric Medicine at UCSF. She is also affiliated with UCSF’s Philip Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and the Global Health Sciences Institute. Her research involves developing equitable policies and programs for older adults living alone with cognitive impairment in the US and worldwide.


        Webinar Overview

        Dr. Portacolone will discuss issues associated with screening, consent, recruitment, and eligibility for older adults living alone with cognitive impairment. Building on her experience, including leading a large qualitative study involving multiple interviews (n=486) with over 100 racially and ethnically diverse older adults living alone in 3 states, Dr. Portacolone will share the protocols from the US-based Living Alone with Cognitive Impairment study, provide strategies to help guide other research studies, and discuss lessons learned along the way.




        Webinar Overview

        Join the Roybal Center for Promoting Adherence to Behavior Change and Enhancing Cognitive Function for an upcoming webinar, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at 12:00 pm ET.


        This webinar will feature Dr. Martin Sliwinski, Gregory H. Wolf Professor of Aging Studies and Professor of Human Development & Family Studies at Penn State University. Dr Sliwinski is also Director of the Center for Healthy Aging and the Geroscience and Dementia Prevention Consortium. Dr. Sliwinski's presentation, titled 'Measuring a Moving Target: Ambulatory Methods for Capturing Cognitive Change in Daily Life,' will discuss ambulatory methods for studying cognitive change as it occurs in everyday life.



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