Program for Aging Research in the Summer (PARIS)

全世界大约有6.17亿65岁或以上的人，这一人口继续以前所未有的速度增长。美国人口普查局（United States Census Bureau）委托美国国家老龄问题研究所（National Institute on Aging）发布的一份报告显示，到2050年，全球老年人口预计将从目前的8.5%激增至约16亿人，占世界人口的近17%。据预测，美国65岁及以上的人口在未来30年将增加近一倍，从4800万增加到8800万。尽管众所周知，年龄是各种急性和慢性疾病的一个风险因素，但人们对衰老的机制以及将这一过程对健康的影响降到最低的最佳方法却知之甚少。因此，研究衰老过程的机制和衰老相关疾病的治疗是至关重要的。此外，随着美国人口持续老龄化，对训练有素的医生照顾老年人和与老龄化有关的疾病的需求将越来越大。最后，在被培训为医生和医生科学家的少数族裔人数上仍然存在差距。拟议的计划将通过为代表性不足的少数族裔医学生提供参与老龄化研究和在诊所观察老年医生的机会来解决这些问题，以促进对这一医学和研究领域的持续兴趣。夏季老龄研究项目（PARIS）将建立在一个试点项目成功的基础上，该试点项目是联合首席研究员P01项目的一部分，该项目在过去三年中为来自波多黎各医学院、中央加勒比大学（UCC）的三名学生安排了交通、住房和研究导师，让他们与该项目的一名成员一起进行老龄研究。这个项目逐渐得到了学生们的积极宣传，以至于在过去的申请期间，申请该项目的人数远远超过了可提供的名额。因此，在本申请中描述的方案中，我们建议增加方案的插槽数量，并将参与机会扩大到来自其他波多黎各医学院的医学生，包括庞塞健康科学大学和圣胡安包蒂斯塔医学院。该计划的目标是：(1)组织代表性不足的少数族裔医学生参与奥古斯塔大学的老龄化研究，(2)为PARIS培训生开发研究方法和统计方面的教学培训，(3)组织PARIS培训生与照顾老年人的医生一起进行临床观察，(4)建立一种机制来维持培训生对老龄化研究的兴趣并跟踪培训生的成果。通过这个项目，我们希望鼓励弱势群体参与老年科学和老年病学的职业。

Worldwide there are about 617 million people aged 65 or older, and this population continues to increase at an unparalleled rate. According to a report from the United States Census Bureau and commissioned by the National Institute on Aging, the current global population of older individuals of 8.5% is expected to surge to approximately 1.6 billion people, or almost 17% of the world's population, by 2050. The 65-and-over population of the United States is predicted to nearly double over the next three decades, from 48 million to 88 million Although it is well known that age is a risk factor for a variety of acute and chronic disorders, the mechanisms underlying aging, and the best way to minimize the effects of this process on health, are not well understood. Therefore, research into the mechanisms of the aging process and treatment of age-related diseases is critical. In addition, as the American population continues to age, there will be a growing need for physicians trained to care for the elderly and diseases related to aging. Finally, there continues to be a gap in the number of under-represented minorities trained as physicians and physician-scientists. The proposed program will address these issues by providing under-represented minority medical students with the opportunity to participate in aging research and to observe geriatricians in the clinic, with the idea of promoting a sustained interest in this field of medicine and research. The Program for Aging Research in the Summer, or PARIS, will build upon the success of a pilot program initiated as part of the Co-Principal Investigator's P01 Project, which for the past three years has arranged transportation, housing and research mentors for three students from the Puerto Rican medical school, Universidad Central del Caribe (UCC), to pursue aging research with one of the members of the Program Project. This program has gradually received positive publicity from the students, such that this past application period the number of applicants to the program far exceeded the number of slots available. Therefore, in the program described in this application we are proposing to increase the number of slots in the program, as well as to extend the opportunity to participate to medical students from other Puerto Rican medical schools, including Ponce Health Sciences University and San Juan Bautista School of Medicine. The goals of this program are to: (I) organize the participation of under-represented minority medical students in aging research at Augusta University, (II) develop didactic training in research methods and statistics for PARIS trainees, (III) organize a clinical observership for PARIS trainees with physicians caring for older individuals and (IV) establish a mechanism to sustain trainees' interest in aging research and track trainee outcomes. With this program we hope to encourage under-represented minority engagement in careers in geroscience and geriatrics.