Events

Past Event

New Utopias: How Would You Make the Most of Your Longer Life?

April 5, 2022
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
America/New_York
Online Event

VIRTUAL EVENT | 1:00 p.m. (New York) | 7:00 p.m. (Paris)

In a utopia, our “golden” years are filled with strong social bonds, good health. and security. How do you envision your last third of life? With great gains in longevity in the 20th Century, how do we build societies that are less age-segregated, and that offer opportunities to older adults to be productive in the labor force and/or engaged socially.  At 70, you may be caring for a 95 year-old parent. Or you may be battling multiple chronic diseases. Or you may be healthy, working part time and cashing in on your longer life. As we begin to go beyond the discussions of the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on older individuals around the world, it is time to focus on the often-neglected or misunderstood topic of later life, its implications for different societies and its possibilities for individuals and communities. At a time of unprecedented global aging, our panelists —scholars with specialization in the medical, and cultural issues of aging -will discuss, with your input, new visions for an optimistic future that re-centers our only growing natural resource — older adults — and the last third of life as the enormous opportunity for individuals and societies that it is.

This program is co-organized by the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center, the Columbia Committee on Global Thought, and Columbia Global Centers | Paris.

The New Utopias series is presented by Columbia Global Centers | Paris, the Alliance Program and the European Institute.

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SPEAKERS:

Dr. Vishakha N. Desai: Chair of the Committee on Global Thought; Senior Advisor for Global Affairs to the President; Senior Research Scholar, School of International and Public Affairs. Click here to read her full biography.

Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH: Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health and DeLamar Professor of Public Health Practice, Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine; Director, Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center; Senior Vice President, Columbia University Medical Center. Click here to read her full biography.

Dr. Isabella Aboderin: Senior Research Scientist and Head of the Program on Aging and Development, African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi; Associate Professor of Gerontology at the University of Southampton. Click here to read her full biography.

John Beard, MBBS PhD: Director of the Board, Global Center for Modern Aging; Former Director, WHO Department of Ageing and Life Course. Click here to read his full biography.

Contact Information

Andrew Wells