Over the next decade, 75 million baby boomers will swell to a mighty force, forming the largest group of older Americans in US history. Scholars from many different disciplines are already trying to assess the sweeping impact these "senior boomers" will have on the nation economically, socially and politically.

Bolstered by a growing pot of research dollars from public and private sources, population aging, gerontology, geriatric medicine and other age-related issues are becoming hot topics for research universities nationwide, including UCLA.

"There is no escaping our destiny. We are growing older and living longer," said Fernando Torres-Gil, associate dean of UCLA's School of Public Policy and Social Research, who served as the first-ever Assistant Secretary for Aging in the US Department of Health and Human Services. He now heads UCLA's Center for Policy Research on Aging, which is currently working with the UC California Policy Research Group to develop a strategic plan for California to address the demographic, economic and social changes that will be triggered by the state's aging and increasingly diverse population.

In another part of the campus where the demographic imperative is being felt, the School of Medicine and the Veterans Administration Healthcare System have developed one of the nation's leading research programs in gerontology and geriatric medicine. Involving more than 50 full-time faculty members from many different disciplines, UCLA's Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology has become one of the largest academic geriatric programs in the world.

Yet another nucleus for many multidisciplinary programs on aging and for seniors is the UCLA Center on Aging. It has galvanized faculty from different fields around aging issues and needs.

The faculty's ability to cross fields is helping position UCLA to play "a leading role in almost every aspect of population aging and to become one of the world centers in aging research," said Torres-Gil.

The challenge, however, continues to be recruiting and training others in this wide-open field. "The multidisciplinary nature of aging and population-aging lends itself well to the world of a major research university," he said. "A research university is the right enterprise to address aging, and it must."

TRAINING THE BRIGHTEST AND THE BEST

By 2020, as many as 70,000 new social workers will be needed nationally to serve older adults and their families, according to the National Association of Social Workers.

Among their ranks will be Maria Carpiac, a UCLA social welfare graduate student, one of seven from the campus who received $5,000 stipends this year through a regional consortium that the Department of Social Welfare in the School of Public Policy and Social Research played a lead role in establishing. The goal: to groom the best and the brightest social-work students in geriatric care.

Gary Small, director of the UCLA Center on Aging, researches genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's.

And Carpiac is proving her worth. As part of her training, she is helping to set up an outreach clinic at the Veterans Administration-West Los Angeles Hospital near campus to assist elderly patients who misuse emergency room services for routine medical and social needs.

"Older adults have so many factors at play in their lives. I'm seeing that a social worker is critical in bringing everything together," she said.

Carpiac represents a new breed of social-work students who are benefitting from an innovative field-training model, developed by the Southern California Geriatric Social Work Education Consortium. The consortium, which received $479,000 from the John A. Hartford Foundation and $450,000 from the Archstone Foundation, is headed by the Partners in Care Foundation and includes UCLA, USC, Cal State Long Beach and Cal State L.A., along with four service agencies.

The consortium strives to develop student interest and enhance recruitment, said JoAnn Damron-Rodriguez, an associate adjunct professor of social welfare at UCLA who is co-principal investigator of the grants.

All together, 27 students, including Carpiac, from the four universities are participating in the new program.

At the Comprehensive Care Clinic, the outreach clinic that Carpiac helped establish, 15 elderly veterans meet once a month to learn basic health care: when to call the doctor, how to manage medications, how to prevent falls and use community resources.

"Our job as social workers is to work closely with the medical team to help the individuals and their families who are struggling with various issues," Carpiac said.

And who will teach and mentor the battalions of new social workers specializing in geriatric care?

The Hartford foundation has again come up with resources, a $2.45-million grant to fund a geriatric social-work doctoral fellows program that James Lubben, UCLA professor of social welfare and urban planning and writer of the grant, is implementing.

LEADER OF THE PACK

If you have any doubts that aging is a topic that has piqued the interest of many scholars, take a look at a directory recently published by UCLA's Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology.

Organizers identified more than 200 faculty from some 20 departments with a teaching and/or research interest in aging-related topics - from economics and quality of life to alcohol and sexual problems.

With that broad a reach, it's no wonder that the UCLA Department of Medicine's Division of Geriatrics has been ranked No. 1 in the nation for the last nine consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report. Within that division, the multicampus program has grown since 1979 to include nearly 10 education, research and clinical-training programs.

Geriatric fellow Sue Charette checks on the health of Sarah Springer, a resident of the Jewish Homes for the Aging, a training site for UCLA geriatric fellows.

Among the 50-plus faculty participating are experts in hormone therapy for postmenopausal symptoms and osteoporosis treatment, specialists in treating pain in older people and incontinence, and researchers studying alcohol consumption among the elderly.

What does this wealth of skill and knowledge mean for the lives of older adults?

One of the program's premier strengths is its ability to provide a continuum of care to older persons through campus resources and community linkages. Led by Chief of Geriatrics David B. Reuben, the program cares for them as they age and move from doctors' offices to home and hospital care and on to a rehabilitation, nursing or hospice facility.

Unlike many doctors who will no longer treat patients once they've relocated to a long-term care residence, most UCLA physicians can continue seeing their patients, becoming their link to the providers of day-to-day care.

There is another fundamental difference that the program is making. While the majority of internal- and family-medicine medical students and other health professionals at other institutions still receive minimal geriatric training, UCLA has become a leader in geriatric education and training. One of the longest-running such programs is the VA-UCLA Geriatric Fellowship Program, affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Several new teaching and training grants are in place, providing interdisciplinary geriatrics training.

"All medical schools and all health-care systems are going to have to gear up for this," Reuben said. "They are going to have to recognize that older people are not just gray-haired young people. They have very different needs that have to be met."

HEALTHY LIVING AND LEARNING

To promote successful aging - from Alzheimer's research to sending seniors back to school - the UCLA Center on Aging is forging innovative multidisciplinary programs across campus.

Founded in 1991 under the motto, "Living Better Longer," the center enhances productive and healthy living through research and education.

"We have found that research and education can take quantum leaps forward when people from different knowledge bases and backgrounds get together," said Gary Small, director of the Center on Aging. "We value that opportunity at UCLA."

The center relies on a broad spectrum of faculty expertise. Many of the center's programs directly reflect this interdisciplinary spirit:

• Early detection and prevention of Alzheimer's disease and memory loss: Faculty in genetics, nuclear medicine, chemistry, psychiatry, neuropsychology, neurology, brain imaging and neuroscience are working together to focus on these debilitating problems.
• Pilot research grants: Seed funding is available through the center to promote campuswide research in aging.
• Annual research conference: Last year, 150-plus researchers from the schools of Medicine, Public Health, Public Policy and Social Research, Dentistry and the College of Letters & Science gathered to present their latest research on aging and share ideas at a conference hosted by the center. "By offering ways for people to interact and share information, we can create a synergy that truly enhances research and education - this is what being on a university campus is all about," Small said.
• Interdisciplinary education programs: Supported by the center with the College, the Undergraduate Gerontology Program offers specialized courses on aging and a minor in gerontology. For the community at large, the center keeps seniors updated on the latest topics on aging. Through the center's Senior Scholars Program, older adults have access to more than 125 undergraduate classes each semester at UCLA.

"We hope to continue to build relationships on campus and support academic exchange to meet the growing needs of our aging population," Small said.