Our program is designed to train promising young researchers (both graduate students and postdoctoral fellows) in the neurobiology of aging, with a special emphasis on neurodegeneration, neural plasticity, and learning and memory. At the same time, it is essential to undertake the translation of this basic understanding into clinical interventions that can prevent decline and improve function. The underlying philosophy of our program, viz. the tight integration of basic and clinical approaches, extends to training and we believe that students trained in an integrated, multilevel approach will have the highest probability of long-term success in combating the coming increase in age-related dementia.

The elderly represent the fastest growing cohort in our society. By the year 2020, one out of five individuals will be over the age of 65. Unless the present course is altered, 10% of these individuals will develop some form of dementia. In addition to the enormous personal and familial hardship this imposes, it exacts a huge financial toll on our society, with estimated annual costs of over $100 billion. The greatest promise for identifying strategies to enable individuals to "age successfully" comes from biomedical research and the training of a new generation of scientists devoted to studying the mechanisms associated with aging and age-related disorders.