Promoting Rigorous Biopsychosocial Lifespan Science: 82nd and 83rd Annual Meetings of the Society of Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine

About This Grant

PROJECT SUMMARY In order to address the health and well-being problems posed by an aging population in the United States, research that pinpoints how to protect aging adults from health risks is needed. To enable rigorous, high-quality research in this area, two scientific approaches are necessary. A lifespan approach addresses the fact that aging is a complex, dynamic, cumulative process that unfolds across time. A biopsychosocial approach addresses the fact that psychological and social factors interact with physiological factors to drive aging. Work that integrates lifespan and biopsychosocial perspectives requires both scientific understanding across disciplines and also requires knowledge in strategic collaboration, scientific leadership, effective communication, and project management. The Society for Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine (formerly the American Psychosomatic Society) has integrative work as its very mission, and across 82 meetings has been where cutting-edge research combining biological factors with psychosocial factors is presented. However, lifespan approaches have not been traditionally centered at the meeting. Therefore, we will pursue aims under the conference theme of Biopsychosocial Science and the Future of Health and Well-Being Across the Lifespan. First, we aim to provide methodological, content, and career development training to prepare junior scholars for a career in biopsychosocial lifespan research. We will do so by supporting a mentorship program called the Developing Investigator Program—a mentorship program for promising trainees where senior members with a history of external funding are matched with each junior investigator to provide mentorship and concrete feedback on a grant proposal. Second, we aim to advance science that elucidates the personal, interpersonal, societal, and environmental factors influencing aging. We will do so by providing programming highlighting the highest caliber biopsychosocial aging and lifespan research. For example, we will invite experts to provide scholar training sessions will provide concrete and actionable resources for scholars to engage in biopsychosocial lifespan aging research in HRS, MIDUS, and other NIA-funded longitudinal deeply phenotyped datasets. Based on empirical literature on mentorship, we are innovating on the traditional one-time events often offered at conferences to create infrastructure for two-year long relationships. The expected outcome of these endeavors is a scientific workforce trained in approaches that integrate across biology, psychology, and social factors to ultimately improve health and well-being throughout the lifespan.