About CAA

Conference Series on Aging in the Americas (CAA) is aimed at utilizing research to augment knowledge about dimensions of healthful aging for people of Hispanic and Latin American descent and fostering emerging scholars in the field as this topic rapidly develops as a major policy and national budget issue. Past conferences examined the social and economic causes and consequences of health problems among older Mexican-origin individuals in the United States and in Mexico. The 2010 International Conference on Aging in the Americas (ICAA) is the fourth installment of a successful series of meetings on health and aging in the Hispanic population. This conference, co-organized by Drs. Jacqueline Angel, Kyriakos Markides, Fernando Torres-Gil, and Keith Whitfield emphasizes issues pertaining to disability, caregiving, and long-term care policy for older Hispanics in the United States and Mexico. The Conference series is funded, in part, by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Based on past conference attendance by scholars and students from all over the United States and Mexico, the CAA series is certain to draw a dynamic and multidisciplinary group in the conferences planned for future dates. Conference organizers would sincerely appreciate feedback from all who are interested in previous and upcoming CAA events.

About the CAA Logo

caa logo Since times before memory, la mariposa monarca (or monarch butterfly) journeys through the Americas to sustain its life. In cool, clear skies of October, indigenous people reverently welcome returning souls on wings aloft, reuniting in central Mexican forests and valleys. So the cycle continues from beginnings unknown to no ends...

The Aging in the Americas Conference selected la monarca to symbolize the threads that unite us across the Americas in understanding and reverently preserving the dignity and integrity of life?s cycle that knows no beginnings or ends. Roberto Salas was commissioned by the Conference to create la monarca. La monarca was drawn from pre-Columbian images and images from industrialized and post-industrialized Americas. He is a Chicano artist who received his Masters in Fine Art from the University of New Mexico. Roberto Salas is Director of the art galleries El Taller Cruzando Traques, which is located in San Diego, California and Studio Maguey, in El Paso, Texas.

Organizers

Jacqueline L. Angel, Ph.D.

Angel Jacqueline L. Angel, who has a Ph.D. in Sociology from Rutgers University, is a Professor of Public Affairs and Sociology and Faculty Affiliate in the Population Research Center, Center for Women's and Gender Studies, and the Center for Health and Social Policy at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1990-92, she was an NIA Postdoctoral Fellow in the Demography of Aging Training Program at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research addresses the relationships linking family structures, inequality, and health across the life course. Read more on her faculty webpage.

Kyriakos Markides, Ph.D.

Dr. Markides received his Ph.D. in Sociology in 1976 from Louisiana State
University. He is currently the Annie and John Gnitzinger Distinguished Professor of Aging and Director of the Division of Sociomedical Sciences, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Dr. Markides is currently on the board of five professional journals, including Research on Aging and the Gerontologist. He is also Editor of the Journal of Aging and Health which he founded in 1989. Dr. Markides is the author or co-author of over 265 publications most of which are on aging and health issues in the Mexican American population as well as minority aging issues in general.

He is currently Principal Investigator of the Hispanic EPESE (Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly), a longitudinal study of the health of 3,050 Mexican American elderly from the five Southwestern states. Dr. Markides is credited with coining the term ‘Hispanic Epidemiological Paradox’ (with J. Coreil) which is currently the leading theme in Hispanic health. He is also the editor of the Encyclopedia of Health and Aging published by SAGE Publications in April, 2007. The Institute for Scientific Information (ISA) has recently listed Dr. Markides among the most highly cited scientists in the world. Dr. Markides is the 2006 recipient of the Distinguished Mentorship Award of the Gerontological Society of America, Behavioral and Social Sciences section.

Fernando Torres-Gil, Ph.D.

Dr. Torres-Gil is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, serves as Professor of Social Welfare and Public Policy, and is the Director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging. Previously, he was a Professor of Gerontology and Public Administration at the University of Southern California and continues as an Adjunct Professor of Gerontology at USC.

Professor Torres-Gil is an expert in the fields of health and long-term care, the politics of aging, social policy, ethnicity, and disability. He is the author of four books and more than 80 articles and book chapters, including The New Aging: Politics and Change in America (1992). As Assistant Secretary for Aging in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), he played a key role in promoting the importance of aging, long-term care, and disability issues in consolidating federal programs for older persons and in helping the generation of baby boomers redefine retirement in a post-pension era. Dr. Torres-Gil has served as President of the American Society on Aging (1989-1992) and is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Dr. William A. Vega

vega William A. Vega is the executive director of the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging and a USC provost professor in social work, preventive medicine, psychiatry and family medicine. He is the co-organizer of the 2012 International Conference on Aging in the Americas.

An elected member of the Institute of Medicine, Dr. Vega has conducted community and clinical research projects in health, mental health and substance abuse throughout the United States and Latin America. His specialty is multi-cultural epidemiologic and services research with adolescents and adults?work that has been funded by multiple public and private sources. He has published more than 180 articles and chapters, in addition to several books. The 2006 ISI Web of Science listed him in the top half of 1 percent of the most highly cited researchers worldwide in social science literature over the past 20 years.

Prior to joining the Roybal Institute, Dr. Vega was director of the Luskin Center on Innovation at UCLA. In 2002, he received the Society for Prevention Research's Community, Culture and Prevention Science Award and the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse's National Award of Excellence in Research by a Senior Scientist. He has served on numerous boards and task forces, including health disparities work groups of the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Attorney General's Task Force on Methamphetamine, the Institute of Medicine Board on Population Health, the Committee on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment Effectiveness and the Institute of Medicine Health Disparities Roundtable. He is also a former council member of the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars in Health Policy Research advisory councils. He is the current chair of the Institute of Medicine's Health Equity Roundtable.

Keith E. Whitfield, Ph.D.

Dr. Whitfield is a leading expert on aging minorities, with a primary but not sole focus on cognition and health disparities in the African-American population, and behavioral genetic epidemiology. He has written numerous peer-reviewed publications. He is also the editor of Closing the Gap: Improving the Health of Minority Elders in the New Millennium and a Co-Editor of the upcoming Handbook of Minority Aging. Dr. Whitfield has had a long-standing role in the development of junior scholars from his work as Chair of the Task Force on Minority Issues and the Fellows Committee for Gerontological Society of America (GSA) as well as the organizer of the American Psychological Associations Minority Aging Networks in Psychology program and the GSA Emerging Scholars and Professions Organization (ESP) Program by GSA. He was the Co-Organizer of the Second and Third Conferences on Aging in the Americas.



Home 2013 Conference About News Advisory Group Publications Links Previous Conferences Contact Us	About CAA Conference Series on Aging in the Americas (CAA) is aimed at utilizing research to augment knowledge about dimensions of healthful aging for people of Hispanic and Latin American descent and fostering emerging scholars in the field as this topic rapidly develops as a major policy and national budget issue. Past conferences examined the social and economic causes and consequences of health problems among older Mexican-origin individuals in the United States and in Mexico. The 2010 International Conference on Aging in the Americas (ICAA) is the fourth installment of a successful series of meetings on health and aging in the Hispanic population. This conference, co-organized by Drs. Jacqueline Angel, Kyriakos Markides, Fernando Torres-Gil, and Keith Whitfield emphasizes issues pertaining to disability, caregiving, and long-term care policy for older Hispanics in the United States and Mexico. The Conference series is funded, in part, by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Based on past conference attendance by scholars and students from all over the United States and Mexico, the CAA series is certain to draw a dynamic and multidisciplinary group in the conferences planned for future dates. Conference organizers would sincerely appreciate feedback from all who are interested in previous and upcoming CAA events. The 2001 International Conference on Aging in the Americas The 2005 International Conference on Aging in the Americas - Photo Gallery The 2009 International Conference on Aging in the Americas The 2010 International Conference on Aging in the Americas The 2012 International Conference on Aging in the Americas About the CAA Logo Since times before memory, la mariposa monarca (or monarch butterfly) journeys through the Americas to sustain its life. In cool, clear skies of October, indigenous people reverently welcome returning souls on wings aloft, reuniting in central Mexican forests and valleys. So the cycle continues from beginnings unknown to no ends... The Aging in the Americas Conference selected la monarca to symbolize the threads that unite us across the Americas in understanding and reverently preserving the dignity and integrity of life?s cycle that knows no beginnings or ends. Roberto Salas was commissioned by the Conference to create la monarca. La monarca was drawn from pre-Columbian images and images from industrialized and post-industrialized Americas. He is a Chicano artist who received his Masters in Fine Art from the University of New Mexico. Roberto Salas is Director of the art galleries El Taller Cruzando Traques, which is located in San Diego, California and Studio Maguey, in El Paso, Texas. Organizers Jacqueline L. Angel, Ph.D. Jacqueline L. Angel, who has a Ph.D. in Sociology from Rutgers University, is a Professor of Public Affairs and Sociology and Faculty Affiliate in the Population Research Center, Center for Women's and Gender Studies, and the Center for Health and Social Policy at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1990-92, she was an NIA Postdoctoral Fellow in the Demography of Aging Training Program at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research addresses the relationships linking family structures, inequality, and health across the life course. Read more on her faculty webpage. Kyriakos Markides, Ph.D. Dr. Markides received his Ph.D. in Sociology in 1976 from Louisiana State University. He is currently the Annie and John Gnitzinger Distinguished Professor of Aging and Director of the Division of Sociomedical Sciences, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Dr. Markides is currently on the board of five professional journals, including Research on Aging and the Gerontologist. He is also Editor of the Journal of Aging and Health which he founded in 1989. Dr. Markides is the author or co-author of over 265 publications most of which are on aging and health issues in the Mexican American population as well as minority aging issues in general. He is currently Principal Investigator of the Hispanic EPESE (Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly), a longitudinal study of the health of 3,050 Mexican American elderly from the five Southwestern states. Dr. Markides is credited with coining the term ‘Hispanic Epidemiological Paradox’ (with J. Coreil) which is currently the leading theme in Hispanic health. He is also the editor of the Encyclopedia of Health and Aging published by SAGE Publications in April, 2007. The Institute for Scientific Information (ISA) has recently listed Dr. Markides among the most highly cited scientists in the world. Dr. Markides is the 2006 recipient of the Distinguished Mentorship Award of the Gerontological Society of America, Behavioral and Social Sciences section. Fernando Torres-Gil, Ph.D. Dr. Torres-Gil is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, serves as Professor of Social Welfare and Public Policy, and is the Director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging. Previously, he was a Professor of Gerontology and Public Administration at the University of Southern California and continues as an Adjunct Professor of Gerontology at USC. Professor Torres-Gil is an expert in the fields of health and long-term care, the politics of aging, social policy, ethnicity, and disability. He is the author of four books and more than 80 articles and book chapters, including The New Aging: Politics and Change in America (1992). As Assistant Secretary for Aging in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), he played a key role in promoting the importance of aging, long-term care, and disability issues in consolidating federal programs for older persons and in helping the generation of baby boomers redefine retirement in a post-pension era. Dr. Torres-Gil has served as President of the American Society on Aging (1989-1992) and is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. Dr. William A. Vega William A. Vega is the executive director of the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging and a USC provost professor in social work, preventive medicine, psychiatry and family medicine. He is the co-organizer of the 2012 International Conference on Aging in the Americas. An elected member of the Institute of Medicine, Dr. Vega has conducted community and clinical research projects in health, mental health and substance abuse throughout the United States and Latin America. His specialty is multi-cultural epidemiologic and services research with adolescents and adults?work that has been funded by multiple public and private sources. He has published more than 180 articles and chapters, in addition to several books. The 2006 ISI Web of Science listed him in the top half of 1 percent of the most highly cited researchers worldwide in social science literature over the past 20 years. Prior to joining the Roybal Institute, Dr. Vega was director of the Luskin Center on Innovation at UCLA. In 2002, he received the Society for Prevention Research's Community, Culture and Prevention Science Award and the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse's National Award of Excellence in Research by a Senior Scientist. He has served on numerous boards and task forces, including health disparities work groups of the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Attorney General's Task Force on Methamphetamine, the Institute of Medicine Board on Population Health, the Committee on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment Effectiveness and the Institute of Medicine Health Disparities Roundtable. He is also a former council member of the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars in Health Policy Research advisory councils. He is the current chair of the Institute of Medicine's Health Equity Roundtable. Keith E. Whitfield, Ph.D. Dr. Whitfield is a leading expert on aging minorities, with a primary but not sole focus on cognition and health disparities in the African-American population, and behavioral genetic epidemiology. He has written numerous peer-reviewed publications. He is also the editor of Closing the Gap: Improving the Health of Minority Elders in the New Millennium and a Co-Editor of the upcoming Handbook of Minority Aging. Dr. Whitfield has had a long-standing role in the development of junior scholars from his work as Chair of the Task Force on Minority Issues and the Fellows Committee for Gerontological Society of America (GSA) as well as the organizer of the American Psychological Associations Minority Aging Networks in Psychology program and the GSA Emerging Scholars and Professions Organization (ESP) Program by GSA. He was the Co-Organizer of the Second and Third Conferences on Aging in the Americas.
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