About the Coordinating Center: AFAR
New York, New York
The American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) serves as the Coordinating Center for the Nathan Shock Centers program.
AFAR is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to support and advance healthy aging through biomedical research. Founded in 1981, AFAR has championed the cause and supported the funding of science in healthier aging and age-related medicine.
As the Nathan Shock Centers Coordinating Center, the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) will help the Centers coordinate their activities as well as communicate the capabilities and achievements of the individual Centers to other aging researchers and the general public.
The Coordinating Center aims to:
- Provide logistical support to the Nathan Shock Centers and NIA through an organizational and management infrastructure that will foster networking, scientific exchange, resource sharing and collaborations across the NSCs and the field.
- Grow a workforce in the biology of aging by providing mentoring, career development, educational support and resources.
- Disseminate NSC research findings and expand information on resources in the biology of aging and related fields, and serve as a forum of scientific exchange.
- Work with the NSCs directors to develop, distribute, and implement a shared state-of-the art approach and commitment to the renewed NIH emphasis on rigor, reproducibility and transparency (RRT) in pre-clinical studies.
- Develop and implement strategies for assessing the effectiveness of the NSCs and NSC3.
The Nathan Shock Centers Coordinating Center Leadership Team:
- Steven N. Austad, PhD – Multiple Principal Investigator; Scientific Director, AFAR; Director of the Nathan Shock Center at the University of Alabama Birmingham
- Stephanie Lederman, M.Ed. – Multiple Principal Investigator; Executive Director, AFAR
- Odette van der Willik – Multiple Principal Investigator; Deputy Executive Director and Director of Grants Programs, AFAR
- David Allison, PhD – Co-Investigator: Chief of Nutrition and Director, Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine
- John Beilenson – Co-Investigator: Founder and President, Strategic Communications and Planning (SCP)
To reach someone on the leadership team, please email contact@nathanshockcenters.org
The Nathan Shock Centers program is part of the Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) of the National Institute on Aging, NIH.
The objective of the Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) is to initiate new cross-disciplinary collaborative networks that bring together key thought leaders from each of the seven NIA center programs to align approaches across programs that will uncover synergies and insights that lead to novel collaborations.
AFAR also co-manages the RCCN.
Learn more about the RCCN centers, workshops, webinars, and more here
