View the 2018 Conference Program Here
Advancing the Policy Debate on End of Life Care
Population aging is expected to exert a growing strain, worldwide, on health care systems, economies, and social institutions. It is a global challenge for the future provision of health care as the world faces the challenges of a growing aging population. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of the new agenda 2030 pledge to “leave no one behind” and include older persons by implication in 15 of the goals and their targets.
Biomedical Research, Regenerative Medicine, and Stem Cell Technologies
Developed and developing countries have already recognized the extraordinary potential of regenerative medicine to improve quality of life, and have invested in research initiatives, leading to better treatments for aging-associated diseases.
Ethical Challenges at the End of Life
The conference provides a platform for the UN member states and UN entities, the private sector, and civil society to undertake a policy dialogue in ensuring access to quality healthcare services including palliative care for older persons.
Living with Mortality in an Aging Society
The harsh issues of health care rationing, normative directives, legal instruments, decisions and timelines on later retirement, and palliative care are only a few of the current contentious topics at the End of Life.
Healthy Aging: Public Policy and Economics of Caring for the Elderly
Health, social, and economic policies for elderly are very different among all nations. Analysis of these differences help with the formulation of effective policies for long-term care of the elderly to enhance their health status, as well as their social, financial and economic well-being.
| CONFERENCE PROGRAM | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Day | Activity | Time | |
| Friday, April 13, 2018 |
Stjepan Orešković Ph.D., University of Zagreb School of Medicine |
2.45 -5.00PM | |
| Venue: Beekman Tower Cocktail Reception (By Invitation Only) Welcome Address |
5.30-8.30PM | ||
| Saturday, April 14, 2018 | Venue: Cornell Club, New York City
Registration, Breakfast and Introductory Remarks |
8.20 – 9.00 AM | |
| Keynote Speaker: Mike West, Ph.D., BioTime Inc. | 9.00 – 9.40 AM
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Moderator: Russell W. Hanson, Ph.D., Mount Sinai |
9.40-11.10AM | ||
| Networking Coffee Break | 11.10AM- 11.25AM |
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Moderator: Stjepan Oreskovic, Ph.D. |
11.25 – 1.00PM | ||
| Networking Lunch Break | 1.00-2.00 PM | ||
|
2.00-2.30 PM | ||
|
2.30-4.00 PM | ||
| Erin Kimbrell, Ph.D., Astellas Pharmaceutical | 4.10-4.40 PM | ||
|
4.50-6.20 PM | ||
| Concluding Remarks | 6.20-6.30 PM | ||
|
Sunday, April 15, 2018
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Venue: Ben and Jack’s Steakhouse, New York City (by Invitation only) | ||
| Speaker: Barton Wald, MD
PA Health Leadership Consultants Medical Director, California Quality Collaborative. This is an educational event sponsored by Merck Pharmaceuticals |
11.30-1.00 | ||
| Concluding Remarks | 1.00-1.15 | ||
Background Information
Population aging is a worldwide phenomenon in both developed and developing societies, and is expected to exert pressures on health care systems, economies, and social institutions. Planning for how to cope with and plan for health and global aging have become important imperatives.
The world population is living far longer than at any time previous in history, but such longevity is not without impairments. “Aging” may be scientifically viewed as a collection of degenerative diseases. As a group, these diseases (heart disease, cancer, Type II diabetes, Alzheimer’s, stroke, Parkinson’s, and more) result in decreased optimal functioning of the human body, leading eventually to death.
As such, there is strong interest in the promotion of novel findings into innovative medical interventions boosted by genetic engineering and stem-cell biology. New medical breakthroughs are likely to postpone or mitigate age-related diseases as well as to increase healthy life expectancy. They also hold the promise of alleviating some of the social and personal costs of aging.
Dr. William Haseltine coined the term “regenerative medicine” in 1990, after learning that researchers were making progress in creating young cells through cloning, a process he realized could potentially regenerate or repair tissues in the human body. Recent developments in regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, and stem cell therapies, have brought questions of age(ing) to the center stage in public, academic, and policy discussions. New breakthroughs are contributing to the postponement of age-related diseases and disorders and to an increase in life expectancy.
Our conference is a call for thoughtful analysis of contemporary biomedical research, and for discussion of current developments in biotechnology and the biology of aging as well as age management practices. Such analysis, however, is sometimes hampered by misguided commentaries. Some literature casts doubt on the legitimacy of anti-aging interventions by reflecting on the banality of the search for “immortality” and no compelling scientific evidence yet exists to suggest that humans are on the verge of becoming “immortal.”
Who will decide which direction to take and which to forego? What role will the aging subject itself play; what role will the elderly population fulfill? What are the ethical issues generated by the emerging fields?