Heller kicks off educational collaboration with Hebrew SeniorLife

Jun. 23, 2008

Aging expert John Rowe gives keynote address

Laura Gardner
781-736-4204
gardner@brandeis.edu

Recently the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University hosted a celebration to kick off the new educational partnership between the school and Hebrew SeniorLife, one of the nation’s premier nonprofit senior housing and services organizations.

John W. Rowe, M.D., Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and author of Successful Aging, gave a keynote address to commemorate the partnership and discuss the “Opportunities and Challenges of an Aging Society.” In his talk, Dr. Rowe urged the audience to consider the changes that will take place as our nation becomes an aging society and challenged listeners to reflect on how we will adapt as the nation's population ages.

Heller School Dean Stuart Altman and Hebrew SeniorLife CEO Len Fishman offered opening remarks and highlighted the role that the new partnership will serve in meeting the need for new leaders in the field of aging. Through a concentration in Aging in Heller's MBA and MPP degree programs, the partnership combines management and policy training with hands-on experience at Hebrew SeniorLife’s multi-site facilities.

Incoming Heller School Dean Lisa Lynch moderated a discussion panel following the keynote address that included Michael Festa, Massachusetts Secretary of Elder Affairs, Len Fishman, and Alan Solomont, CEO of Solomont Bailis Ventures. Speakers and panelists participated in a discussion regarding ways to maintain work and community engagement for older adults as well as ways to involve all generations in preparing for and making decisions about the direction of our aging society.

For more information on the concentration in aging at the Heller School or the Brandeis/Hebrew SeniorLife Educational Collaboration, please visit heller.brandeis.edu or contact Dr. Sarita Bhalotra, Chair of the concentration in aging, at bhalotra@brandeis.edu.