S. Jay Olshansky

Stuart Jay Olshansky (born in 1954) is currently a Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Research Associate at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Biography

He received his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Chicago in 1984.

The focus of his research to date has been on estimates of the upper limits to human longevity, exploring the health and public policy implications associated with individual and population aging, forecasts of the size, survival, and age structure of the population, pursuit of the scientific means to slow aging in people (The Longevity Dividend), and global implications of the re-emergence of infectious and parasitic diseases, and insurance linked securities.

During the last 25 years, Dr. Olshansky has been working with colleagues in the biological sciences to develop the modern "biodemographic paradigm" of mortality – an effort to understand the biological nature of the survival and dying out processes of living organisms.

Dr. Olshansky's work on biodemography has been funded by a Special Emphasis Research Career Award (SERCA) and Independent Scientist Award (ISA) from the National Institute on Aging – awards that were designed to permit him to obtain additional graduate-level training in the fields of evolutionary biology, molecular biology, genetics, epidemiology, population biology, anthropology and statistics.

Dr. Olshansky is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences and Biogerontology, he is on the editorial board of several other scientific journals, and is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Gerontological Society of America. Dr. Olshansky is also listed in Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare, American Men and Women of Science, and Who's Who in America.

He was an invited speaker at the December, 2002 President's Council on Bioethics, Fortune Magazine's 2004 Brainstorm meeting, the 2004 Nobel Conference devoted to the science of aging, the Institute of Medicine—2004, the 2005 UNESCO conference on Health and Longevity in Paris, the 2007 United Nations conference on Health and Aging, the 2007 World Ageing and Generations conference in Switzerland, the 2007 Global Financial Services CEO Roundtable in Italy, the 2009 Horizon21 symposium on Insurance Linked Securities, the 2010 Insurance-Linked Securities Summit in New York, the 2010 Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, and he has testified before the trustees of the Social Security Administration where his research has influenced forecasts of the nation's entitlement programs.

Dr. Olshansky is the recipient of a 2005/2006 Senior Fulbright Award to lecture in France; he is an adviser to U.S. Preventive Medicine; he is a founding member of the HSBC Global Commission on Ageing and Retirement; he is a member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on an Aging Society; he is a member of the Council on an Ageing Society at the World Economic Forum; he advised the Pension Advisory Group at JPMorgan; he is on the Program Advisory Group and Senior Associate at the International Longevity Center (US); he has been invited to lecture on aging throughout the world; and has participated in a number of international debates on the future of human health and longevity.

Dr. Olshansky is the first author of The Quest for Immortality: Science at the Frontiers of Aging (Norton, 2001), and he can be seen discussing aging, longevity and centenarians in the new permanent exhibit entitled "You The Experience" at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

See also

Biography portal

• Ageing
• Life extension
• Longevity
• Senescence

Reference list

External links

• Main Homepage for Olshansky
• University of Illinois at Chicago Official Website
• University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health Department
• Google Books results of works authored by Olshansky

Articles

• 'Don't fall for the cult of immortality' - Article by Olshansky
• 'In Pursuit of the Longevity Dividend: What Should We Be Doing To Prepare for the Unprecedented Aging of Humanity?' - Article co-authored by Olshansky that appeared in The Scientist
• http://web.mac.com/sjayo/SJayOlshansky/Manuscripts.html - access to most of Dr. Olshansky's scientific articles

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Name	Olshansky, Jay
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Date of birth	1954
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