FOR IMMEDIATE RELASE:

CHICAGO, IL January 19, 2015

Chicago Council on Science and Technology presents: How to be Healthy When You’re Older

It’s not about aging, it’s about how to age well. Hear from local experts on physical and emotional well-being as you age, and how to manage complications from illnesses with your doctor.

With age comes wisdom, but also a long list of possible age-related health problems. From mobility problems to heart disease, to difficulty hearing and seeing, many people are concerned about what will happen to them as they approach old age. But does it always have to be this way? Do we really need to have such fear of our golden years? Aging might be inescapable, but it doesn’t mean that our health has to suffer.

The panel discussion, moderated by moderated by award-winning TV news veteran and world-class senior triathlete Elizabeth Brackett, will focus on the latest research and developments that will help us maintain health and quality of life as we age. Whether you are worried about your own future, or you have friends or relatives who are getting older, this program will give you information about how to stay healthier for as long as you can.

Wojtek Chodzko‑Zajko is the Shahid and Ann Carlson Khan Professor in Applied Health Sciences and Head of the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. For the past 25 years he has focused on the effect of exercise and physical activity on health and quality of life in old age. Chodzko‑Zajko served on the World Health Organization committee that developed the WHO Guidelines for Physical Activity among Older Persons, and chaired the writing group that authored the American College of Sports Medicine’s Position Stand on Physical Activity and Exercise for Older Adults.

William Dale MD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Medicine and the Section Chief of Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine at the University of Chicago. He is board-certified in geriatrics and palliative medicine with a PhD in health policy. Dale serves as the Director of the John A Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatrics at the University of Chicago, and the Specialized Oncology Care & Research in the Elderly (SOCARE) Clinic at the University of Chicago. Dale is an international speaker, publishing over 90 publications in top journals on geriatric oncology, medical decision making, behavioral economics, quality of life, and frailty assessment in older adults.

Louise Hawkley is a Senior Research Scientist with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. Hawkley is an internationally recognized expert on loneliness and its health consequences across the adult lifespan. She has studied middle- to older-age adults enrolled in the longitudinal Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study, and has extended her research to older old age She continues to study risk factors for loneliness with a goal of identifying intervention targets to reduce the prevalence and intensity of lonely feelings in older adults.

Aaron Freeman, moderator. Freeman, C2ST’s Artist-in-Residence, is a writer/producer, science commentator and funnyman. He is the former host of both National Public Radio’s weekly talk show Metropolis, and PBS WTTW11’s Chicago Tomorrow, a weekly science-and-health half-hour magazine.

DETAILS: Thursday, February 5th, 2015. Hughes Auditorium at Northwestern University’s Downtown Campus, 303 E Superior St, Chicago, IL 60611. Reception at 5:00 pm, program starts at 6:00 pm. Program free and open to the public. Discounted parking is available to the first 50 attendees, at the 202 E Huron parking garage. Ask at the C2ST registration table to purchase a ticket to exit the garage at a discounted rate. Register at http://www.c2st.org/event/2014/12/how-be-healthy-when-youre-older-0 For more information contact Andrea Poet at apoet@c2st.org, 312-567-5795, or 773-505-6007.

ABOUT C2ST: Chicago Council on Science and Technology is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization that brings researchers and scientists out of the lab, directly to you. We work with national laboratories, leading academic institutions and museums to educate the public on issues of critical scientific importance. In an age when barely one in four voting adults meet a basic level of scientific literacy, we aim to reignite an excitement and passion for science and technology, and remind Chicagoans of the quality and quantity of R&D that takes place in their backyard.