Silver Scholar About

As our population ages with increasing chronic disease, the U.S. faces enormous and unprecedented stresses to its health care system and economy. The Alliance for Aging Research believes that efforts to control these rising costs should focus on investments in research and innovation. The Alliance’s widely-accepted resource—The Silver Book: Chronic Disease and Medical Innovation in an Aging Nation—highlights important health economic data that showcases the value of innovation.

A critical component of health economics, cost-effectiveness analysis looks primarily at life-years gained, lost workdays avoided, and health services that weren’t used. Unfortunately, the accepted methods often fail to take into account the fairly new phenomenon of active aging. While many Americans age 65 and older are no longer in the “traditional” workforce, they are increasingly seeking opportunities for civic engagement, exploring new careers, supporting families, and continuing to contribute to society. These factors tend not to be reflected in traditional cost-effectiveness evaluations.

The MetLife Foundation Silver Scholar Award—currently in its inaugural year—honors the important work of economists, demographers, and related researchers whose scholarship increases our understanding of the value of healthy life after 65 and continued medical innovations that help people live longer in good health.