The Aging Symposium in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

is an

academic conference An academic conference or scientific conference (also congress, symposium, workshop, or meeting) is an Convention (meeting), event for researchers (not necessarily academics) to present and discuss their scholarly work. Together with academic jou ...

aging Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming Old age, older until death. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi; whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentiall ...

that was first held in 1982. From 1982 until 2002, the symposium was held every ten years, and from 2002 to present, it has been held every five years. Because there are several distinct gerontology research groups in Alberta, symposium sponsorship has alternated between different organizations. Since the first symposium in 1982, conferences have alternately been sponsored by the Alberta Centre on Aging, the Alberta Association of Gerontology, the Alberta Council on Aging, the University of Alberta's Special Interest Group on Aging, and Grey Matters Alberta.

History

The Aging Symposium in Alberta has been held in cities such as

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, and Hinton. The impact the Aging Symposium has been documented in a range of subsequent literature. In particular, research that was presented at the 2007 Edmonton Aging Symposium has been cited in books by authors such as

Greg Critser Greg Critser (July 18, 1954, Steubenville, Ohio – January 13, 2018) was an American writer on medicine, science, food and health. His work has appeared in periodicals ranging from the ''New York Times'' to the ''Times of London'', and from ''Harp ...

and

Greg Fahy Gregory Michael Fahy is a California-based cryobiologist, biogerontologist, and businessman. He is the Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at 21st Century Medicine, Inc, and has co-founded ''Intervene Immune'', a company developing clin ...

, as well as in articles published in the Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging.

1982

Alberta's first aging symposium was sponsored by the Canadian Association of Gerontology held in conjunction with the introduction of the University of Alberta's Centre for Gerontology, which was eventually renamed the Alberta Centre on Aging. In 1982, the University of Alberta introduced the Centre for Gerontology, which was sponsored by both the

Faculty of Arts A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

and the

Faculty of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

; the centre was created "to enhance the understanding of the aged individual and of the aging process by mean of the support, encouragement, and facilitation of research in gerontology." The 1982 symposium was held May 31-June 3. The 1982 symposium took place at the

Hotel Macdonald The Fairmont Hotel Macdonald, formerly and commonly known as the Hotel Macdonald (colloquially known as The Mac), is a large historic luxury hotel in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Located along 100 Street NW, south of Jasper Avenue, the hotel is situ ...

. The 1982 symposium was organized by Dr. Hayden Roberts.

1992

Ten years after the first symposium, a second conference was held October 22-25, 1992. Similar to the first conference, the second aging symposium was co-sponsored by the Canadian Association of Gerontology and the University of Alberta's Centre for Gerontology.

2002

In October 2002, a third Alberta aging symposium was sponsored by the Alberta Council on Aging and held in Calgary. This symposium was funded by several different groups including

the University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

and

Athabasca University Athabasca University (AU) is a Canadian public university that primarily operates through online distance education. Founded in 1970, it is one of four comprehensive academic and research universities in Alberta, and was the first Canadian ...

, as well as the Seniors Advisory Council for Alberta and the Canadian Institute on Health and Aging.

2007

By 2007 the University of Alberta's Centre for Gerontology had formally changed its name to the Alberta Centre on Aging and was one of the sponsors for the Edmonton Aging Symposium. The Edmonton Aging Symposium was the entirely inspired, organized, and funded through the efforts of Dr. Kevin Perrott and held March 30-31, 2007. The 2007 symposium was inspired by Kevin Perrott's work with the Methuselah Foundation and the science of developing interventions in aging process as a means to prevent chronic degenerative disease. The Symposium featured future forward speakers such as

Aubrey de Grey Aubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey (; born 20 April 1963) is an English biomedical gerontologist. He is the author of ''The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging'' (1999) and co-author of '' Ending Aging'' (2007). De Grey is known for ...

, Gregory Stock,

Ronald Bailey Ronald Bailey (born November 23, 1953) is an American libertarian writer. He has written or edited several books on economics, ecology, and biotechnology. Personal life Bailey was born in San Antonio, Texas, and raised in Washington County, Vir ...

Daniel Callahan Daniel John Callahan (July 19, 1930 – July 16, 2019) was an American philosopher who played a leading role in developing the field of biomedical ethics as co-founder of The Hastings Center, the world's first bioethics research institute. He ser ...

, Luiji Fontana,

Judith Campisi Judith Campisi (March 12, 1948 – January 19, 2024) was an American biochemist and cell biologist. She was a professor of biogerontology at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. She was also a member of the SENS Research Foundation Advisory ...

, William J. Evans, Ellen Heber-Katz, and Amit Patel, amongst others. The 2007 symposium took place at Bernard Snell Hall at the University of Alberta. The 2007 symposium was a standalone and entirely novel gathering of government, academic, industry, and the general public to discuss the necessity and impact of the development of interventions in aging. Dr. Kevin Perrott has gone on to create multiple organizations focused on this goal.

2012

Similar to the symposium presented five years prior in 2007, Alberta's fifth aging symposium was held on campus at the University of Alberta. Instead of being presented by the Alberta Centre on Aging, however, the fifth symposium was sponsored by the university's Special Interest Group on Aging in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. The fifth aging symposium was held in June 2012.

2017

From September 11-13, 2017 a sixth aging symposium was held in

Hinton, Alberta Hinton is a town in the foothills of Alberta, Canada, with a population of 9,817. It is in Yellowhead County, northeast of Jasper and about west of Alberta's capital city, Edmonton, at the intersection of the Yellowhead and Bighorn Highway ...

and sponsored by Grey Matters Alberta.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aging Symposium (Alberta), The Ageing Academic conferences Gerontology organizations Medical conferences Science conferences