Encyclopedia of Gerontology

Edited by James Birren, one of the world's leading researchers in gerontology, this two-volume work is the most comprehensive work on age, aging, and the aged available. This entirely new encyclopedia covers the latest research on the biology, psychology, and sociology of aging in addition to covering how aging is depicted in the humanities. This dynamic field has grown over the years to encompass fascinating studies of development and change with age. This encyclopedia provides a reference source for identifying major areas of investigation and our knowledge to date. Prepared for a college- and professional-level readership, each article provides depth and breadth of coverage, including theory and summaries of empirical findings. Every article contains a definition paragraph, describing the subject at hand, a glossary of unfamiliar terms, and a bibliography of suggested readings. The set is fully cross-referenced and contains a complete subject index.

James E. Birren is currently Associate Director of the Center on Aging at the University of California, Los Angeles, and serves as an adjunct professor in medicine, psychiatry, and biobehavioral sciences. He is also professor emeritus of gerontology and psychology at the University of Southern California. Dr. Birren's previous postions include service as Chief of the section on aging of the National Institute of Mental Health, founding Executive Director and Dean of the Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center of USC, founding Director of the Anna and Harry Borun Center for Gerontological Research at UCLA, and President of the Gerontological Society of America, the Western Gerontological Society, and the Division on Adult Development and Aging of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Birren's many awards include the Brookdale Foundation Award for Gerontological Research, the Sandoz prize for Gerontological Research, and the award for outstanding contribution to gerontology by the Canadian Association of Gerontology. Author of over 250 scholarly publications, Dr. Birren has research interests including how speed of behavior changes with age, the causes and consequences of slowed information processing in the older nervous system, the effect of age on decision-making processes, and the role of expertise in skilled occupations. He has served as a delegate to several White House Conferences on Aging and continues to have a strong interest in developing national priorities for research and education related to issues of aging.

Dr. Rattan is head of the Laboratory of Cellular Ageing, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Denmark. He is an internationally renowned biogerontologist with more than 30 years of experience in research, teaching, scientific writing and public communication. He is one of the pioneers for the testing and application of hormesis in ageing research and interventions. His research expertise include elucidating the molecular mechanisms of human cellular ageing, with respect to protein synthesis, modifications and turnover. He is the discoverer of the ageing-modulatory effects of kinetin and zeatin, which are now used in several skin care products. He has published more than 250 original research papers and reviews in international journals and books. He has extensive experience and success in compiling and editing/co-editing 15 books for various publishers. He is the founder and current Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biogerontology. He is also the author of popular science books for children in several languages, including English, Punjabi and Danish

Victor W. Marshall is Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Toronto and Director of its Centre for Studies of Aging. He served from 1990 to 1995 as Network Director of CARNET, the Canadian Aging Research Network, a Canadian federally funded nationwide Network of Centres of Excellence. Professor Marshall is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and a founding member of the Canadian Association on Gerontology. He was Editor-in-Chief of The Canadian Journal on Aging for five years and is now on the Executive Board of the Encyclopedia of Gerontology and the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Aging and Health and Ageing and Society. More than 100 publications report his work from a broad social science perspective rooted in sociological training. His work has covered such diverse aspects of aging as the family, long-term care, public policy, and death and dying, but it currently focuses on social theory of aging, independence and aging, and aging in relation to work and the life course. He directs a large multidisciplinary research program in the latter area funded by the Canadian government.

Thomas R. Cole's book The Journal of Life: A Cultural History of Aging in America (Cambridge, 1992) was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Another of his works, The Oxford Book of Aging (1994), for which he was senior editor, was noted as one of the most memorable books of 1995 by The New Yorker. Dr. Cole is Professor and Graduate Program Director at the Institute for Medical Humanities, University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He is a graduate of Yale University (B.A. Philosophy, 1971), Wesleyan University (M.A. History, 1975), and the University ofRochester (Ph.D. History, 1981). Dr. Cole is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society. He has served as Chair of the GSAs Humanities and Arts Committee, on the editorial boards of The Gerontologist, Generations, and Journal of Aging and Health and reviews manuscripts for Ageing and Society. Dr. Cole has published many articles and books on the history of aging and humanistic gerontology. He is senior editor of What Does It Mean to Grow Old? (Duke, 1986), the Handbook of Humanities and Aging (Springer, 1992), and Voice and Visions: Toward a Critical Gerontology (Springer, 1993).

Dr David J. Solomon is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Michigan State University. He started an open access electronic journal in medical education, Medical Education Online, which has grown rapidly in recent years.