UAB to host annual AARP Aging Policy Conference

Social and economic inequality are major issues facing America’s aging society and the subjects of UAB’s annual AARP Aging Policy Conference, Oct. 17.

aging conferenceThe seventh annual University of Alabama at Birmingham AARP Aging Policy Conference will be held Friday, Oct. 17 at the Homewood Public Library, 1721 Oxmoor Road, Homewood, Ala. This year’s theme is Inequality for All — what it means for an aging society.

“Experts in fields ranging from biology to sociology to economics suggest that inequality is one of the major issues confronting the United States and the world,” said organizer Julie Locher, Ph.D., professor in the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine. “This conference will look at what inequality, and especially income inequality, means for seniors, many of whom are on fixed incomes, as well as the effects on society as a whole.”

The conference runs from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is sponsored by AARP, the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy and the UAB Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging.

Speakers include: Steven Austad, Ph.D., chair of the UAB Department of Biology; Gregory Pavela, Ph.D., UAB postdoctoral fellow; Gary Burtless, Ph.D., senior fellow of economic studies at the Brookings Institution; Kenneth Ferraro, Ph.D., professor of sociology, Purdue University; and Gary Koenig, vice president of economic issues at AARP Public Policy Institute.

Attendance at the conference is limited to the first 100 persons who register.