Our Vision and Innovation

Solving today’s health care challenges requires the ability to analyze huge quantities of data from sources such as electronic medical records, insurance information, large national longitudinal population-based surveys, wearable devices, repositories of genetic information, and much more.

The Marcus Institute has developed a diverse suite of software tools and techniques that supports clinical trial efforts here and in partner research institutes. Now, we are expanding our capabilities in the field of data science to supercharge the pace of discovery.

The Center for Analytic Sciences in Aging at the Marcus Institute will unite clinician-scientists using big data with aging-focused quantitative scientists who have expertise in quantitative data analysis, genetics, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

While many other research programs can analyze big data, few in the world are focused on the problems facing older adults. We seek to become a unique center for the development of statistical and machine learning technologies specifically tailored to the study of aging, aging-related illnesses, and healthy longevity.

The center will unlock access to the data that will, for example, identify biomarkers showing who is susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease and would benefit from early interventions to prevent the onset of dementia. It will translate data into practice by helping clinicians access information about who’s likely to respond to a certain drug for delirium, who should receive anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation if they are at risk of falls, or who benefits most from physical therapy after a hip fracture. This kind of personalized medicine will lead to better health outcomes and improved quality of life for all of us as we grow older.

There are more than one billion people aged 60 or older around the world, and that number is expected to double by 2050. Even though people are living longer, they’re not necessarily living with better health. Some older adults live an active and independent lifestyle well into their 80s or 90s, while others face disability and frailty at much younger ages.

A deeper understanding of what factors predict good health and which suggest poor outcomes would enable early detection and intervention to sustain health, prevent functional decline and disability, and improve quality of life.

To answer the question of how to predict and support healthy aging, the Marcus Institute is developing the Healthy Aging Initiative which will collect, store, analyze, and share longitudinal data about how we age.

We will involve a diverse cohort of older adults, including Hebrew SeniorLife residents, in annual non-invasive, state-of-the-art assessments of medical conditions, physical and cognitive function, mental health, socioeconomic status, and other characteristics.

We will also develop a biobank of biological samples (blood samples, cheek swabs, etc.) to support future biomarker analysis.

Ultimately, we hope to connect participants with clinical research opportunities, identify early biomarkers of the rate of aging and disease, determine factors that slow the progression of disease and prevent disability, discover risk factors for specific diseases, and enable the development and testing of interventions that can improve health for older adults.

Since our founding in the 1960s, the Marcus Institute has a history of training talented new investigators in the field of aging who are now conducting their own research that is transforming health and aging for older adults worldwide. Many of these trainees have remained at Hebrew SeniorLife, been promoted at Harvard Medical School, and taken on leadership roles at the Marcus Institute and elsewhere.

We’re proud of our successful track record, but we know that much more is needed to help address our nation’s critical shortage of clinical investigators in the field of aging. For this reason, we are developing the Career Development in Aging Research initiative to fill gaps in traditional training programs, develop an interdisciplinary training program that leverages the Marcus Institute’s collective expertise and resources, and attract promising fellows and junior faculty.

CDAR will encourage innovative work by funding pilot and exploratory grants within the Marcus Institute to acquire the preliminary data that are necessary to win future NIH career development awards and research grants.

To help postdoctoral trainees and junior faculty learn what was omitted in traditional education about aging research design and execution, we are developing a novel training course that takes advantage of the incredible experience of our senior scientists.

And, we are committed to improving diversity in the field of aging research and are accelerating our efforts to recruit, train, and retain diverse  scientists.

By focusing on postdoctoral students and junior faculty, we will mentor and train the next generation of researchers in the field of aging to become the leaders of tomorrow, leading to new discoveries that will improve the care and quality of life of older adults for decades to come.

Learn more about training opportunities at the Marcus Institute.