Macalester receives grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to study aging

St. Paul, Minn. – Macalester College, McGill University, Université du Québec à Montréal, and the University of Minnesota have received a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to study aging.  The grant, totaling about $200,000, will allow the researchers, over a period of three years, to study survival analysis as it relates to aging.

Survival analysis is a branch of statistics that deals with death in biological organisms and failure in mechanical systems. Survival analysis attempts to answer questions such as: what is the fraction of a population that will survive past a certain time? Of those that survive, at what rate will they die or fail?

“Longitudinal studies of aging are designed to enable researchers to study the complexity of aging over time,” said Math Prof. Victor Addona, one of the researchers.  “Often, the goal is to capture outcomes such as the development of disease, the onset of disability, institutionalization, and/or death.  These studies are expensive and many require lengthy follow up for the collection of adequate data.  In our research, we investigate, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective, statistical methodology related to the analysis of such longitudinal studies.”

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the major federal agency responsible for funding health research in Canada. In 2009-2010, CIHR’s budget was just over 1 billion dollars. It consists of 13 “virtual” institutes, each headed by a Scientific Director and assisted by an Institute Advisory Board. CIHR supports more than 14,000 researchers and researchers in training as part of the federal government’s investment in health research.  Each institute focuses on an individual area of research, such as the Institute of Aging.

Addona is part of a team of researchers, including those from McGill University, Université du Québec à Montréal, and the University of Minnesota, who conduct research in survival analysis.

Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,978 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism and civic engagement.  Learn more at macalester.edu.