Program for Aging Research in the Summer (PARIS)

全世界约有6.17亿人年龄在65岁或以上，这一人口继续以前所未有的速度增长。根据美国人口普查局委托国家老龄问题研究所编写的一份报告，到2050年，目前全球老年人口占8.5%，预计将激增至约16亿人，占世界人口的近17%。美国65岁及以上的人口预计将在未来30年内增加近一倍，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危险因素，但人们对衰老的机制以及最大限度地减少这一过程对健康影响的最佳方法还没有很好的了解。因此，研究衰老过程的机制和治疗与年龄有关的疾病至关重要。此外，随着美国人口的不断老龄化，将越来越需要经过培训的医生来照顾老年人和与衰老有关的疾病。最后，在接受医生和医学科学家培训的少数群体中，人数仍然不足。拟议的计划将通过为代表性不足的少数民族医学生提供参与老龄化研究和观察临床老年病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。在夏季，或巴黎的老龄化研究计划，将建立在一个试点计划的成功启动作为共同首席研究员的P01项目，在过去的三年中，已安排交通，住房和研究导师从波多黎各医学院的三名学生，中央加勒比大学（UCC），追求老龄化研究与该计划项目的成员之一。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用的名额。因此，在本申请中描述的计划中，我们建议增加计划中的插槽数量，并将参与机会扩展到其他波多黎各医学院的医学生，包括Ponce健康科学大学和圣胡安鲍蒂斯塔医学院。该方案的目标是：（I）组织代表性不足的少数民族医学生参加奥古斯塔大学的老龄化研究，（II）为巴黎的受训人员开展研究方法和统计方面的教学培训，（III）为巴黎的受训人员组织一次由医生照顾老年人的临床实习，（IV）建立一种机制，保持受训人员对老龄化研究的兴趣，并跟踪受训人员的成果。通过这个项目，我们希望鼓励代表性不足的少数民族参与老年科学和老年医学的职业生涯。

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.