CEO Blog

The transformed GSA Annual Scientific Meeting experience is underway. Although the official dates of the meeting are November 4 to 7, our pre-conference events have been unfolding throughout the month of October.

We’re only halfway through. There is still time to connect and engage through a host of events.

Read more: Take Advantage of GSA 2020 Pre-Conference Events — Sign up Now!

On September 9, I had the honor of representing GSA at a preconference workshop panel titled “New Normal for Higher Education: Understanding and Embracing an Aging Society,” which was part of Drexel University’s Annual Assessment Conference.

I applaud the Drexel community for embracing this increasingly important topic. The program introduced participants to national trends and best practices in creating an age-diverse and age-inclusive campus that will prepare graduates for success in the 21st century. I was joined by GSA members Nancy Morrow-Howell, PhD, MSW, FGSA, Laura N. Gitlin, PhD, FGSA, FAAN, and Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili, PhD, RN, FASPEN, FAAN, FGSA.

Read more: Building the Case for Age-Inclusivity in Higher Education

Congratulations to the thousands of researchers, clinicians, and educators who have had their scholarship accepted for presentation during the GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting Online! Your research will be accessible to scholars across the U.S. and around the world and subsequently published in the GSA journal Innovation in Aging.

GSA has worked with the online meeting host platform supporting the conference to provide an additional week for submitting your audio recording and uploading your presentation. The website will then be locked for final testing and preparations before it is opened to meeting registrants in advance of the official kick-off of the meeting on November 4. This advance opening will enable registrants to view sessions and select which presenter discussions to add to their schedules during the November 4 to 7 meeting.

Read more: Need to Upload Your GSA 2020 Meeting Presentation? We’ll Show You How

There are only 10 weeks to go until the kick-off of GSA’s 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting Online, taking place November 4 to 7. But there is still time to submit a late breaker poster abstract! If you have compelling research that was not available at the time of the general abstract submissions, the meeting’s Late Breaker Poster Sessions are the perfect place to share your work.

Additionally, in recognition of the impact of COVID-19 and the work many gerontologists are doing in this arena, GSA has added a new session topic, COVID-19 Pandemic, for late breaker poster abstract submissions.

Read more: Submit Your Late Breaker Poster Abstracts by September 3

With the opening of registration, excitement for the GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting Online is beginning to ramp up considerably. Many are eager for the chance to present their accepted research in front of the gerontological community, while others are fast preparing their submissions for the Late Beaker Poster Sessions. (The deadline is September 3.)

There’s also excitement because of the unparalleled accessibility to the programming that will be offered. Unlike GSA meetings past, all content will be available outside a single presentation window, with multiple ways to directly interact with presenters at the time of your choosing. So scheduling conflicts won’t be an issue.

Read more: A GSA Meeting of Expanded Opportunities Awaits You

The University of Michigan’s National Poll on Healthy Aging has released a new report, “Everyday Ageism and Health,” and some of the results are startling: more than 80 percent of the older adults polled say they commonly experience at least one form of ageism in their day-to-day lives. What’s more, the poll was conducted before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, where we’ve seen troubling narratives emerge about the value of older adults in our society.

Read more: Ageism Is Rampant, Poll Confirms, But We Can Fight It Together

“Understanding Ageism and COVID-19” is the latest in a series of resources that GSA has prepared in response to the ongoing pandemic. It’s an infographic that can help us all, as aging advocates, counter the inaccurate narratives about older people in public discourse today.

As GSA’s COVID-19 Task Force began its work, its members quickly identified ageism, and the perpetuation of ageist myths, as a major concern as evidenced by the coverage of the pandemic in the media. The infographic highlights several false narratives about older adults in the pandemic and reframes them in the context of science.

Read more: Infographic Dispels Myths About COVID-19’s Impact on Older Adults

We’re living in a time when many feel it is difficult to fully protect our health. It sometimes seems we have little control as the specter of COVID-19 looms in the community. This historic pandemic has left many — perhaps older adults in particular — feeling cautious and fearful until the time that a vaccine is developed.

GSA’s National Adult Vaccination Program (NAVP) Workgroup has put together a new fact sheet, “Aging and Immunity: Why Older Adults Are Particularly Susceptible to Diseases Like COVID-19,” that provides valuable information about our immune systems and provides details about the complexities involved in creating a vaccine. Public-private partnerships and manufacturers are moving at a historic pace to bring a safe and effective vaccine to market. While a vaccine may be ready by the end of the year, it may also be significantly longer.

Read more: New GSA Fact Sheet Highlights Pathway to Future COVID-19 Vaccine(s), But Let’s Remember Importance of Fully Utilizing Already Available Immunizations

In case you missed it among the crush of emails, text messages, webinars, etc., over the past two weeks, I encourage you to take three minutes to watch a message from United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as he lays out key tenets of how we should respond globally to the rash of ageism confronting us during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He gave a video address emphasizing that our response to COVID-19 must respect the rights and dignity of older people. I applaud Guterres and the U.N. for providing a steady voice of advocacy as we continue to see ageist attitudes exposed toward older adults in this time of crisis. At every level of society, we must respond.

Read more: U.N. Reminds Us What’s at Stake as We Collectively Respond to COVID-19

While the COVID-19 pandemic has upended virtually every aspect of our personal and professional lives, I am amazed at how the research community has adapted and innovated to continue its pursuit of new scientific insights during this period. While many are impacted by research losses due to interrupted studies and missed opportunities, it’s impressive to see how individuals have adapted to continue their current research and innovated to pursue projects related to COVID-19.

Read more: GSA Journals Support Those Adapting and Innovating to Advance Aging Research