Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center

CUIMC Healthy Aging Initiative

Vision Statement: Our common goal is to extend healthspan to the oldest ages and create healthy longevity for all. To achieve this goal, we will forge a comprehensive understanding of healthy aging through new discoveries and their integration into universal prevention and care. This will unleash the potential of our longer lives for individuals and society.

In March 2023, the CUIMC Healthy Aging Initiative (CHAI) was launched, to be located within the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center. The Initiative was established with the following goals.

  1. Create a vision for next generation science to propel developing healthy longevity for all— spanning basic molecular, cellular, and organismal, clinical, mental health, social sciences, and public health approaches to population health
  2. Identify initiatives to catapult CUIMC’s leadership on science and solutions that meet health needs and optimize the opportunities of longevity
  3. Identify CUIMC’s strengths and gaps and our collective transformative goals that will strengthen basic science, clinical medicine, social science, and population health science, and position CUIMC as a transformative leader on aging, longevity and health
  4. Create a basis for synergies among all these disciplines towards transformative goals
  5. Propel collaboration among the medical center’s four schools and the Irving Institute towards a shared and highly aspirational vision 

Read the Healthy Aging Initiative preliminary report.

CHAI Steering Committee Members

Linda P. Fried MD, MPH
CHAI Steering Committee Chair
Dean and DeLamar Professor of Public Health
Mailman School of Public Health
Director, Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center
Senior Vice President, Columbia University Medical Center
Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia Aging Center
Department: Epidemiology

Allison E. Aiello, PhD
James S. Jackson Healthy Longevity Professor in Epidemiology
Mailman School of Public Health
Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center
Department: Epidemiology

Gregory L. Alexander, PhD, RN, FAAN, FACMI, FIAHSI
Helen Young CUPHSONAA Professor of Nursing
School of Nursing
Department: Nursing Scholarship & Research

Daniel W. Belsky, PhD
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Mailman School of Public Health
Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center
Department: Epidemiology

Alan A. Cohen, PhD
Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health
Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center
Department: Environmental Health Sciences

Gérard  Karsenty, MD, PhD
Paul A. Marks M.D., Professor
Chair of the Department of Genetics and Development
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Department: Genetics and Development

Ian M. Kronish, MD, MPH
Associate Director, Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health
Florence Irving Associate Professor of Medicine
Co-Director, ColumbiaDoctors Hypertension Center
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health
Department: Medicine

Carol Kunzel, PhD
Professor of Foundational Sciences (in Dental Medicine)
Professor of Sociomedical Sciences
College of Dental Medicine
Department: Section of Oral, Diagnostic, and Rehabilitation Sciences

José A. Luchsinger, MD, MPH
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Vice Chair for Clinical and Epidemiological Research
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Department: General Internal Medicine

Jennifer J. Manly, PhD
Professor of Neuropsychology in Neurology
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center and the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain
Department: Neurology

Emmanuelle Passegué, PhD
Director, Columbia Stem Cell Initiative
Alumni Professor of Genetics and Development (in Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine)
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Department: Genetics and Development

Muredach P. Reilly, MBBCh, MSCE
Director, Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research
Department: Medicine

Christiane Reitz MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center and the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain
Department: Neurology

Scott A. Small, MD
Boris and Rose Katz Professor of Neurology
Director, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center
Departments: Neurology, Psychiatry, Radiology

Yousin Suh, PhD
Charles and Marie Robertson Professor of Reproductive Sciences in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Departments: Obstetrics and Gynecology, Genetics and Development

Senior Staff

Anne Marie S. Benedicto, MPP, MPH
Chief of Staff to the Dean
Columbia Mailman School of Public Health

Caitlin M. Hawke
Associate Director, Programming
Senior Science and Strategy Officer
Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center