About Me

An internationally known expert on nutritional influences that affect trajectories of health and disability in older adults, including vitamins, protein, energy balance, exercise and obesity, I have more than 450 peer-reviewed publications, lead Wake Forest Baptist’s NIA-funded Claude D Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC), and co-direct the Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention. I have participated in some of the most important aging-related multicenter studies in the past 20 years, including the Health ABC study and the Life Style Interventions and Independence for Elders (LIFE) Trial, and I am the past editor-in-chief of the Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences

I lead the Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) with the American Federation for Aging Research. The RCCN’s goal is to build research collaborations among the six NIA Center’s programs through workshops, pilot awards, and educational activities. Through my service on the National Advisory Council on Aging, I help shape national research priorities for aging research. My recent work focuses on translating the new discoveries in the biology aging to prevent age-related diseases and extend health span in older adults.