Advancing Understanding of the Health and Wellbeing of Older Adults

Enriching data infrastructure and methods to promote breakthroughs in the demography of aging

MiCDA affiliates lead major aging studies that serve as critical infrastructure for the field including the Health and Retirement Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and the National Health and Aging Trends Study. READ MORE

MiCDA affiliates also design and collect demographic data to support research on COVID-19 and aging. READ MORE

MiCDA affiliates lead international networks of scholars dedicated to improvement the measurement of biological risk in large representative cohorts and to advancing methodological research in longitudinal studies of aging

MiCDA extends the reach of these activities through its annual pilot project program and MiCDA network activities and collaborations focused on critical measurement and methodological issues.

The changing demography of later-life disability, dementia and family caregiving

MiCDA affiliates lead efforts to understand the implications of population aging in the US. and globally for later-life disability and dementia trends. Our faculty also study critical questions about the consequences of such trends for families of older adults. READ MORE


MiCDA advances research on these important questions through its annual pilot project program and through leading networks of scholars dedicated to studying later-life trends and the changing demography of family caregiving.

Life course determinants of health and wellbeing in later life and related disparities

Researchers agree that health and wellbeing outcomes in later life – and inequities across racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups – are shaped by experiences and exposures from birth through older ages. Resources developed by MiCDA affiliates are valuable for identifying critical biosocial, behavioral and contextual influences on this process. READ MORE

MiCDA promotes life course research through its annual pilot project program and by making available restricted HRS, PSID and NHATS products as well as linkable contextual measures (including measures of the exposome) to approved users through the MiCDA Virtual Data Enclave.